The sliding wardrobe, invented in the USA, has become widely used as the main type of storage for household items and clothing. In our country, this type of furniture appeared only in the middle of the last century. This is surprising because many of us have lived in small apartments where its benefits are obvious.
Domestic craftsmen were in no hurry to make a wardrobe with their own hands. The reason is that the cabinet version, except for sliding doors instead of casement ones, has no other advantages over the usual wardrobe.
It is much easier to make a built-in wardrobe with your own hands. Its manufacture will require significantly less material, and even an inexperienced carpenter can make such a compartment on his own. With a smaller footprint, this storage option will have a larger volume than a cabinet storage option.
The sliding doors of the first wardrobes produced by our industry did not have rollers for movement. At the bottom there was a longitudinal tenon along which the door moved, which had a groove along the lower end.
This simple design was quite reliable. Its disadvantage was that moving the doors required great effort, because the cabinet itself and the doors were made of heavy material, which was chipboard at that time.
You can make a sliding wardrobe with your own hands, built-in or in a regular mobile version. You can also make a corner cabinet yourself, either built-in or cabinet-mounted.
A corner wardrobe with your own hands must be made in relation to a specific place.
In plan, it can have the shape of a triangle, trapezoid, L or U-shape. Among other types, five-walled can be distinguished. This design has the shape of a pentagon with 3 right and 2 obtuse angles.
This diversity is the versatility of a corner wardrobe. If everything is clear with other forms, then the five-wall requires clarity. This version of the sliding wardrobe, taking up little large area, much more spacious than, for example, a triangular analogue.
When making a wardrobe with your own hands, do not try to saw the sheet material from which the side walls and doors will be made at home. It is almost impossible to manually achieve the required dimensional accuracy, especially for a corner wardrobe. Having decided on the dimensions of its sides and doors, it is advisable to use the services of a workshop where it is possible to ensure the required cutting accuracy. It is also advisable to process the ends that will be visible from the outside. The elements located inside the cabinet can be made independently.
Before you do corner compartment do it yourself, check the installation location. This is especially important for the built-in option. Any unevenness in the floor or ceiling where the doors will move must be corrected. Otherwise, there will be problems with installing guides for moving doors.
Make sure not electrical outlets and other elements that may affect the installation of a wardrobe with your own hands. Consider the size of the baseboards and, if any, moldings on the walls under the ceiling.
It is not advisable to save on a sliding door system. More expensive Italian or German designs will pay for themselves due to reliability and long-term operation.
There is no point in showing the specific design of the carriages. There are quite a lot of them, and each of them has its own installation characteristics. First you need to figure out how to install: the dimensions of the cabinet elements will depend on this. A more reliable option is a door with an upper running carriage. At the bottom of the door there will be a roller moving along a guide.
Before you start making a sliding wardrobe with your own hands, you should have the appropriate tools. When making a built-in version, a hammer drill is required. You will need a power tool to screw in the screws. It is advisable to have a hand-held circular saw with a guide fence. A hand saw will also work.
You will need an angle clamp, a tape measure, a stapler, a soft and hard hammer, a drill with a set of drills, and a hex key for screwing in confirmations. To drill confirmation holes to a given depth, you will need confirmation drills. For simple drills, a stopper can be used.
It is necessary to purchase dowels, supports for shelves and screws.
To fasten panels made for furniture from chipboard, confirmats are used. Typically, confirmats with dimensions D×L = 6.4×50 mm are used for furniture. This mount has d=4.4 mm. The hole diameter for it should be in the range of 4.5-5 mm. With a larger diameter, the fastening will not be reliable; with a smaller diameter, the confirmat can destroy the fiberboard material.
To drill holes, special drills are used, which drill to a depth L and provide the appropriate dimensions in the upper part of the confirmat (H and h). Then the surface of the slab is countersunk to fit the cap. Screw in the confirmation without putting much effort, using a special hex key.
3 drilling options:
Another, most difficult option is drilling for dowels. General condition For all types of drilling, the position of the drill is perpendicular to the surface.
Let's consider the option of drilling in 2 parts. The parts are placed next to each other and secured using an angle clamp or other device. After this, marking and drilling are performed. This option is the fastest and most accurate. To determine the mark based on the thickness of the chipboard, it is advisable to make a template from wood or aluminum corner. If the chipboard thickness is 16 mm, then the center of the hole in the template should be exactly in the middle.
If the parts are connected in such a way that the holes are drilled separately, then the strength of the fastening depends on the accuracy of the markings. This is how you have to drill when connecting parts to dowels. For example, to install a cabinet lid on dowels, holes are first made in it using a drill with a diameter of 8 mm with a limiter that does not allow drilling through it. Holes from the edge of the cover are drilled taking into account the indentation of the sidewalls, if provided. Using the same drill, holes are made in the sidewalls to a depth of 20 mm. The accuracy of the marking determines whether the dowels will fit into the holes. The ends of the dowels are placed on glue. When assembling, craftsmen do not recommend pouring glue into the holes on the lid; you may have to disassemble the cabinet.
It is especially easy to assemble a built-in wardrobe, which will have only 2 sides, fixed perpendicular to the wall. These parts are securely attached to the ceiling, floor and wall using corners. The corner is secured to the base using plastic dowels and self-tapping screws. The sidewall is secured to the corners with self-tapping screws. It is between these elements that the door movement system must be secured.
With proper preparation, there should be no problems with assembling the cabinet.
The closet plays an important role in any interior. It is not surprising that strict requirements are imposed on it: not to take up too much space, to be spacious, to have a sufficient number of shelves and drawers. The models on the market do not always fully satisfy individual wishes.
But the online store has both ready-made options cabinets and under individual order. So experienced craftsmen They will assemble the future owner’s closet to suit any of his whims and desires.
Owners of apartments with non-standard layouts find it even more difficult to choose an option that fits into the room. In this case, you can order a cabinet from specialists who will take into account all your wishes regarding the design and internal contents.
