Help Please, To Dimension Garage Shop Uppers

[dusty]

I am preparing to build wall cabinets for in my shop. The cabinets will be across one end of the shop which is 228" wall to wall.

I am thinking that the back and sides will be 1/2" plywood while the bottom is 3/4". The face frame will be 5/8" pine.

Exposed surfaces will be painted.

I am seeking advise. All comments are welcome but what has really stopped me is dimensioning the face frame and determining the type of joint to use for the corners formed by the back and sides.

Remember, these go in the shop and the cabinets will be used to store an accumulation of items that could get heavy. They will be screwed to the wall and will fit flush against the ceiling in the shop. The ceiling has a slight slope; 2 1/8 " in 14" which explains why the back vertical height is different than the front.

Filler strips (approximately 2.25") will be used on both ends to fit the cabinets into the existing (228") space. I chose to do this rather than to try to make the cabinets fill exactly. By doing this, the 6 cabinets can all be dimensioned the same thus permitting mass cuttings.

I have done a rudimentary sketch of the carcass showing "outside dimensions to help me communicate my thoughts.

I often do not go into this level of pre-planning. I sorta get basic size in mind and start cutting. Each piece being cut to fit with all others that have already been cut. This is known as "real time custom cabinet making" - where every piece is custom cut to fit where it is needed.

This is an attempt to approach it correctly.

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[judaspre1982]

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[dusty]

Dusty, I may not be able to give much advise on construction, but might I make a suggestion. A few years back, I helped a friend make and hang wall cabinets in his garage. We found using clear plexiglass for the center panels on the doors useful for seeing what you have in the cabinets without opening the door. If you have a lot of cabinets this is especially useful until you remember where everything is that is stored in them:D ------Dave

Thank you, Dave. That sounds like it might be a real good idea. I never know where anything is. Things are stuck away out of the way until I need them. If I ever get organized, the time that I have available to do real wood work will increase significantly.

Does plexiglass tend to attract the dust like a dust magnet?

[judaspre1982]

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[JPG]

Off the cuff suggestion(s):

1) rear to side joint - simple rabbit joint with front edge of back longer than wall side.(GLUE)

2) top of bottom flush with top of facing. Cleat sides to support bottom(back and sides and front).

3) cleat top edge of back(inside) to provide extra support for attaching to wall. Use bottom support cleat likewise.

Nothing fancy, just support where I think it is needed. The flush bottom prevents things hanging on the facing.

If desired, furring strips(horizontal top & bottom) with rabbited edges(or beveled) could be used to help 'hang them(strips on both wall and back)'. This would leave a small gap at the ceiling. That could be covered up with the same method as covering up the ends(trim). This would also allow removal if needed in the future(after removal of 'trim').

[rdewinter]

Dusty, I have had success joining the prebuilt face frame to the cabinet box by using glue and biscuits. No stress on the face frame from the weight in the cabinet. As far a joining the sides to the back and bottom, i would use glue and screws along with biscuits. That should be plenty strong.

What would concern me is only using 1/2" ply anywhere on the cabinet especially the back if your concerned about weight and/or strength . I would use 3/4" ply all around and a 1 x 4 cleat attached to the back and sides as a nailing (or screws) cleat.

Be sure to share some pictures when you get them complete.

Good luck.

Bob
San Diego

[rdewinter]

Sorry, I answered your question thinking "attaching" the face frame.

I would think an 1 1/2" face frame with a 2 or 2 1/2" vertical center piece would look good and provide an adequate opening to retrieve stuff.

Bob
San Diego

[reible]

Hi,

A couple of years ago I was helping someone plan some cabinets much like what you have proposed. I had done some drawings and put together a preliminary material list. I sent him off to the hardware store to get some prices on materials. He collected the information and then went over to the paint department pick out some paint/colors. While talking to the paint guy he mentioned what he was building...

Paint guy took him over to another area of the store where they had utility cabinets all stacked up in ready to paint and hang condition. They were designed to sit over the washer and dryer in a utility room. Or as cabinets for a garage....

We crunched the number. Plywood and MDF sure but for a lot less then we could build them, in fact he was able to buy the paint and still save about 1/4 the cost of us building them and we had not even got into the hinges and other hardware costs on the home build ones.

So what I'm saying is if this a project you really want to do or if you plan to store your bowling ball collection up there then proceed. If you can live with a lot less work and less quality check out your big box stores for a set of these cabinets. (They have a very small selection of sizes typically so they may not work out for you for that reason.)

Ed

[robinson46176]

I was in a garage Friday (garage sale) where the fellow had hung a set of fairly generic kitchen cabinets across the back wall. They looked to have been removed from a remodeled kitchen. He had hung them up against the ceiling. They are probably serving him fine as dead storage but what caught my eye was the big bench under them. I suspect the top was from a bowling alley and the bench legs made to fit it. This was just barely a shop as we tend to think of them. He isn't a woodworker, he just hangs out in his garage a little. I have slightly known the guy for a long time and he is a bit of a twit so his wife may chase him out there.
The thing with the bench was that it had to be at least 4' deep... He is just average height and there is no way he could reach those cabinets from the floor or even from a step stool safely due to the depth of that bench. The bench was pretty tall as well making reaching the cabinets even more difficult.
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I think I have mentioned here before that I always wanted a shop full of cabinets but then I got old and I tend to lose track of anything that is not out where I can see it. I am a huge believer in pegboard, all over the place. My shop is a building that I originally had put up as a store and I lined it with pegboard so I could hang display items anyplace. After we relocated the store we used it for years as a huge family room and I replaced some of it with a more decorative wall material. Now I am going back to pegboard.
The original was 1/8" but now I am buying 1/4". I may buy some of that "T" track board for some of it. It has a proper name but it escapes me at the moment. I even like pegboard behind larger shelves because you can hang little items there as well that otherwise might have to be put in some kind of container out of sight.

[Ed in Tampa]

Dusty
Farmer brings up a good point. Are the cabinets going to the ceiling or is there going to be room above them? If there is room above them what do you plan to store up there. Remember what you store up there can quickly double the weight load of the cabinets.

I tend to over engineer/over build when I get done you can store an engine block in the cabinet and one on top.


However I would consider running a 19 foot board across the back wall for the cabinets to sit on and I would probably run another one under the front edge of the cabinets. Then I would tie the two together structurally along with the cabinets. If the cabinets are then properly fastened to the back wall, structually integral with the two boards spanning the length of the opening the cabinets should be able to support anything the back wall plus the compression of the two side walls would handle (read this to mean massive weight). I might even put in a center support for the board spanning the opening at the front of the cabinets.

In my case I would probably store lumber and perhaps little used parts and equipment above the cabinets.

Also like Farmer mentioned don't make the cabinets so high or what is below them so wide that you need to climb something to get into them. My cabinets can be reached by me standing on the ground. However top of cabinet storage needs a stool to get to.

Like Farmer I like peg boards also but then I have dust and spider web problems. So I moved to enclosed cabinets almost entirely.