On 04/05/2012 11:18, Fred wrote:

I've noticed that all flat pack furniture, regardless of what it is,
follows the same general construction: two rigid sides, a rigid top,
and a flimsy back. I guess they use a flimsier piece of wood for the
back to save money? The top of the sides and the bottom of the top are

That and it only needs stop the frame from "racking" and stuff falling
out...

drilled to accept dowels and/or cam dowels, like these:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/cam-dowel-...ck-of-50/93435

One day, when I find time, I would like to have a go at making my own
furniture. I know it won't be as quick or as cheap as buying flat
pack, but where's the fun in that ?! I'm sure there must be a good
book I could buy about this. Can anyone recommend one?

There are plenty to choose from. You may be better off with a book on
basic techniques first though... possibly something like "Woodworking
with the Router" is quite a good one.

I can see that I would use a forstner bit to drill the hole for the
cam lock and a pillar drill to accurately drill the holes for the
dowels and cam dowels.

I think you may be creating a problem that you don't actually need to
solve. Cam and dowel fixings solve the problem of how to make a strong
joint in cheap chipboard, that can also be flat packed and assembled
later. Its not a joint you would normally use on "real" furniture since
there are plenty of better options available if you don't need something
that is going to be packed up as a kit and assembled by a non skilled
operative later.

For easy joint making in your own furniture, have a look at options like
pocket hole jigs or a biscuit jointer.

For example, see how I assembled these:

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?...Small_bookcase

(cam and dowel fixing could be done with a home made jig - or for that
matter there may be commercial ones available - but will be done on big
computer controlled machines in a factory normally)

I don't have a pillar drill at the moment. I do have to drill through
bits of wood for various projects and sometimes my holes are not as
perpendicular as I would like, so I think a pillar drill would be
useful. I have used google groups to search for old posts about pillar

Yup they can be useful...

drills and I have found a few recommending a 500w motor but looking at
Axminster, most of them seem to be lower than this, around the 300W
mark, unless you go for an expensive floor standing one. Is that the
only way to get the bigger motor?

MM have some with larger motors:

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/pr...-pilar%20drill

Machine mart sell "Clarke metalworker" models but I'm only interested
in woodworking. What's the difference? MM also list different tapers

None. You probably won't find a "woodworking" specific drill press -
they will all do both. Bigger beefier ones being better suited to some
woodworking techniques.

for different models. I've heard of Morse tapers but what are the
other types and what are the advantages /disadvantages of them?

I would say for woodworking and general drilling you can pretty much
ignore it. Many modern pillar drills have a protruding tapered bar that
mates with a tapered socket on the back of the chuck. Hence its only
really of any use for fitting a chuck, and that will hold all your bits.
Some higher end machines will have it the other way around with the
female bit of the taper fitting in the head of the drill, and male bit
on the chuck. This allows the option of taking the chuck off the head,
and fitting a drill bit with the same taper directly into the head.
Handy for very large blacksmith drills, and also for when you need spot
on centring accuracy. (a three jaw chuck will not give precise
realignment when you take the bit out and put it back again - but its at
a tolerance level that is not going to bother a woodworker)

And one last question about the furniture, if drilling a hole into the
top of a side piece, is the best way to rotate the table 90 degrees
and clamp the piece to that? That could be difficult if you want to
build a tall wardrobe/bookcase/etc. as you would need the drill to be
taller than the piece. I don't suppose there is any other way, such as
a drill that rotates!

Using the pillar drill to make yourself a jig would probably be easier.
All you really would need is a block of wood with an accurately drilled
hole through it in the middle, and another couple of holes in the middle
at either end. Glue some dowels into the end holes. Then slap it on your
edge with a dowel either side of the panel and rotate such that they are
both touching one side each. Your centre hole through the block is now
dead centre on the panel and you can use it to drill a square hole.


--
Cheers,

John.

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