All,
I’s like to use a French Cleat to hang a 28x20x6″ poplar cabinet in the bathroom. From pictures I’ve seen, it would appear that 3/4″ stock is the preferred for a french cleat…is that correct ? If I attach a 3/4″ piece to the back panel the piece will sit proud of the wall by 3/4″…not so good.
The back panel, however is about 3/4″ thick(after planing and sanding…somewhat less). I’m wondering if I dado the back a 1/2″, add some 1/4″ ply and cut a 45 angle…and then place on the wall a 3/4″ cleat….that might look okay?
any thoughts?….this may be just the tryptophan talking (too much turkey)
Replies
BG,
For french cleats, 1/2" stock is adequate. Since your cabinet is already built you could, of course, simply screw through the 3/4" back into studs. If you're intent on french cleating it up, then a process I can envision is to rout a large channel in the cabinet back. The channel would be 1/2" deep and stay within the confines of the sides of the cabinet so it would not be visible. The height of the channel would be, say, 6" which would be enough to allow for two 2.5" high cleats (there has to be space for the angles to ride over each other. You can get by with a cleat at the top of the cabinet and none at the bottom; for insurance, you could put a screw through the back near the bottom of the cabinet to keep it from getting bumped up and off the cleat. Also, 45* is typical of the bevel cut on french cleats, but anything 15* and higher will work.
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Bill,
I like that solution. I can probably get away with one 2.5" wide cleat and put a small screw or two through the back into the cleat to hold everything in place...I want to allow for movement of the panel and still avoid big scews directly into the wall. thanks
"... and still avoid big scews directly into the wall."
BG,
With any solution you will have to screw the wall portion of the cleat into wall studs. After cutting the channel with a flat mortising bit, I suppose you could use a dovetail bit to cut an angle directly in the cabinet back rather than add a beveled piece to it.
Stein offered a good solution also. I didn't think about the brackets he mentioned, but they would require less space than a wooden cleat. Here's a link to a data sheet on them at Rockler: http://www.rockler.com/tech/66605.pdf
Regards,Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
Food for Thought: The Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Bill,
The possibility of using the dovetail bit to set the cleat angle, half inch deep into the back panel, was running through my mind too...I was also playing around with the idea of a loose fitting sliding dovetail...but then I'd have to cut into the side of the case to get attached...not so good.
The metal cleat that Stein suggested is nice because only a 1/4" or so depth out of the back would be required. However, I would need to limit the screw depth severely going into the back of the case...I'd have less than 1/2" wood thickness to work with..
With either cleat material, I'm probably going to keep the cleat to minimun length (17" or so) to allow flexibility for aligning the case over the toilet...ya know, if it ain't color coordinated, level and aligned your breaking 5 of the 10 commandments.
BIG, theres extruded aluminum offset strips that can be cut with a hacksaw. These only protrude 1/4"if you drill and countersink the screw holes.
They are two inches wide and come in lenghts 4ft, 6ft and 8ft and can easily be cut on the table saw (Carbide blade) Steinmetz.
,
Stein,
The aluminum cleat is a good idea, did not know there is such a thing. I'll take a look at the aluminum (hardware store?) in case the wood solution Bill suggested can't work. thanks
Theyre called z strips Google up french cleats aluminum .
Stein
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled