pocket holes to glue or not to glue?

[phil harold]

If if you don't have an industrial faceframe table, buy one, used. Until then, buy a sheet of 3/4 melamine and make a clamp table with a 4" lip all the way around it.

any pictures or more details on this?
i would like to make my own

[Martin Wasner]

any pictures or more details on this?

This one isn't mine, but it's the same model.

[Art Mann]

One of the things I have done is repair "cope and stick" glue failures on kitchen cabinet doors. I have seen it several times. They are easy to repair with a good dowel jig. That joint is a lot edge to end grain but is a little better than a simple butt joint. Perhaps those failures were due to poor gluing technique or abuse. I don't know. I do know that in these cases, pocket screws would have held up better, even with no glue. That is where my opinion comes from.

I don't use pocket screws on cabinet frames because they are ugly. I might use them assembling a box if they wouldn't show. I do have cabinets and an outfeed/assembly table in my shop that were assembled exclusively with pocket screws. These support much more weight and get far more use and abuse than anything you would find in a normal kitchen. They are just as tight now as they were 10 or 12 years ago when they were built. No glue.

If this is true, then there is something wrong with your glue. I have tried to take glued/pocket-holed face frames apart (that I built incorrectly) in hopes of being able to reuse some of the pieces, and the joint will almost never break cleanly. It is certainly not as strong as a long grain glue joint, but in my experience the end grain will usually have some of the long grain attached to it.

I would not send a cabinet out the door without gluing the pocket hole joints.

[Justin Ludwig]

any pictures or more details on this?
i would like to make my own

I'll take pictures tomorrow of my roll-around. It's not melamine but will be when I decide to replace the top.

[J.R. Rutter]

a clamp table with a 4" lip all the way around it.

I integrated a clamping surface into my outfeed table. It works well for our needs. Very long frames extend back over the table saw as needed.




We bought a bunch of this pre-primed exterior sign board for making shop tables. It is nice and flat with alternating layers of wood and HDF.

[phil harold]

I'll take pictures tomorrow of my roll-around. It's not melamine but will be when I decide to replace the top.

That would be great!
thanks

[Justin Ludwig]

IMG_8244.jpg

My roll-around is an old hospital bed from when blood-letting was still standard practice. ca.1820 It will crank up about 8-10" and is one handy table. The top, I think, is BC ply with about 4000 coats of paste wax. I traded a microwave cabinet for this beauty.

IMG_8245.jpg
Melamine is ideal. Cheap, flat, and glue wont stick to it. I cut up a piece for my chop saw tables as it was free (used as a cover sheet on one of my orders).

IMG_8247.jpg
Like JR, my TS outfeed table is a full sheet of china birch with a 1.5" maple band. It is crowned in the middle so its not ideal for clamping faceframes, but makes for easy sliding of sheet goods which I no longer break down because of the VPS in the background.



To the OP:
IMG_8246.jpg

Find one of these used. Talk about a time saver. I can also assemble doors on this one (those clamps are on the floor.)

[phil harold]

Thanks Lud!!!

[J.R. Rutter]

So I broke apart the joint that I pictured above. Backed out the screw first. Good enough for me...