Unfortunately, this option is not affordable for everyone. Then the best solution the problem will be the use own hands and ingenuity, because assembling a cabinet yourself is not at all difficult!
Each room has its own type of construction, so it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the main ones.
A cabinet with a closed front is a straight model with hinged doors. To open them, you need to provide additional space; do not forget about this if you are making a closet for the hallway.
A cabinet with an open front has no doors, and its contents are in plain sight. It makes certain demands on order.
The wardrobe doors are mounted on a rail mechanism and open, moving to the sides. There are designs with top and bottom rails; which one to choose is a matter of taste.
A corner cabinet fills a corner. Suitable for any size room, as long as it is square or similar in shape.
Having chosen a suitable design, you can begin to create a project for the future cabinet. Since this piece of furniture lasts for many years, it is worth considering what functionality may be required from it. It is better to build a drawing on whatman paper, recording all measurements there.
Decide on the location and dimensions of the cabinet. If there is a niche in the room - ideal, but if it is not possible to build it in, choose a place where nothing will interfere with it.
Consider the internal content: the location and number of shelves and drawers, their sizes, additional elements like mezzanines or interior lighting.
Don't forget about choice exterior finishing, jewelry. The colors “oak”, “alder”, “beech” are the most popular today. Or you can choose wood with an interesting pattern and leave the original pattern. Get creative and decorate the doors with a carved pattern.
The material can be natural wood, plywood, MDF or chipboard - all of them are used by furniture manufacturers.
Wood is environmentally friendly, does not require additional decorations, and is convenient to work with. A wooden cabinet will last for many years and will look solid and impressive. Ideal choice for interior in classic style.
Plywood consists of glued veneer sheets (birch or trees are used coniferous species). This one is cheap practical material Suitable for making almost any furniture. It is best to choose laminated plywood (FOF brand).
Chipboard (chipboard) is the cheapest and most common option. When assembling your own closet, this is usually what you use. Short-lived.
Self-adhesive melamine film is also useful for processing the side edges.
The diameter of the rod must be at least 22 mm. The easiest way is to buy it in a specialized store. You can also buy pens there.
First of all, measurements are taken and a drawing of the future cabinet is constructed. The final result depends on a correctly drawn up drawing, so approach it with all seriousness.
It’s not difficult to make cabinet doors with your own hands, the main thing is to correctly calculate the dimensions. If its vertical height is less than the height of the opening, the door will not completely close it, and if it is more, it will not fit. When finding the horizontal dimension, we must not forget about the fastening elements: they will add a few millimeters to it. The width of the doors should be ~3 mm less than the opening.
Now you need to mark the placement of the fastening bolts on the sawn parts and drill all the holes.
Assembly begins with installing the bottom and attaching the walls to it. Make sure that assembled wardrobe fits into the allotted space and other furniture will not interfere with the opening of the doors. If you are making a wardrobe, the guides are installed at this stage.
The location of drawers and shelves is outlined, shelf supports and guides are installed. They must be strictly parallel to avoid distortion.
It's time to install the top shelves and roof. A gap of ~7 cm is left between the ceiling and roof for the installation of confirmations. Fastening is done manually and finally tightened with a ratchet wrench.
The side shelves are attached to 4 confirmata (two on each side); in some cases, dowels (small wooden cylinders) are used. One end of the dowel is inserted into the cabinet wall, and a shelf is put on the other.
The last step is to install the doors. Before installation, attach the handles with the curve outward. For sliding doors, proper installation of the mechanism is especially important. Take your time, act carefully.
It's time to start the finishing touches. Treat the sections with decorative film and decorate the facade. Install mirrors, interior lighting and other elements.
Rely on existing schemes cabinets, designing your own.
A corner cabinet requires more care in design and assembly than a straight cabinet, so it may be too complicated for an inexperienced person.
If you lack experience, it is better to entrust cutting out the parts to a master. His hand will not tremble, and the cuts will be smooth and neat.
To avoid getting a part smaller than needed, consider the thickness of the saw. The wall thickness must be at least 18 mm. Otherwise, the strength of the structure will be insufficient.
While working on the drawing, pay attention to the curvature of the floor. If the floor is not level, gaps may appear between the doors. To avoid this, adjust the installation awnings for a swing mechanism, and change the height of the wheels for a sliding mechanism.
Guides for sliding doors should be parallel. Be extremely careful when marking and installing guides for drawers and shelves.
Drill holes for confirmations symmetrically. Use a drill suitable size. The exact number of confirmations depends on the number of parts. The confirmations are covered with plugs matching the color of the structure.
Installing a mirror begins with installing a seal around the perimeter. The film is glued to the chipboard sections using an iron. Iron it with a cloth, pressing it as tightly as possible. The edges can be trimmed with a regular knife.
Study photos of handmade cabinets: you will get a charge of inspiration and note interesting ideas for yourself.
We hope our tips helped answer the question of how to make a cabinet with your own hands.
Any furniture should combine the beauty of design and ease of use. In small apartments, where every square centimeter is worth its weight in gold, the compactness of furniture plays a huge role. In this case, the ideal solution would be to install a corner cabinet, which, despite its large capacity, will not take up much space. Having ordered the furniture he likes, the buyer is faced with the issue of installation. There are two options for getting out of the situation - entrust the assembly to strangers and overpay an impressive amount of money for it, or solve this problem yourself.
The advantage of corner cabinets is that they take up little space, but they can accommodate a lot of things.
Try to accurately align all the holes, do not force them together by inserting a tie when the holes do not yet line up completely.
Specialists know exactly how to assemble the product correctly and quickly.
DIY assembly
Assembling a corner cabinet with your own hands has a number of advantages.
Also, despite the fact that this activity is labor-intensive and painstaking, it is also interesting and useful, because after completing this work, you gain new experience. It is important to understand that this process does not have significant difficulties and does not require special professional skills; the buyer receives a kind of large construction set with assembly instructions. Even if the parts kit does not contain instructions, you can always turn to the Internet for help.
