Computer Cabinet - #10 Final Assembly

Assembly starts by putting the drawer slides on.  Since they have already been mounted before finishing it’s straightforward to reinstall them and a lot easier too with the cabinet apart.  That said once everything is put together and the drawers adjusted so they are centered in the case I will have to come back and install the final screws in the non-slotted holes to lock the slides in place.

Putting the slides on the drawers is next.  To help get them in the correct position the original spacers are used just as when they were originally installed.

That’s followed by sliding the bottom in and securing it to the back with three screws.  Besides screwing the drawer bottom to the drawer back pin nails are put in at an angle through the bottom from both sides and the front.  The bottom photo shows how small in diameter the ¾” long pins are.  It also shows an installed pin circled in red.

After the slides are in place the case is screwed back together and the drawers are installed.  Here the top two are in but have not yet had their final adjustment.  That will happen after they are all installed.

Spacers made when the drawers were test fit are used again to make the final adjustment of the drawers.  I want an even gap around and between the drawers.  In the photo it looks like the drawers are sticking out in front of the case and that’s true.  It’s because after the case has its final fitting in the side cabinet, I will be adding trim fitted to cover the raw edges of the plywood.

Once the drawers are all set one more screw is installed in each drawer and cabinet slide.  The photo below shows the drawer slide with the pilot hole drilled (left) and the screw installed (right).  The slots are used when doing the initial install of the drawers and which set used determines what direction of adjustment you have.  I use the vertical slots on the drawer mounted slide for up/down adjustment.  The horizontal slots are for front/back adjustment and I use them on the cabinet mounted slides. There are several sets of the slots.  This one just happens to be in the center of the drawer and because I used the slots and the ends of the slide these slots were not used.  What is used here is a non-adjustable hole to lock the drawer in place.

After all the drawer slides are adjusted and locked in place the back is removed for easy access to the rear of the cabinet slides.  Once off the drawers are opened and a screw is added at the very back of the cabinet slides.  If you are wondering why the bottom slide is a different color it’s because it comes from a different production run than the others, it’s the same slide as the rest.  Once these 12 screws are installed the back is put back on and the cabinet is ready for its final test fit.

The drawers are removed from the cabinet to lighten it up some then it’s slid in place and the hinges installed.  The side cabinet’s doors were then installed, the drawers were put back in and all the clearances were checked.  Everything fits and goes together fine.  The one small problem I ran into was regarding the adjustment of the right-hand door.  For the new cabinet to slide in the right-side hinge plates have to be removed then reinstalled after the cabinet is in place.  After the new interior cabinet is partly slid in the bottom plate can be installed.  That’s followed by setting the cabinet in its final location and then the top hinge plate can be installed.  The problem is the lower adjustment/mounting screw is now covered by the cabinet’s side and can’t be adjusted for a proper door fit.  The workaround is to make a spacer the distance from the bottom of the original cabinet to the bottom of the hinge plate and use it to locate the hinge while the adjustment/mounting screw is still available.  The photos below show the door and hinges, a close view of the spacer and hinge plus one with the door taken off and the hinge plate removed.  With that problem resolved the new cabinet is removed from the old side cabinet and taken back out to the shop to have the oak trim pieces put on to hide the plywood edges.

For the trim I will be using leftover pieces of oak cut down to ¼” thick and ¾” wide.  Process to make them starts by ripping blanks about an eighth inch wide on the table saw then cutting to 3/16” thick on the band saw.  The thickness sander is used to bring them down to 1/64” over ¼”, followed by ripping to final width on the table saw.  Last, with 220 grit sandpaper in the thickness sander the last 1/64” is taken off ending up with nearly a finished surface.  The top trim piece has a small radius routed on it followed by the exposed faces and all the edges lightly sanded to soften them.  All this has been covered in previous posts so I won’t go through it again.

Before the trim blanks get sprayed with lacquer, they need some risers to hold them up during the spraying.  Since they are only ¾” wide most the methods normally used won’t work.  In this case I used the pneumatic pin nail gun loaded with ½” pins and a 3/16” thick spacer to hold the gun up off the surface of the trim pieces.  End result is little legs sticking out 3/16”. 

Now using the air brush, they can be sprayed with lacquer.

After the blanks lacquered finish is complete, they are cut to length using the chop saw then glued and nailed on with the pin nail gun.  This competes the work on the new cabinet and drawers.  All that remains is to slide the new cabinet into the existing one, remount the door hinges and put the drawers in.  Here is what it all looks like when complete.

Here is what the outside and inside of the cabinet looked like before starting.  The outside looks the same as no changes were made.  The inside does look different though and gives me a lot more usable storage space.  Right now, I have stuff in just three of the drawers so there is some growth room.

Post project completion.  While cleaning up the shop I came across a couple of pieces that were used as tests to see if any stain was needed.  This is one of them.  It is the drawer front to side sample with the cherry pegs.

They are of no use now but before throwing them away I decided to do a little destructive testing to see just how strong the glued and screwed drawer front to drawer side connection was.  Pushing, pulling and twisting by hand even when mounted in the vice caused no damage.  Moving up to more and more energetic methods I finally got the joint to fail.  What finally caused failure was with the drawer front mounted in the vice and me pounding on the side piece with a hammer.  Here is what the pieces looked like post failure.  I find it interesting that none of the pegs came loose and that the far right one split.

This is another sample.  To break it I set the piece on edge then using a cold chisel set right along the center of line of the screw and hammered away until it split.  Once again, the plug split rather than the glue failing.  Not really a fair test but it certainly gives a good idea of what a cross section looks like.  If you are wondering before throwing the broken pieces away, I did take the screws out and put them back in the bin to be used in another project.

After using the cabinet for a while, I find it is a great addition as the drawers give me places to store things close at hand but not piled up on the desk.