Dowel Construction - New user (Dumb Question???)

[Philip Lengden]

I have a question about dowel construction. How do you do it? The PDF manual states...

\"Dowell – Dowell construction is essentially a butt joint with holes drilled
into both panels which are then assembled by placing dowels in the holes.
In the software, dowel construction is handled the same as butt joints.\"

I can't seem to find a way to set any type of hole pattern for the dowels? The only approach that I can figure, is to use the part editor but this seems like an awfully long approach. I can't find anything in the construction settings. Am I missing something?

Thanks

[Michael Yeargain]

Philip Lengden,

Currently there is no dowel construction settings apart from butt joint construction.

It will be painstaking to go through an entire library to insert a set of dowel holes for the cabinets. So, I would suggest... as you develope your seed cabinets (1 Tall, 1 Base,1 Wall 1 Corner) place the dowel holes exactly where you want them, and save them.

Next using those seed cabinets, let them multiply and repopulate the earth. If you take 1 Base cabinet and resize it to what you want you can save that cabinet with a new name and you have just created another cabinet with a different size, but without the steps it took you to get to the seed cabinet.

For example a 12\" base will easily turn into a 15, 18, 21, 24 etc, just by changing the sizes in the editor and saving each size.

Once you develope the SEED cabinet the rest will only take a matter of a few minutes to develope.

By the way Philip, this forum has a simple belief. And, that is \" the only dumb question is the question not asked.

[Mark Hesketh]

we use dowel construction as well. one trick i use a bit is once you create a dowel hole pattern in part editor, go into contour mode, right-click and create edges, then save the pattern. then you can load that pattern on any new cabinet and just have to re-apply constraints as needed.

[Michael S Murray]

Hi Guys,
Now I will ask the dumb question, why is any one worrying about the actual dowel placement in e-cabs? I do realize that you can do a butt joint and then take your part to another machine to do the doweling, but I see no purpose for actually putting the dowels in the drawing. I guess you could put the holes in the side panel on the router, but drilling in the end of the panel is pretty tough and or slow in nested base isnt it?Evan with an aggregate head you would have to have room between parts for it to drop in and bore. I beleive this is done mostly on machining centers on pods after the parts have been cut to size by some other machine.I have made butt joints and then taken the parts to my const. boring machine for dowels on occasion. Am I missing something I should know about???

[Philip Lengden]

Thanks everyone for the responses - that's pretty much what I figured. The main reason for my question is that this whole CNC approach to cabinets has forced me to think about the construction methods we use - or would use if we were to process sheets on a CNC unit.

Michael - my concern about this option was due to the fact that we would be outsourcing our processing, and I'm not sure if the shops we would be using have any boring machines. So my question was really about how much the CNC machine could do with regards to dowels and if its worth it (I understand that end boring would be difficult if not impossible on these units).

Which leads me to my next question - what assembly methods do you employ? It looks to me that the blind dado method is well suited to CNC. But how are you taking it from there? Glue and pin? If you can't tell by now, I'm not from the 'cabinet' world - custom solid wood is more our game. But we keep getting asked to do these large built ins!!! Thanks again everyone.

[Michael S Murray]

Hi Philip,
We blind dado most everything, if it will show it gets clamped up. If it does not show it gets a couple staples to hold till glue dries. Most of our stuff gets a finished panel anyway, but on the average kitchen we have to clamp 3 or 4 cabinets. These are pulled out first and get clamped up while assembly on the other cabinets goes on and then the clamped ones are finished up at the end. I also have doweling equipment but find the extra time not worth the haslle and also adds another chance for an error.

[Jason Susnjara]

we use dowel construction as well. one trick i use a bit is once you create a dowel hole pattern in part editor, go into contour mode, right-click and create edges, then save the pattern. then you can load that pattern on any new cabinet and just have to re-apply constraints as needed.

Actually you can create a hole pattern from the KD Fastener pattern that is part of the software. You can then have eCabinets create all of your vertical holes (construction settings) and the horizontal holes will need to be done offline. Here is the dowel hole pattern.