This is an ideal option for people living in small apartments, where every centimeter is valuable.
At least two workers go to assemble furniture and can competently help each other.
Depending on the taste and imagination of the client, as well as on the required functionality of the furniture, the following variations can be distinguished. First of all, such cabinets are divided into built-in and free-standing (cabinet). Cases can be made either as a one-piece structure or as a combination of two direct components. According to their form, they are divided into the following groups:
However, each product comes with detailed instructions for assembling a corner cabinet.
When installing the door, the latch must be in the open position. Then it must be closed.
When a corner wardrobe is installed in combination with a compartment model, it is possible that the door of the former will hit the compartment.
The choice of shape depends on the wishes of the customer, as well as on the characteristics of the room. According to the type of opening of the doors, they are divided into swing, sliding (compartment) and combined.
The assembly diagram for the corner wardrobe is also included with the product.
The design of the selected product should be combined with the style of the rest of the room. This applies to both execution style and color scheme.
When looking for professionals, focus not on their price, but on their skill.
Corner cabinets look small, but in fact they are quite spacious due to their depth.
The material from which your cabinet will be made is an important aspect on which the beauty and durability of the furniture will depend. Price policy The market is divided into two groups.
A corner cabinet allows you to effectively use non-working areas adjacent to cabinet furniture, as well as space in the corners of rooms.
Assembly is quite simple and can be done on your own.
Self-assembly of a corner cabinet will require a certain set of tools. Mainly:
Schematic diagrams of the location of parts and the order of their assembly into the finished product are indicated in the drawings in the installation instructions.
If a store-bought assembly does not include additional assembly fittings (screws, plugs, hinges, confirmation, etc.), you must take care of purchasing them yourself. This process does not require any special carpentry tools.
Schematic diagrams of the location of parts and the order of their assembly into the finished product are indicated in the drawings in the installation instructions.
Before installing the strike plate under the hinges, you need to clearly know which way the door will open.
After drilling each hole, immediately insert the intersection ties and secure them.
When a corner wardrobe is installed in combination with a compartment model, it is possible that the door of the former will hit the compartment.
Separately, it is worth noting the installation of retractable cabinets, since this is the most critical moment in assembling such headsets. Pull-out shelves and cabinets move inside the structure on wheels along special guides. There are options with wooden and metal guides, but if we're talking about about really high-quality assembly, then wooden version should be dismissed outright. Fastening the guides to the inner walls must be done strictly opposite each other, being sure to adhere to the level. Even the slightest misalignment will lead to difficulties in operating moving furniture parts. If a lot of things will be stored in a cabinet or drawer, or they will be heavy, you can attach two guides on each side. This solution gives the design increased reliability.
In the case where the corner cabinet project was developed by the customer independently, it is recommended to invite company specialists for assembly.
Assembling such a product is a feasible task, especially with the help of instructions.
All modules are attached to each other using an intersection tie.
At the end, go over the ties again.
Making a cabinet with your own hands is easier than a table or chair, but somewhat more difficult than a stool or bedside table. If you fully understand how these pieces of furniture are made, then you can take on the cabinet. There are 3 possible options for organizing work:
Sliding wardrobes are especially popular now: they allow you to save a lot of living space, and the fittings and door sliding mechanisms for them are affordable. Making a sliding wardrobe with your own hands is more difficult than a hinged one, but it is still possible for a novice furniture maker. And, as will be discussed later, there is an opportunity to save a lot on fairly expensive door profiles.
The built-in wardrobe provides even greater savings in material, see fig. But it’s definitely worth taking on it only if the apartment has a ready-made niche or a solid floor has been laid using a leveler. Otherwise, work on leveling the floor will eat up all the savings. The ceiling may also have to be trimmed, but not as accurately and this work is easier.
In any home there is also a restless corner in which only garbage collects. It can be usefully filled with a corner cabinet. Structurally, it is more complex than usual, and saving money when making it yourself will be less. But this will pay off in convenience, especially in small apartments: standard “corners” in them do not add much to ergonomics, and a non-standard custom one will be expensive.
However, the main purpose of this article is not to snatch here and nibble there. There are plenty of manuals on the manufacture and self-assembly of cabinets in RuNet. Right down to instructions like: “Take the drill with your hand...”. If not with teeth, then it would be necessary to clarify: which one - right or left? Because a person’s hands are functionally different. However, the existing publications are written quite conscientiously - each about a separate specific product. There are also very general reviews. But something like a summary of how to design and make a cabinet according to your own conditions and needs is not visible. But a closet is not a table or a chair; it requires a lot of space and stays on it for a long time or forever. And besides, it is an aesthetically defining piece of furniture.
In this publication We will work on how to design and assemble a closet yourself specifically for your home; It is this approach that will provide the greatest savings in both money and labor. Where the closet should be, how much space there is and what will be in it, you decide for yourself, here precise recommendations impossible from the outside. The rest, so to speak, of home cabinet building is carried out step by step as follows:
The general diagram of a conventional cabinet cabinet is shown in Fig. on right. Some of the modules, based on the available floor area and ceiling height, may not exist, or it will be, say, not 2, but single-leaf. However, the dimensions of the cabinet within certain limits and the principles of its layout must be followed:
The dimensions of drawers and shelves should be kept within the specified limits. With smaller ones, the capacity of the cabinet drops sharply with the same overall dimensions, which complicates it and increases its cost. With large drawers, it is difficult to operate and keep them in order.
