Here's to all the wannabe woodworkers out there like us, who did something else in the world before a camper project took over our lives! For us, Carrie works on computers, Matt works for an internet company and I built race boats for a living. So... there are no cabinet builders in our crew! But we believe you can do whatever you set your mind to! We certainly aren't the best builders, and I'm sure there are better ways to accomplish the task at hand; regardless, here we are building cabinets in spite of our lack of depth in cabinetry skills!
As with every build-in we have done so far, it all begins with cleats that are glued and screwed to the walls, floor or ceiling. Good planning in the design stages provided for attachment points in the walls and ceiling to screw into. So far, we've been very lucky to have hit all of our attachment points!
We cut out all our pieces; bottom, sides and face. I know many cabinet builders do the face in multiple pieces. We opted to go with a one piece face to eliminate seams, cut down on weight and simplify the building process.
We built in a false floor to give plenty of room to run wiring, as the control panel for the Bluetooth Stereo and other gauges and switches will be mounted in the cabinet end. The last thing I want is visiblewires anywhere, even in a cabinet. In this case it also hides the cleats which seems like a nice bonus as well. Also, we made a private space for the overhead speaker to comfortably live...
Anyone following this build knows I have an aversion to 90° corners and straight lines. Angles and Curves, that's my jam! So I just couldn't bring myself to build the upper cabinetry with a square corner! N'arrive pas! The problem is, there's no way we could find to make the radius we wanted, in order to match the lower Galley Cabinet and Dinette Seats with the much narrower width of the upper cabinet.
Several failed attempts at the much shorter radius, caused by the narrower cabinet and the control panel placement wouldn't allow our curve to be as sweeping and casual, therefore resulting in blown up and busted birch every time we tried to make the bend. So... I bit the bullet and ordered an MDF pre-formed corner. It was a little pricy by the time I paid for the part plus the ride but a pretty cool piece that will solve the 90° corner debacle.
The next challenge is, to cover the corner with White Birch Veneer. I have purposely avoided any and all veneer up to this point. I have seen some not-so-pretty veneer failures in Campers and RV's due to the drastic temperatures they endure, both hot and cold; combined with the inability of most adhesives to be able to handle the fluctuations of extremes. After I consulted the professionals, the consistent opinion was, we need to use a glue that gets hard when cured. Contact cement was a definite no for this application. So the first thing I did was wipe down the backside of the Birch Veneer and the top side of the MDF panel with a damp rag. I then coated both surfaces with Tight Bond II and a chip brush.
Next, I used a heat gun on low to speed up the drying process.
At this point I wanted the glue dry to the touch, but not fully cured either. More or less just skimmed over. One veneer manufacturer told me you could leave the glue for up to 3 days. I'm not sure why you would want to do that, but good to know. I let mine dry for about 30 minutes total. This is where you should come back and add more glue to the edges if necessary. The edges are the most important parts to be sure there is enough glue contact. Next, I carefully laid the veneer on the part and wiped it down with a damp cloth. If you try this, be sure you lay your pieces together right where you want them. If you're unsure of yourself, lay a piece of waxed paper between the pieces, line it up, then carefully slide out the waxed paper. As soon as the glue touches each other it will stick, so you've got one shot. I allowed about a quarter inch all the way around of extra material just to be sure.
Now that I'm sure any excess glue is gone and the veneer is sufficiently damp, I covered it with brown paper and heated up the steam iron. I used the iron to press the veneer into place permanently, letting the steam and heat do the work. I went side to side, from one end to the other and back again, being sure to cover every square inch.
Violá! Next, it took a bit of trimming on the edges and its all finished!
I sanded the edges carefully with a block to keep it square, then finished off the face with fine sandpaper.
That's it for now. This weekend we'll get the corner cut to fit and finish building the cabinet, then I'll be ready to spray lacquer! Until next time, Happy Building my Friends!
Michael
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