Plywood vs MDF

[ragnar]

Regarding slot cutting, are there any issues with doing the slots for t-molding in plywood?

[The Lumberjackass]

yes, i know what osb is , and i still say its not suitable.

but im not saying this to dis-hearten you or anything. if you want to use it , by all means do. i just dont want others to read through
this thread and think osb will work well as a material for building a cab . i'd prefer them to use mdf or plywood because it has the best
properties suitable for the project.

as for the whole " osb is lighter / heavier " debate , well, it is and it isnt.
there are different grades of plywood , some light and some heavy ( marine ply for instance is heavy ) and there are also
different grades of osb. depending on where you get either material ( us , canada or euro ) and what grade it is, there will be a difference in the + or - in the density and or weight. but i still stand by what i said above as they are constantly making changes to osb to make it stronger and lighter within the manufacturing process.

either way, the weight of the material shouldnt be an issue. i would prefer using the heaviest material available ( as long as its not osb )
but i have no idea why peeps want to use the lightest stuff they can get. when it makes more sense to build a cab that can take
some punishment and or take the weight of a full grown adult leaning on it.

i do wish you the best on the cab your building tho , because its going to be that bit harder to finish the side panels.

[The Lumberjackass]

Regarding slot cutting, are there any issues with doing the slots for t-molding in plywood?

yes. unfortunately.

depends highly on what plywood you are using, but if there are any gaps in the plywood, this will have a reduced holding power
on the t-moulding as there isnt any material to hold the t-moulding in place. google " gappy plywood " or something similar to see what i mean.

the largest gap ive ever seen in plwood measured in at 5 inches ( and ive heard of larger ) , but the plywood type was " shuttering ply " ( cheap stuff ).
but alot of people get caught out thinking any plywood will do. well, it wont. you need to spend good money on good plywood.

i wasnt taking any chances and i opted for mdf. which i still think is the best cab material you can buy.

[push2reject]

I think people say OSB when they might mean PB.  I'll be trying out melamine PB on my upcoming build. I don't see it used a lot on these forums.  Cheap and no need to paint, but it does have its downsides.

My apologies for clicking the quote button LJ.  Now that I look again it clearly looks like I was responding to you personally.  I was interjecting a thought which had its genesis in reading your post.  I definitely wasn't trying to tell you what OSB was.  And PB is certainly not the panultimate material.

*sigh*

[XNIF]

@The Lumberjackass well i never meant to say that OSB is any good.  I would NEVER choose that material again. But all other wood was out of stock that time. So anyone reading this never choose OSB. It's crappy, it will mean a lot of extra work.

[The Lumberjackass]

hehe , no worries push2
i understand completely where your coming from

and xnif , i know you werent saying it is a good material to use.
( well, for its designed purpose , yes, its a good material , but cab building , no )
its just gonna break your heart trying to get it to look right , and for that you have my utmost hope that you succeed in making it work.
if all else fails , and i know its not something you'd like to do , but starting over with mdf again could make your build go faster overall ( less time filling , smoothing , problem solving ).

but as i say, its completely up to you with how you want your project and its direction to go. but if you do need some help or advice, the whole community is here behind you 

[push2reject]

I'm still going to use Melamine PB for my cab. It is a really interesting material.  A while back I purchased a length of melamine PB (closet shelf) for 6 dollars to experiment with.  Reading about it on the internet I knew it would not cut nicely with a circular saw.  I took a router to it and it shapes beautifully.  I can get a really clean edge on it.  (I'm pretty sure Northcoast Custom Arcades and the like CNC cut Melamine PB)  I also finish nailed and glued (polyurethane construction adhesive) an L frame piece with a baton.  I'm 220 and it could hold my full weight.  (Actually it could hold 250.  I was carrying my son when I did the stress test.)  I'm actually impressed so far.  I found a cabinet supply place where I can get the color and grade that I want.  I had actually inquired about melamine MDF/HDF.  It was a no go.  I can't find any supplier within a hundred miles that has anything like that.

I'll be starting a build thread in a couple of weeks.  We'll see how it goes.

[The Lumberjackass]

wow, im pretty surprised that you cant get melamine faced mdf 

its as common as muck over here but it is expensive , 30 euro per sheet.
but i suppose PB will suffice for you if there isnt any other material available . and yes, good man, your using your head , a router cuts cleaner and doesnt produce any chip out at all  . i did all my cuts with a festool ts55 and then used a router to shape it into its final form.
lovely smooth edges 

[releasedtruth]

I used a combination of MDF and ply mostly because MDO was hard to come by in our town. I will tell you that MDF is definitely a mess, but I don't use it for load bearing (cab has a 2x4 superstructure). I would definitely fight to find MDO where you can and if you get ply, make sure it's good because I've bought some bad/warped ply that really disappointed.