Mezzanines add a lot to the labor intensity and cost of the cabinet. But to assemble a cabinet without mezzanines, you need at least 7 cm between its roof and the ceiling, if you use special tools, and from 12 cm with ordinary tools. Mezzanines can be assembled at the bottom and pushed up, for which there will be enough space under the ceiling of 2-3 cm, otherwise and 10-12 mm. Now let’s estimate: a small cabinet, 1.6x0.6 m in plan. Let's take 7 cm to the ceiling, this will come out to just over 67 cubic meters. dm. That is, the capacity of a pair of bedside tables or a child's playhouse, or shoe cabinets, which are also needed in the house. In general, it’s better not to be lazy and make a closet with mezzanines.
The general layout of the cabinet allows for many options for technical implementation; just look at trade catalogues. In living rooms, as you know, wall cabinets are most often installed, pos. 1 in Fig. A classic wardrobe with a mirror, pos. 2. In the nursery, office or bachelor’s one-room apartment - a pencil case, pos. 3. If the apartment has a shallow niche, there is a good place for a built-in wardrobe, pos. 4. It is especially useful for household items in places common use, pos. 5: there is always a technical area there, and the riser is changed, or at least inspection hatch it is not opened every year or even every decade.
About corner cabinets, pos. 6 and 7, we will talk in more detail below, but for now we will dwell on the walk-through cabinets, pos. 8. Actually, a real walk-through wardrobe is something like a walk-through dressing room: doors in front and back, and the contents are placed on the sides of the passage. Once upon a time, these were used in hallways to save space, but with the advent of reliable and affordable sliding doors, they began to consider a walk-in closet with a mezzanine above the door.
A walk-through cabinet will not only be appropriate in a long narrow room. He can be key element layout of the house as a whole. Let's say you are sketching a sketch of a future new building. And remember that not only construction costs, but also property taxes and utility bills in the future depend on the size of the house in the plan. Accordingly, you plan rooms for purely personal use - a kitchen, a bedroom, an office - according to the residual principle, as a result of which they emerge as tunnels of extremely small width for living rooms. This is where a walk-through wardrobe will help out: it will give the room(s) the necessary coziness, and it may also be possible to enclose a dressing room, closet or small workshop; A cabinet deeper than 65 cm is not needed.
Wardrobe, close-fitting outside corner, pos. 1 in the figure is no different: these are 2 wall cabinets with a stand at the corner. The rack is designed and subsequently assembled last. It is not structurally connected to the side wing sections, nor are the wings connected to each other.
With cabinets in inner corner it's different. If they are not single, then the corner section is designed and then assembled first, and the wings are already adjusted to it, and the last is the extension stand, if there is one.
Triangular (not necessarily equilateral) cabinet in the corner, pos. 2, this is most often a simple utility cabinet in that most restless corner, in the bathroom or on the balcony. We will look at a couple of constructions of this kind later.
In living rooms, L-shaped corner cabinets are most often installed, pos. 3, or five-wall cabinets, pos. 4. An L-shaped cabinet is a little more complicated than a regular one: there is no corner section as such, and the wings are also connected by an L-shaped stand in cross-section, pos. 4a. However, the G-cabinet is not very convenient and aesthetically pleasing, and the ratio of its capacity to occupied space is even less than that of a straight wall cabinet.
A five-wall cabinet is the most spacious of all, especially since the corner section can store very bulky things, practically without taking up any extra usable space. It is durable and stable because... its frame is a rigid spatial structure, pos. 4a. The wings of a corner cabinet, without compromising its stability, can be of different depths, therefore, both in front and in area, it can take up one and a half times less space than a wall cabinet of the same capacity, pos. 4b. And if there is a five-wall closet in the bedroom, then in just one corner there are 2 pencil cases with everything in them. in this case necessary, pos. 4c.
However, a five-wall cabinet, firstly, is more labor-intensive and requires more precise cutting of parts, which is especially important when making them yourself. Secondly, when designing it (see below), you need to take into account some nuances regarding the doors of the central section.
Take a closer look at how the doors of any cabinet open on hidden hinges. When the door is half open, its edge adjacent to the hinge extends a few mm beyond the clearance, and the plane of the fully open door again becomes flush with the side wall of the cabinet. If, instead of an empty space, there is a wing facade nearby, then the door may rest against it and not open completely. To avoid this, the angle between the facades of the central section and the wing adjacent to the hinges of its door must be at least 135 degrees. Therefore, if you are designing a five-wall with wings of unequal depth, the corner door should open towards the deeper wing. And if the depth of the wings is the same, or the corner has 2 doors, then the corner section should be equilateral.
Finally, cabinets that are trapezoidal in plan are occasionally made, pos. 5. They are complex, material- and labor-intensive, and their capacity relative to the occupied area is record-breakingly small. Trapezoidal cabinets are made only when the passage behind the cabinet turns out to be unacceptably narrow and needs to be somehow expanded.
Note: a special case– radius cabinets, see fig. on right. They are not only original and modernly elegant, but also durable, spacious and less blocking of passages. But their design is not for everyone and not even for every mid-level salon.
How to place the cabinet - directly on the floor, on a plinth or pads (legs)? The easiest way to do this is on the floor, but it must be perfectly flat and durable, for example, laid with a laminate over a flowing leveler on a backing without lags. The base is quite labor-intensive and requires extra boards, but it gives the cabinet strength. The bottom of the cabinet on thrust bearings, so that it does not sag, must be thick and durable, which can cost more than the material for the base. Therefore, it is recommended to make a cabinet with thrusters only in the kitchen, food pantry, etc. rooms where, as they used to say in the old days, worldly creatures such as cockroaches and mice can infest themselves. It is very difficult to get them out of the basement.
If the room where the cabinet will go is spacious enough, then the best option its doors are hinged. They are simpler, cheaper and more reliable than sliding ones. There is only one subtlety here: hidden hinges take not mortise ones, as in factory cabinets, but overhead ones, see fig. In production, they are less technologically advanced and cost-effective, because a backing block is required, but it is much stronger than mortise ones and there is no need to cut out holes in the side walls with a milling cutter.
