Corner Cupboard progress--door top rail

[JimReed2160]

This has been a good weekend for the corner cupboard. First I got the moulding applied the the foot build up. Next I installed the top door rail. This piece was an afterthought. The door frame just looked unfinished, so I added a rail. There is a rabbet on the back where it attaches to the top. It is dovetailed into blind dovetails on each side of the frame. That took lots of whacking with my Japanese chisels.
I hit some brads in the process, but that is another story.:wconfused:

Here is where we are so far:

 

[McRabbet]

Looking good!

 

[BumoutBob]

Looking good Jim. Is there going to be another shelf in the base? A reminder, think about a plate groove on all the shelves. More dishes can be stored/seen that way.

 

[JimReed2160]

Well, since this is the bottom, I had not planned for a plate groove. It does look a bit high, so I may have to retrofit a shelf of some sort in the middle of it. For the top, I plan three shelves so there will be four storage areas. I want to line the shelves up with the window panes. Four storage areas x three panes across means a 12 light top. Hmm. That door might be a tad heavy.

 

[BumoutBob]

Sounds good so far. Suggest a little homework: measure the height of the stack of dinner plates that is to be stored there and compare that with the proposed glass height.

I converted a solid door corner unit to a TV cabinet. Had to remove some of the back boards to get the TV in. The design problem was that the top unit had no strength at that point. I would suggest that the bottom of the top unit be made with a solid foot/rail all the way around. Don't depend on the rear boards to provide vertical strength to the top unit. Of course the board at the point of the back must support all the shelves and the top. just my $.02

 

[JimReed2160]

Thanks for the tips. I am kinda making this project up as I go along, mostly because it is more fun that way. Was not happy with the strength of the bottom box, so I added some support. I think I will dovetail the top box to make it stronger from the get-go. Need to think of some way to add strength to the interior shelves as they need support quite a bit of weight and failure is not an option. The back frame is 5/4 planed down to 4/4 so there is plenty of room for a sliding dovetail. That would be stronger than the dado that I used for the bottom.

 

[BumoutBob]

The old one I have is just nailed through. Three nails on the front and more on the rear and sides. Shelves are poplar.
Strength on a shelf comes from it sitting on something. That way the verticle member is in compression. If you made a dado on the front verticle boards, but not the sides, and another on the middle back, you would have three points on the shelves in compression. If each of the boards that make up the back are nailed in place, on each shelf, the top would be really strong. Maybe some triangular glue blocks too.
This is a detail of an upper shelf on mine. You can also see the 3/8" poplar t&g back boards.

 

[JimReed2160]

Each piece has dados, so the shelf is dadoed on five sides. And then there are the glue blocks. Still, I am concerned about racking on the top. I think I will dado all of the side pieces into the top and bottom. Then maybe a sliding dovetail for each shelf on the back. In that case, the front of the shelf could just sit on a block.

 

[BumoutBob]

That sounds like one of those jobs that will take some Wood Elves to help assemble. When assembled it will be strong and of the Best Craftmanship. Keep the pictures coming, I look forward to your progress.