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pocket screw case construction

Chris Mire

Chris Mire

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945
Location
Southern Louisiana
anybody out there assembling cabinets of any type with pocket screws. I have always done dados, glue and nails. i wanna do my personal cabinets with pocket screws.

i was wondering, how far apart are you placing the screws. it looks like the kreg multiple boring machines are about 6" apart, that seems excessive. I recently did a ent center for my brother and i used pocket screws. I went about 9-10" apart and it seemed to work fine.

any help is appreciated.

chris
 
Hi Chris,

I used to use pocket screw construction until I switched to dowel construction. It does work well, I used to put them about 6" apart. I still used it in some parts of my dowel construction, esp. on the stretchers and wall cleats. Just be careful on base cabinet ends...if you hold your toe kicks back from the end and the end panel is unsupported it can collapse.

Confirmats also work well and after see some of your photos it looks like you do all applied ends so they would be all covered. Some guys use a boring machine and combine dowels and confirmats. Also right now you could find a good deal on a construction boring machine.

Doug
 
I have a Kregjig & use it for face frames & when I built my EZsmart table.

I do understand how to use it for cabinet case assemble but don't see why I would want to, Its much easier to use glue & a nail gun.I would think with out a dado you would need to screw from both sides which means you have to hold it in place & drive screws instead of just holding it & driving nails. Maybe I'm missing something here but I'd rather run a dado on the table-saw or router/router-table a quick pass & usually its several panels that need the same thing & then run the glue in the dado & shoot nails. Besides that when the cabinets are installed shimmed & trimmed they won't be going anywhere.Its not like furniture that gets bumped sat on wiggled on hauled from here to there etc.
 
I use my Kreg Jig as well, often to make the face frames for caninets then use Biscuits to glue & secure them to the carcasses. The Carcass has the strength so I us conventional Joinery there (dados and such)


I also use the pocket screws to attach the tops to the rails. Not a new trick as I have some hundred or more years old pieces with pocket screw holding down the lids.
 
thanks for the replies. i must add i own a foreman, the semi automatic kreg machine, i use it for lots of stuff, mainly my face frames and sometimes for case stuff where nails are harder to use.

the main reason i want to use them on the cases for my personal home is because i don't want nail holes in my frames or the side panels on my cabinets. unfortunately i can't totally get away from nails due to trim and such. but I want to avoid them as much as possible.

also, it seems that with my normal method of construction, no matter how diligent i am about making sure my frame pieces are exact size and my dadoes are cut at the exact position, sometimes the shelves and frames are off 1/64, which isn't bad, but I can feel it when I run my finger across it. sure they can be sanded flush but I don't want to have to do that.

recently on my brother Ent center, I put the boxes together with pocket screws, as i screwed each shelf in place I left the one closest to the frame undone, which allowed me to tweak each shelf to perfectly fit the face frame.

i have no doubt that dadoes and nails is quicker, especially since I do it like that so much. but pocket screws also makes it easier to fix my mistakes, which seem plentiful these days with so much going on with work and the house.

Doug, I don't follow your comment about the toe kick section. can you elaborate please.

thanks again for the comments
chris
 
Chris Mire said:
thanks for the replies. i must add i own a foreman, the semi automatic kreg machine, i use it for lots of stuff, mainly my face frames and sometimes for case stuff where nails are harder to use.

the main reason i want to use them on the cases for my personal home is because i don't want nail holes in my frames or the side panels on my cabinets. unfortunately i can't totally get away from nails due to trim and such. but I want to avoid them as much as possible.

also, it seems that with my normal method of construction, no matter how diligent i am about making sure my frame pieces are exact size and my dadoes are cut at the exact position, sometimes the shelves and frames are off 1/64, which isn't bad, but I can feel it when I run my finger across it. sure they can be sanded flush but I don't want to have to do that.

recently on my brother Ent center, I put the boxes together with pocket screws, as i screwed each shelf in place I left the one closest to the frame undone, which allowed me to tweak each shelf to perfectly fit the face frame.

i have no doubt that dadoes and nails is quicker, especially since I do it like that so much. but pocket screws also makes it easier to fix my mistakes, which seem plentiful these days with so much going on with work and the house.

Doug, I don't follow your comment about the toe kick section. can you elaborate please.

thanks again for the comments
chris
Click to expand...

Chris are you talking about putting the boxes together with pocket screws or pocket screwing the face frame to the carcass?


I have done both. When I attach face frames to the carcass I use pocket screws whenever possible but usually along the bottom rails of the uppers and some other places I have to use nails.

As far as the toe kick I'll try and explain better. If your build an exposed end base cabinet I usually hold the toe kick back from the end the same distance as I do in the front. I think you run your side panel all the way to the floor which eliminates the problem. What I have seen in cases where you use pocket screws for the carcass construction you have to make sure the end panel are supported because of the weight issue.

If you are using applied ends for your end panels dowels or confirmats are better and make assembly fast and strong.


Doug
 
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