However, not everyone lives in mansions, so sliding closet doors are the most common. In general, they open less often than interior ones, they don’t slam against drafts, and the only people who walk through the closet into the wall are bigwigs who don’t care what kind of doors there are or whether there are any at all. Therefore, cabinet doors can be made lighter, and the presence of a threshold does not affect the ease of use of the cabinet.
There are dozens of manufacturers of sliding door mechanisms; each produces several systems and tries to bring something new to the product so that it can better push its elbows in the market. The assembly instructions tell you exactly why this product is good, and as a rule, they don’t lie. But comments like, well, our product is more suitable here, and if it’s over there, then it’s better to turn to competitors, of course, don’t wait. Nevertheless, simple general rules for choosing a cabinet door mechanism can be drawn up, especially since there are no fundamental differences in quality between them.
First of all, for a cabinet door you do not need to use expensive mechanisms with a free lower edge of the door sliding in a shoe or along a ridge, see fig. These hanging systems are designed for heavy interior doors and require ceiling leveling. In addition, the bottom door leaf in the first case it wears out; in the second it turns out to be prone to breakdowns. Protective linings/gutters are sold optionally and the prices are, to put it mildly, somewhat strange. Other mechanisms are suitable for the cabinet, and here the choice depends on the door.
If the doors are solid wood or made of chipboard, and the cabinet is on a plinth, then a frameless sliding mechanism is more suitable, because It is cheaper and installing doors is easier with it. The cheapest of these is with top suspension (top travel, top rail) pos. And in Fig. Until recently, they were considered unreliable: when pushed, the doors on the top move would fall inward. But literally over the last 2-3 years, the top stroke has been seriously improved and the flimsiest of the current ones can withstand a blow to the facade of 45 kgf. This is stronger than the splash of a street hooligan or the kick of an overweight, tipsy guest.
For the same doors in a built-in closet, a system with a lower support (bottom rail), pos. B. Here, first, it is better to take a system with separate guides (tracks), pos. B1. Paired tracks require installation precision that is difficult to achieve at home and are designed for boards of a strictly defined thickness. Because of this, designing a cabinet becomes more difficult and the overspend on material may be greater than the savings due to paired tracks.
Further, frameless doors at 4 points of power (tight) contact with the tracks are prone to jamming, so the carriages of the upper rollers (rollers) need to be installed as quad self-aligning ones, pos. B2. But not any for any door.
Threaded fasteners in wood sit tighter if they are wound along the grain rather than across it. In laminated chipboard, on the contrary, self-tapping screws/confirmations are more securely wrapped in the face rather than in the end. Therefore, wooden doors are hung on end rollers, as in pos. B2. If the doors are made of laminated chipboard, then the rollers must be mounted on axles, i.e. L- or U-shaped brackets, like the lower rollers on pos. A.
Note: For a door with end rollers, a decorative trim covering the rollers and the top track is desirable. But in the hallway it may be superfluous - the gap at the top will provide ventilation for the closet with wet outerwear.
And finally, the lower rollers must, firstly, be adjustable in height, taking into account not only the unevenness of the floor, but also the drying out of the door leaf. Secondly, the lower rollers, especially if the cabinet goes into the hallway, are needed with a 2-axis support-thrust surface, i.e. with a flange, like a railway wheel, pos. B3, and rubber-coated steel; in extreme cases - propylene. Why? The flanged rollers themselves push dirt out of the track groove.
For a glass/mirror door, the only option well tested in practice is a frame door with a bottom rail made of special profiles, pos. Q. How to assemble it is described in detail in the company’s instructions and on the RuNet, but there are still some things you need to pay attention to.
First, make sure that the profile you like is one of those recommended in the mechanical specifications. As a rule, there are no problems here; the production of fittings for glass doors is well developed.
Second, installation of mirror/glass, pos. IN 1. You should only use glass of the recommended thickness with the included seals. It fits into them quite tightly, but if it gets in easily, then it won’t be difficult for it to fall out. To make it easier to frame the glass (profiles are put on it), you need:
Third, installation and fine-tuning of the upper rollers (“Asymmetrical roller” in the figure). That the asymmetry should be on the canvas in one direction, and for the outer and inner sashes in different sides, It's clear. But, pay attention to the inset at the top right: the same screw holds both the frame sections and the roller. Moreover, the screw is self-tapping, it is screwed only once. Assembling the frame “empty” without a mirror, and reassembling it after adjustment - gross mistake amateurs. That's why:
Look at what's on the left in the figure. And on the right is how it was made. Not bad, right? This door has not been tested hanging, but judging by what it has endured over more than 27 years of use, it will hold up. WITH acrylic glass, which was then a rare, expensive curiosity, will definitely hold up. The depth of the groove for glass is from 3 times its thickness.
The secret, firstly, is in aquarium silicone. It is much more expensive than the construction one, but 20 ml was more than enough for a couple of doors. But its strength is simply monstrous. Just take a look at a 200-liter aquarium and imagine what pressure there is from the inside. And the glass is simply glued end to end. Secondly, here the long edges of the glass are securely covered. Breaking glass with a direct blow is not so easy.
Note: Before installing the cabinet doors, you must, of course, check and set the squareness of the opening. It is inconvenient to use a tape measure, since it is not a cast-off foundation open on all sides. A pair of slats with pointed ends, fastened with rubber bands, will help out, see fig. At the first measurement, a mark is made on them with a pencil (pos. 1), and the divergence of its halves on the second will accurately show the difference in the diagonals (pos. 2).
Finally, at pos. G – wardrobe with book doors. The bottom line is that the area taken up for swinging doors, based on a set of ergonomic indicators, depends on the offset open door nonlinear. Therefore, a folding door will take up only 1/4 of the floor area compared to a swing door of the same width, and its fittings are cheaper than for sliding door, and never jams.
Material
What is the closet made of? There are 3 options here: laminated chipboard, solid wood (ready-made furniture panels) and measured lumber, i.e. just boards. Let's compare them by cost, complexity and work, strength, durability and aesthetics. Let's take into account that the overall strength of wood is less than laminated chipboard, so the thickness wooden parts we take not 16, but from 24 mm, and unplaned blanks - from 30 mm; 3 mm from each face will be spent on planing.
laminated chipboard
About edges
Cabinet parts made of laminated chipboard need to be edged. Since they cannot be crawled along their edges with elbows, the cabinets are edged with a flat melamine self-adhesive edge, 2 mm front edges and 0.4 mm invisible edges, see fig. on right. Melamine is a heat-resistant material, and you can edge it at home with a hot iron through a clean thin cloth or, better yet, fluoroplastic film. But first you need to find out what will cost less: edging together with cutting at a furniture company or doing it yourself using edging purchased at retail in small quantities.
Calculation
Laminated chipboard “lives” up to 25-30 years. Then the binder begins to break down, swell, and the ends of the parts take on the appearance of what is shown in Fig. left. A laminated chipboard sheet 2750x1850x16 mm (5 sq. m and 0.08 cubic m) of the 1st grade, glossy, will cost from 4,000 rubles; For a 2-door cabinet you need 2 sheets. Textured laminated chipboard without gloss of the 2nd grade can be found from 1100 rubles/sheet, but its phenol emission class will be from E2, which is unacceptable for residential premises.
Cutting sheets according to the drawing will cost about 500 rubles, and about 1000 more for edging the parts. We don’t count the fittings; they are the same for every cabinet. Total for a laminated chipboard for a cabinet that is 20 years old, “the same as everyone else’s,” is about 9,500 rubles. Let's add another 200 (this is very divine) for confirmations with plugs, because... for laminated chipboard this is the only acceptable option for assemblies, see below. Total about 10 thousand.
Array
Ready furniture panels you will need the same 5 sq. m, because They are produced planed with a thickness of 18 mm. Approximate prices per square panel 600 mm wide:
- Knotty pine 28 mm (after varnishing with tinted varnish, very beautiful furniture is obtained) – approx. 1850 rub./sq. m, i.e. OK. 9250 rub. on the closet.
- Straight-layer pine – 1950 rub./sq. m and 9750 rub. accordingly.
- Oak of the same size, 20 mm thick (acceptably, it is durable) - 7,500 rubles / sq. m. m and 37,500 rub. resp.
The fasteners will cost up to 200 rubles; they are made of wood, see below. Still ok. 1500 rub. - for varnish and glue. And the same amount as for laminated chipboard - for cutting, because The material is expensive and learning from it is expensive.
We can already conclude that you should only make a solid pine cabinet with your own hands: solid larch and birch are not much cheaper than oak, and beech, ash, walnut and maple are more expensive. However, solid pine cabinets also last 100-200 years or more.
Board
The edged board for the cabinet will use approximately (30/16) x 0.08 = 0.15 cubic meters. m. Let's give some extra reserve for amateur processing and take 0.25 cubic meters. m. Pine will cost approx. 5000 rub./cubic. m; oak and beech – approx. 24,000 rub./cubic. m. That is per cabinet - approx. 1250 and 6000 rub. respectively; for fasteners, varnish and glue - as in previous. case.
There is another argument in favor of natural wood. Take a look at fig. Such doors can be made from laminated chipboard and self-adhesive only in a thermal vacuum chamber, i.e. in production. But it’s difficult to do it from wood, but you can do it at home, using a hand router with a shaped cutter, that’s where the emphasis is. The curves are drawn by attaching a template to the corresponding edge of the workpiece. You can also practice cutting/simple carving by buying an extra board, it won’t be ruinous. To practice working skills, cheap pine or any wooden scraps will do.
However, making a homemade cabinet from boards is long and difficult. First, purchased lumber must be kept outdoors under a canopy from autumn to summer. This will be a complete analogue of industrial preparation by steaming to 100% humidity followed by drying with superheated steam. Next, the boards will need to be dried in a warm, dry room again until autumn: the cabinet is not a stool, the wood moisture content needs to be up to 6%.
Then the boards will need to be pulled together from the boards, like the top of a dining table, using a homemade clamp. They are assembled onto a smooth fugue, but not plywood, but from the same wood, or on dowels, see below.
Note: Boards for furniture must be purchased of absolutely good quality, without the slightest trace of rot and mold. Boards bleached with wood restorers are not suitable.
Summary of the material
In general, if you want to make at least some kind of cabinet in a couple of weekends until you have some money for good purchased furniture, then the only option is laminated chipboard on confirmed materials. If you intend to pass on your memory to your children and grandchildren in the form of homemade furniture(which by that time may have become a valuable antique), then you should consider the option of a wooden cabinet. Moreover, a plank made from valuable wood will cost no more than a homemade one made from laminated chipboard.
Connections
How to connect cabinet parts? Eccentrics, pos. 1 in Fig., discard immediately. These are connections of inexpensive quick-assembled/disassembled furniture; simply - consumer goods: brought, molded/inserted, spun, took money, ran away.
Thread profile and head configuration of confirmats, pos. 2, specially designed for laminated chipboards; wood on confirmed mats holds up worse, and laminated chipboard on wood-to-wood joints, see below, is generally very bad. Just keep in mind that, in addition to furniture fittings with a hexagon head, there are plumbing fittings for plastic, with a Phillips head. They are not interchangeable!
For confirmations you need a special drill, below at pos. 2, for each standard size of these hardware there is one. Holes for confirmations must be drilled along the conductor, pos. 3, otherwise the probability of one of the boards splitting during assembly is very high. Road conductor, for one-time work it is better to rent it.
It is also advisable to drill holes in the dowel connection along the jig, pos. 4, This is the best way to assemble wooden furniture. The fact is that the lignin of dowels and boards is gradually welded into a single mass, and the connection on the dowels gains strength over time. Furniture restorers are well familiar with this phenomenon.
