Birch box construction

[cha0 10+ year member]

So im looking for something lighter then MDF and less flexable. closes place to me that sells trupan in the midwest is about 2.5 hours away. luckily for me theres a really big lumber yard a few miles from me. they have premium birch plywood, no voids, and its like 11 ply. the 3/4th inch is 35 bucks for a 4x8 sheet.

the question is from what i have read screws dont do anything if you have a good wood glue. so would there be any problem if i used a good glue and just used a brad nailer of finish nailer to tack it all together along with corner clamps? i dont mind using the screws but using a pnumatic nailer and some glue would be SOOO much faster. thanks in advance for the info.

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[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

Here is my opinion....

Yes, I understand, glue holds the joints together. Im not going to argue that.

But screws will give a tighter joint while the glue dries than brads will. Thats why I use screws. Sure brads are faster.... but Im a little more concerned with quality than speed.

Just my $.02.

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

totally agree on the speed VS quality thats why i asked. i have read numerous places that "screws do nothing when a good glue is used" so i figured hell, if the end result will be the same, why wouldnt you go the faster route.

screws it is...

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

BTW, BJ, why the hell are you on line and not finishing up your box and taking pics for us to drool over?!

 

[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

OH, BTW. Thats a really good price on that Birch if it is truly void free 11 ply. Thats probably right in the range of what you would pay for a sheet of Trupan. Might as well stain that birch //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

BTW, BJ, why the hell are you on line and not finishing up your box and taking pics for us to drool over?!

LOL, cause Im exhausted... and I have other boxes to work on ATM. Sorry //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

yea i thought it was a decent price to. home depots normal birch is 36.99 out by me.

 

[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

Ive never really compared prices outside of my normal supplier.... so yea... LOL

But for a 5 x 5 sheet of 13 ply BB, it was like $32 or so....

 

[budahbuddy803 10+ year member]

i used screws on my first box and it didnt come out so well... maybe because my inexperience. i just have a problem holding the two pieces of wood with glue on them, even after pre-drilling, and then screwing in the screws. Maybe because i used to thick of screws also. I am going to try using glue, air compressed nail gun, and clams this time.

BTW how would i describe the wood clamps people use on here that are very long? I saw a 12" one on sale at home depot of but a longer one. What size do you guys get?

 

[cha0 10+ year member]

i just use the corner clamps but thats a slow way to go...

 

[bjfish11 5,000+ posts]

They are "Bar Clamps." Personally, if I were to spend money on clamps, I wouldnt get anything less than 36". And they are really expensive, so I just dont use any. There is really no reason to use clamps and screws, unless you just want to clamp it to get the screws installed, then unclamp and move on.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

BTW how would i describe the wood clamps people use on here that are very long? I saw a 12" one on sale at home depot of but a longer one. What size do you guys get?

Bar clamps?

I've seen them up to 4-5 feet, beyond that people use pipes with clamp pieces on them, so you can extend the clamps out as long as you need it.

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

Here is my opinion....
Yes, I understand, glue holds the joints together. Im not going to argue that.

But screws will give a tighter joint while the glue dries than brads will. Thats why I use screws. Sure brads are faster.... but Im a little more concerned with quality than speed.

Just my $.02.

totally agree. a nail gun does not hold it tight as a screw. i have also found that long screws are better. they can hold mdf much tighter without stripping the wood. i currently use about 3 2.5'' screws on an edge about 16'' tall. seems to work very nicely.

 

[PSturmer 10+ year member]

wednesday i am actually doing some tests of birch vs. mdf concerning spl. in the evening i will make a thread and post the results. basically i am making 2 identical box's. illuminating all the variables i have control of.

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

Despite what other people tell you, USE SCREWS.

During my box building spree before finals I forgot to put screws on only ONE EDGE of the box while the rest was all screwed down.

I didn't use the box until the next day and when I did, I learned the hard way that glue alone will NOT hold a box together in my application. The first full tilt burp completely broke that edge of the box.

Some people don't realize exactly how much pressure is building inside a box, in my case about 170 dB worth.

For lower power situations it can do fine, but my 9515 has broken several boxes that were screwed AND glued because it still wasn't strong enough.

I use 1 5/8" coarse threaded screws about every 5-6".