How to build a cabinet out of MDF laminated shelves?

Ronb1949

[I tried to find this forum which has helped me previously but I couldn't locate it and Bunnings said it doesn't exist anymore]

I decided to build a computer cabinet using Bunnings laminated MDF shelves. I tried to get advice on the best way to go about it, but without any real success. So I set about building it by drilling holes through the end panels and putting chipboard screws through the holes into the edges of the top, middle shelf and bottom panels. It was quite rickety so I installed some angle brackets in it and altered the screws from 8 gauge 30 mm to 10 gauge by 50 mm. It's better and ok for what I want to use it for. In putting the longer screws in, I found some of the pilot holes I drilled into the edges of the horizontal panels are not parallel to the surfaces of those panels, so some of the new long screws have cracked the surface of the horizontal panels. My two questions are:

1. Was there a better way fro me to have gone about the construction; and

2. Is there a tool which would enable me to drill holes that are exactly at right-angles to the surface I'm drilling through?

Thanks

MitchellMc

Hi @Ronb1949,

I'm sorry to hear you had trouble finding the forum again. I recommend bookmarking the page for ease of access.

It's quite difficult to free-hand a 50mm long hole and keep it within the thickness of 16mm. Even having the drill a few degrees off square results in an off-centre hole where the screw thread might penetrate the panel's surface. My typical method is to use the force and hope for the best. However, using a drilling guide would assist. We have the Haron Dowelling Jig, which provides a few guide holes that would help you keep the drill straight. Alternatively, you can drill your required hole into a piece of scrap timber, align it, and clamp it to the end of the panel. Drilling through the timber guide and into the panel end will keep the drill straighter.

I believe a 10g woodscrew thread is quite wide, around 5mm, so it might take a bit of practice to get them right in the middle of a 16mm board. I like to start my hole and then check my drill to see if the bit is perpendicular to the board edge. As I drill, I continue to check and make small adjustments as I go. Once you've drilled 20mm in and the bit is square to the edge, you're pretty much right to drill the rest of the hole.

Let me mention one of our knowledgeable members @JoeAzza to see if he has any recommendations.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell