My first Cabinet

[Poppa]

I recently moved into a new house with a finished basement and lost a bunch of storage. Instead of just slapping some brackets to a slab of plywood to make a shelf I decided to try my hand at cabinetry. Just finished the paint and have the shelving to go inside. I'm planning on installing shoe racks and drawers. Everything was done with a drill and a circular saw (no table saw). Next will be the smaller wall cabinets over my work bench and another locker cabinet like this but only 2 doors. This was my very first time at building anything with wood. I'm a welder by trade and enjoyed the change of building something out of wood. Here are some pics of the project.

 

[uncletater]

that looks very nice.

 

[kursplat]

cool, should look great all loaded up with toy...er tools

 

[bazzateer]

Nice work!

 

[Poppa]

I'm heading out to put the finishing touches on the cabinet. I used melamine for the shelves, not a fan of the product. It saved me having to paint but the chipping has my OCD redlining!! My plans are to build more cabinets over my work bench and was going to use melamine for the frame. Hope the new saw blade I bought last night will curb the issue.

 

[Mr. Roboto]

I'm heading out to put the finishing touches on the cabinet. I used melamine for the shelves, not a fan of the product. It saved me having to paint but the chipping has my OCD redlining!! My plans are to build more cabinets over my work bench and was going to use melamine for the frame. Hope the new saw blade I bought last night will curb the issue.

I've been told that placing a line of masking tape over a cut you are about to make and cutting through the tape helps to reduce the chipping. I've never tried it myself, but give it a shot.

 

[Poppa]

I found by cutting only half way through made all the difference. The blade I bought helped too. Here are the updated pics. I added 3/4 aluminium channel to the door edges and finished off the shelving. the center cabinet will be the home for my golf gear. Yes, I can fill all those shelves with golf shoes.

 

[rancherbill]

I used melamine for the shelves, not a fan of the product. It saved me having to paint but the chipping has my OCD redlining!!

Make a cutting guides. Cut off two edges from a sheet of plywood, 1/4 or 3/8", and you will have two pieces 8' long. Cut off a piece 2' long and laminate it on to the end of the other, you will then have a 10 foot long guide. Keep in mind that the piece of lumber used to join them has to be thin enough to get under the motor of the saw - 'no 2/4s'. Being longer you can have support for your saw on the start and the end.

Use a high tooth count blade. The grind pattern on the teeth will give you less tear out than a general construction blade. Go slower than 'normal'.

Cut the melamine in two passes, the first you have the blade down 1/8" and it will cut the top layer without chipping. On the second cut, your blade should be about 1/8' lower than the material.

Melamine is 50" wide. It is this wide for two reasons. The machine that makes it does not get the density right at the edges and there is always shipping damage. Cut off the outside edges, it will make covering the edges much easier.

 

[Poppa]

Finally completed the rest of my wall cabinets. I'm thrilled with the final product. So, what did I learn in the process? First, working with melamine is not as easy as I first thought it would be. Second, using only a circular saw for everything is extremely difficult.
Here are the pic's of the cabinets. Any feed back or ideas on what I could possibly add next would be great.

 

[akdiesel]

Poppa

The cabinets look great. You need some task lighting. I would use the 5050 led strip since it is a bit lower. You will need a 12v adaptor for them also but easy to install.

 

[Ed Litsch]

Beautiful!!

 

[kluckfab]

That looks awesome, nice job on them.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[JimVonBaden]

Looks nice.

I see you use Photobucket. You can access and post photos by copying the link with the IMG tags on it.

Old style Photobucket, but same concept.



Jim

 

[Poppa]

Thanks Jim. I just updated all my posts to make it easier for all to see. I would also like to thank everyone for all your kind comments. The next thing on the list will be adding the task lighting as akdiesel suggested.

 

[Motown 454]

Nice work on the cabinets they look great.

 

[spotco2]

I think they look great!

So, when are you coming over to build some in my shop?

 

[zkling]

I usually don't like painted wood, but I think that looks great. Has a very clean look to it. Good job.

 

[malibulvr]

Great looking cabinets, I like how you used the existing wall for the back. Interesting heater, what type is it?

 

[Poppa]

Interesting that you bring up that heater. I used some of the left over exhaust to make a corner shelving unit. Here is a pic of the heater panel with all the information on it.