Note: if the furniture is of the kind that can immediately experience extreme loads (say, a bed), then the dowels are installed with wedging. But we will leave the description of this technology until the appropriate occasion.
Ready-made dowels and blanks for them of different sizes are available for sale and are inexpensive. They need to be of the same type as the boards being joined, but harder: for pine - larch dowels, for furniture made of deciduous wood - oak. Oak is collected on oak dowels.
Also, a wide range of dowels (lamellas) are sold for joining panels from boards, pos. 5. The rules for choosing dowels are the same as dowels. As for the box connection pos. 6, then you need to learn how to make it if you are planning a real wooden cabinet that will last forever. In other cases, you can do it simpler, see below about filling, especially since the drawers, like removable modules, can be remade later.
About drywall cabinets
Drywall (gypsum board) is widely used in construction. But this is a finishing material, not a structural one. Therefore, when thinking about a gypsum board cabinet, keep in mind:
- It will require a complex frame made of special C- and U-profiles, pos. 1 in Fig., and a lot of fasteners.
- This cabinet cannot be moved.
- To hang the doors you will have to make a wooden frame on the facade, because... the hinges in the profiles do not hold in place and the entire frame is immediately prevented from using the doors.
- Drywall scratches and crumbles easily, so you should not place heavy, hard or sharp objects on the shelves.
In fact, a plasterboard cabinet is used in 2 cases. The first is a radius rack in a room with curved walls, pos. 2, because It is quite possible to make parts bent in one plane from gypsum board at home. The same cannot be said, however, about radius doors, without which a closet is not a closet.
The second is a simple corner cabinet for household items, pos. 3. GCR scraps left over from suspended ceiling and so on. With the indicated dimensions, a complex frame is not needed, but if there are doors, then the facade frame is still required.
Filling
Boxes
A “real” cabinet drawer is designed like a nightstand, see picture, only the dimensions are different. But at first, in order not to delay the work, it is better to assemble the drawer boxes on confirmed chipboards, simply sanded, without texture, and paint them. Decorative facade Then you can move it to the “correct” box of the same size. Or maybe leave it as is: a thick, durable bottom will allow you to use lower guides with a high load-bearing capacity.
Cabinet drawers are always used more intensively and are loaded more than in a bedside table; They often put something in them/look for something in the depths. Therefore, you should not place them on homemade wooden guides. By the way, the first attempts to make full extension guides for cabinet drawers date back neither more nor less... to the 15th century. This is how jamming and distortions plagued furniture makers even then.
Drawer guides are divided into bottom and side, depending on the method of attachment to the drawer. But this division is very arbitrary, because both ultimately hold onto the walls/partitions of the cabinet, which determines the strength of the suspension as a whole. When choosing guides, more attention should be paid to the technological gaps on the sides and between the drawers: the space “eaten up” by them significantly affects the capacity and cost of the product.
For boxes kitchen cabinet, which, however, needs a separate discussion, you need lower guides like metaboxes or their analogues. The weakest of them hold a full load of 20 kg, and there are models with 50-70 kg, even if you dump a sack of potatoes in a box. But metaboxes are by no means cheap, but by default they are equipped with closers, i.e. the pulled out drawer slides back completely on its own with a slight push by hand.
For ordinary drawers, ordinary lower roller guides will do, as, say, for a keyboard board computer desk, at the top in Fig. Their closer works rather roughly and a heavy box does not always close completely, but they are cheap and at full reach they hold up to 12-15 kg, including the weight of the box.
Boxes for books, tools, etc. It’s better to put it on Kulkov ball guides, down there. They are relatively inexpensive, practically eternal (no plastic parts), do not require technical clearances at the top and bottom, and can hold up to 20 kg at full reach. There is only one drawback: there is no closer.
Shelves
You can’t say much about the shelves: the board is just like a board. Thickness from 16 mm for chipboard, from 24 mm for pine, from 18 mm for oak. The laminated chipboard is closed “on the face” with a 2 mm edge, and on the sides and back - 0.4 mm, which must be taken into account when designing. There is no need to neglect edging so that the board does not crumble and collect dust. But, depending on the overall tone of the finish, instead of edging, you can take sanded chipboard, prime it and paint it.
There are also only 3 tricks in the shelf holders. First, do not take metal ones made of aluminum-magnesium alloy, but plastic ones made of PVC or polyethylene. The first are fragile, the second are weak. Second - take it with fastening with self-tapping screws. Plug-in ones with smooth pins will break out of their sockets over time. And the third - for an unpretentious utility cabinet, very durable and reliable shelf holders are made from scraps of plinth, see fig.
Barbell
Now in fashion is the so-called. end rods for hangers, see fig. But, frankly speaking, they are for avid tidyists: summer blouses here, shirts there, and pants-skirts here and nowhere else. The end rods do not increase the capacity of the cabinet; they just make it less clear where things hang. And take any ordinary longitudinal rods according to your taste and pocket, there are no unsuitable ones for sale.
Project
Independently designing a cabinet and furniture in general is not very difficult these days: there are convenient computer programs. Among the Russian-speaking ones, PRO100 and Basis-Mebelshchik are popular for free distribution. Both are quite powerful and functional, but the first is more suitable for the virtual arrangement of furniture in the interior, and the second for the detailed design of individual products.
Both software come with training videos, they are available in RuNet and separately. But, as with any new software, experienced users may also have some general confusion. Namely: where to start, where to go and where to arrive. No one has yet come up with a uniquely linear system of bookmarks with tools/options. And this is hardly possible for creatures with an intelligence higher than that of a fire pump. For Basis-Furniture Maker, the general instructions for designing a cabinet look like this:
- We enter the overall dimensions of the cabinet according to on-site measurements, this is the most critical stage;
- We set the dimensions of the base, bottom and roof;
- We assemble the back wall (fibreboard by default) with stiffeners (drawbars, chipboard by default);
- We arrange internal partitions, vertical and horizontal, according to the division of the cabinet into sections. Which ones and how many – you decide, not the program;
- We fill boxes. Basis-Furniture Maker does not automatically install shelves, rods, baskets, because... they are mounted in a ready-made cabinet on site;
- We enter the dimensions of the cabinet doors, but they need to be designed separately;
- Optionally we add mezzanines and open side racks;
- We place the edges and fittings in their places;
- We send drawings and specifications for printing with the exact dimensions of the parts: these are exactly what we need to purchase, order, saw, drill, cut.
