Tools Used
See here for a list of tools used with some Amazon ads/reviews. If you are thinking of doing similar use these as a basis of your research
General Idea
We will be building furniture out of 15mm lightweight ply designed for campervans. Not the most exciting or unique, or the cheapest, but its what the pro’s use. Also, I have to take into account that my woodwork skills aren’t great and I need to engineer/design elements to allow for my inadequacies 🙁 The doors will all be template and routed, and done in such a way that a cock up will not cause major issues. Framing will generally be at 90′ and there are no complex angles. All corners will be trimmed. Doors will be hinged and trimmed with standard Reimo type fittings.
Joining Wood – Pocket Hole Jig
I had intended using furniture blocks to join the wood as these would not be seen. However from experience I know these are a pain to get perfect and look naff. The SBMCC forum talked about Pocket Holes – and so I invested in a pocket hole jig. This is soooo trivial! Following the instructions on setting the jig up, it took under 5 minutes to make a “T” out of free samples. 2 screws one way, 2 the other (2×1 not shown). Ideal for internal bulkheads. I kid you not how easy it was, and I also kid you not how strong that join is. I can’t easily break it by hand… 4 screws in a furniture block would give in seconds. The join is also neat, flat, exactly where I wanted it. I really can’t believe how strong, neat and easy it was. Well worth the money – if you are considering building blocks – forget it. This will be the main join I used and even used for under shelves.
Now the test – Mel hardly ever uses a drill, and never does woodwork, so how easy would it be to teach her to make a perfect L join…..
…..And the answer is, pretty easy. The only issue is she doesn’t know how to control a variable speed drill, so more dangerous waving the drill around and full power screaming wondering why it didn’t stop. Also, not experienced to know how much pressure to put on. Cue a few basic screwing lessons for her (ahem 😉 ). But, she was able to use the jig and mostly screw it in, and a lot neater than one would expect for a first timer. Brill.
And finally…
Using mostly the pocket hole jig to hold it all together…
Wardrobe http://www.doyourdream.co.uk/2016/06/nv200-wardrobe-furniture/
Kitchen http://www.doyourdream.co.uk/2016/06/nv200-kitchen-furniture-2/
Kitchen drawer/water filler http://www.doyourdream.co.uk/2016/06/nv200-kitchen-drawer-and-internal-water-tank-filler/
Wardrobe internals http://www.doyourdream.co.uk/2016/06/nv200-wardrobe-internals/