Construction
Q: What is frameless cabinet construction and what are the advantages of it?
A: In traditional American style cabinet construction, a face frame is attached to the front of the cabinet for several reasons:
- To square the carcase (box).
- To cover the edges of the carcase which may be made of plywood, particleboard or some other lower grade wood.
- To provide a stronger surface for the mounting of door and drawer hardware.
Frameless cabinet construction takes a few different approach to these same issues, but does so with fewer materials, tools, and labor.
- Edges are covered with edging. This could be solid wood or one of the many plastic edgebandings that are in use today.
- Next, the carcase is held square by the back. Instead of a thin back that is more for looks than anything else, frameless cabinets use 1/4" - 1/2" sheet goods which are firmly attached to the back carcase.
- Lastly, the hardware designed for doors and drawers really can't be screwed into the edge of the carcase, so the hardware is attached flat on the inside of the cabinet. Using this method, holes known as "System" holes can be utilized to allow any cabinet to be modified at any time by simply removing drawers and adding doors to the system holes, or vice versa.
This method of construction offers so many advantages that we revisit in the future.
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Q: How do I choose between 3mm, 5mm, 8mm and 10mm holes in the 32mm system of cabinet construction?
A: 8mm and 10mm holes are used at the joint where the side meets the top and bottom of a carcase. These are referred to as "Construction holes". The 3 and 5mm holes in the 32mm System of cabinet construction are used for adjustable shelves, hinge mounting, drawer slides and more. A few factors will help you determine if 3mm or 5mm will be best for your project. If the system holes will distract from the design elements, use 3mm holes. If strength and adjustability are the key issues, use 5mm holes.
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Q: Your products are shown in millimeters, but I work in inches. Can I use your products?
A: Inches are easily converted to millimeters (mm) and millimeters to inches. Just remember that an inch equals 25.4mm. So, if something measures 20 inches, multiply 20 by 25.4 to get 508mm. But why metric anyway? Aren't inches good enough for us? Let's do a little comparison: 12" + 24" +7/8" - 2 3/16" = ? " Now try: 305mm + 610mm + 22mm - 55mm = ?mm Which was easier? To be fair, they don't come out exactly the same. There is a difference of 0.06mm or 0.002". The trick to using metric in the shop is to stop thinking of conversions at all. Buy a metric rule and build your next project with it. Don't even pick up an inch rule, just use the metric rule. It's really easy! Oh yea, to answer the question. Yes, you can use every product we sell if you measure in inches. You may need to buy a few metric drill bits if the hardware requires it, but otherwise feel free to work in inches.
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