Assembly
The manufacture of individual modules was discussed above in the course of the presentation, so let’s move straight to how to put it all together. Assembling a cabinet made of laminated chipboard on confirmed mats is not technologically difficult and is carried out in the following order:
- They try on the bottom and sides locally: was there any mistake when measuring the dimensions, position. 1 in Fig.;
- They assemble the base box and install internal partitions, because they are attached through the bottom, pos. 2;
- Place the side panels in place (carry the workpiece carefully!) so that the base fits exactly on the floor, pos. 3;
- They put on the roof;
- They move the cabinet aside, it is already strong enough, and sew up the back wall;
- Slide the cabinet into place and install the filling;
- Take out drawers, shelves, a bar (if it is in your pockets and not tightly secured), baskets, etc.;
- Install doors;
- Assemble and install mezzanines with racks, if any.
Assembling a wooden cabinet on dowels is different in that the internal partitions are placed after the sides, because otherwise they may break when moving the workpiece. And also because there is enough technical reserve under the ceiling for a cabinet without mezzanines: protrusion of dowels + roof thickness + (10-12) mm.
Special cases
The first is the hallway. Firstly, it needs a wardrobe that is small in width; English halls are not in use here. It is advisable to combine it with a hanger, then you will need a sliding single-door wardrobe, see fig. on the right, because Sometimes damp clothes will be hung in it and they will dry out in a sealed box. We also need more shelves for gloves, hats, scarves, summer clothes, and, of course, shoes. But there may be no boxes at all.
Schemes of cabinets in the hallway, hinged and sliding, are shown in Fig. The first is designed for a family of 2-3 people; the second is bachelor. The depth of the first is determined based on the minimum permissible width passage 900 mm. If you want to make it sliding, you need to add 170-220 mm to it, depending on the chosen door hanging system.
The second is a balcony. It’s not worth putting a closet there, arranged like a room: it will block a lot of light and dust collectors will form, see fig. For a balcony you need a cabinet made primarily of horizontal modules, or an unequal angled one.
A drawing of a cabinet, suitable for extremely narrow balconies of Khrushchev-era buildings, is shown on the left in the figure, and a corner one is shown on the right in the same place. The latter will not block the escape hatch yet, because... is placed in the gap between the fire escape and the wall, which otherwise wastes space.
Finally
Let's hope that this publication has at least a little clearer to you in detail on how to make a cabinet yourself. And as an example of the general progress of work on the manufacture of a wardrobe, we offer a video. For the rest - good luck, patience, ingenuity, accuracy!
Video: DIY wardrobe assembly
The design of the corner cabinet is very diverse and therefore this model occupies a leading position in popularity. The furniture is very multifunctional, which means it is necessary in almost every home. No matter what kind of room you have, a corner cabinet can easily help revive your interior.
Convenient and compact corner cabinet
When wondering how to make a corner cabinet with your own hands, you should understand that this is a painstaking and not quick task. Moreover, if in the end you want to see a product that is in no way inferior to the store version.
Before you start work, make all the necessary dimensions, draw up drawings, prepare material and tools, and the information presented below will help you with this.
A do-it-yourself corner wardrobe will easily help you solve the problem of storing your wardrobe, personal belongings, shoes, cutlery and much more. It is practical and roomy, but does not take up much space, freeing up space for more necessary uses. The dimensions of corner cabinets directly depend on the geometry of the room, how many corners it has, and how much space there is to install the cabinet. Even uneven walls can be easily eliminated if you make the correct calculation of the corner cabinet and give the room a noble look, adding bright notes.
Large and spacious wardrobe
The dimensions of the corner cabinet directly depend on the wishes of the master. But in general, it is always made under the ceiling or built-in, so it will become more spacious. Undoubtedly, the drawing of the corner cabinet shows that it has plenty of advantages (spaciousness and small dimensions), but there is also one significant disadvantage - inaccessibility to the farthest point of the cabinet, especially not the upper shelves.
Drawers won't either. convenient option, since they can only be placed on one square of the cabinet. The instructions for assembling a corner cabinet show that this option is not popular and is very rarely used in practice.
Often, a custom-made corner cabinet is installed in the kitchen, and this is not just like that:
Before assembling a corner cabinet, check its dimensions in advance. This is the main point in the work.
Buying a ready-made model in a store can be cheaper than ordering it to your own specifications. But at the same time, it will not become so practical and suitable. Any design, ready-made or assembled independently, has its own appearance:
Triangular Diagonal Trapezoid
Assembling a corner cabinet of a non-standard size is no less interesting than a regular one. Drawings of corner cabinets are drawn up in advance, taking into account all the features and nuances. Most often this becomes necessary when:
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It is almost impossible to choose the design of such a corner wardrobe in a store; you will have to rely entirely on your imagination. In some cases, this is even good; you can create a unique model, excluding similar options.
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Remember that for assembling any corner wardrobe there are cliches that should not be violated. The service life of the product and its strength depend on them. Each corner cabinet has its own dimensions, which can be changed, but not completely ignored.
Knowing how to make a modern wardrobe in a corner with your own hands, you can save a lot of money. Do not limit yourself in anything, use Additional materials, such as plastic, wood, processed glass and mirror surface. For example, a corner cabinet with photo printing has become a real feature of our time, so why not use this idea in your work? There are no restrictions in this area. A corner wardrobe with an original photo print will surprise both adults and children, and the mirror surface will delight you with its functionality. Don't waste time, get started as soon as possible.
