what type of wood (or wood alternative) to use?

[JoeStrout]

I'm in the early planning stages for a 4-player cabinet I hope to build this summer.  I'm modeling it off of Jakobud's Gauntlet cabinet plans.

One goal I have is to make this cabinet not so friggin' heavy.  I will be using an LCD monitor, and a tiny computer (possibly a Raspberry Pi), so almost all the weight is in the cabinet itself.

I know that most builders build from MDF, but that stuff is friggin' heavy, which (as I believe I mentioned) I'm trying to avoid.

Anybody have any opinions about building out of a lighter wood, like pine perhaps?

Or what about this new fiberglass-reinforced polyurethane foam from 3M?  Or are there other plastics I could consider?

[mgb]

Well, you need some kind of weight or it may move on you when playing.

If you plan on covering it with laminate (I highly reccomend it) than you may be able to get by with ply wood or osb board.
There is also mdo plywood which is plywood sandwiched in mdf so it's a little lighter I believe.
Also I believe particle board is little lighter than MDF but I've been told it not. But to me it seems lighter.

I don't know about the other product you mentioned

[Slippyblade]

What MGB said.

Mass has an important place in a cabinet.  Think about how much lateral stress you are putting on a machine during a close-call round of Street Fighter.  A heavy cab sits rock steady, a lighter one will rock and, in extreme cases, tip.

[JoeStrout]

It seems to me that it's easy to add weight to a cab — for example, by placing a few 25 lb weight-bench weights in the bottom.  But it's not easy to remove weight when it's too heavy.

[8BitMonk]

I'd go with a black melamine coated MDF if you can find it in your area, a 3/4" 4x8 sheet is about $50.

It's really nice to have a finished surface to work from, one less thing to worry about, especially if it's your first build.  It IS heavy but unless you're moving it frequently that should'nt be an issue. By the time you get all the components in it, it's going to be heavy either way and it's probably more important that it's structurally sound with 4 people torquing on it. I just use furniture sliders to move mine around if need be.

That 3M board looks interesting but it's about 5x or more the cost of MDF.

[JoeStrout]

Yeah, those are good points.  It's true that I don't expect to be moving the cabinet around much once it's in position.  If I'm completely honest, I think the sheer geeky coolness of using a lightweight space-age material is part of the attraction... but that may not be worth $200/sheet.

I've pretty well decided I'm going to be screwing parts together from the outside, which means filling in the screw heads (with bondo, perhaps?) and then painting after it's assembled.  Given that, would you say it's still worth using melamine coated material?

Thanks,
- Joe

[yotsuya]

I've pretty well decided I'm going to be screwing parts together from the outside, which means filling in the screw heads (with bondo, perhaps?) and then painting after it's assembled.  Given that, would you say it's still worth using melamine coated material?
Thanks,
- Joe

Not if you're going to drill through it. It defeats the purpose of using a finished surface.

[mgb]

If you really want to save some weight over MDF and you plan on screwing in from the outer sides and bondo-ing,
I'd strongly suggest osb board and then laminate.
Osb is straighter and truer than plywood will typically be (not including furniture grade, but that's more expensive)
And in my opinion, there is no better finish for a cab than laminate.


Yes it's true that you can add weight to a cabinet if it's built from lighter materials but it's not just a matter of weight in the bottom of the cabinet. It's also a case of solid material. You don't want flimsy sides.
I'd also advice against your possible idea of using pine. It's just too soft.

[Saneless]

I went with birch finished plywood. Strong and about 60% of the weight of MDF.