Wood Comparison

[merdman]

I didn't search the forum for previous topics on this matter, so sorry for a repeat if so. I'm going to have a metal working place in my town CNC some steel jigs for my router. The jigs will yield perfect cut peaces each time.

Now I just have to decide the type of wood. I'm considering between plywood and MDF. I see the majority of cabinets are built with MDF. It is cheaper, but at Home Depot I can get Agathis plywood for about the same price as MDF. I need to know what wood is best for this purpose. and the strength comparison. I assume plywood is better then MDF. But I wasn't sure about agathis. I can't seam to find information about the type of plywood. I know birch or oak will make a better cabinet the an MDF one, but the prices versus agathis & oak | birch are expensive. What should I get and what should I be looking for? Is there a way to tell of place to read about facts with these types of materials?

[ScottS]

Plywood, no matter what type, is always more rigid, lighter, and holds screws better than MDF. The disadvantage of plywood is that you usually can't route complex profiles on the edges. Even a simple round-over or chamfer will look like crap in plywood. Agathis is about the cheapest plywood you can buy. Which isn't to say that it's bad; I've used it and it's actually pretty decent stuff. The only downside is that it's probably a tropical wood and someone is raping a rainforst somewhere in order to produce it...

If you're planning to paint your cabinet, consider using MDO (Medium Density Overlay). It's basically plywood with a thin paper/MDF-life surface covering. It has all of the strength of plywood, but the special surface makes it a breeze to paint. Unfortunately, it's usually a special-order item and you'll have to go to a real lumber yard to find it (as opposed to Lowe's or Home Depot). It'll cost about the same as a medium-grade hardwood plywood.

MDF is crap; I don't know why people use it. Probably because it's dirt cheap and they don't know any better... I'm assuming factory cabinets use it because their CNC routers can deal with it effectively. Unless you need to route complex profiles or make a cabinet that's immovably heavy, I wouldn't use MDF.

[merdman]

Cool, I will use Agathis then, unless for some reason I choose to get Oak or Birch; Mahogany maybe? I will look into the MDO also.

More on routing: I'm have a metal working place CNC a simple jig that fallows around the profile of a cabinet. Not the entire profile, just the curves. I want to provide a perfect look and I can use a circular saw or jig saw with a straight edge until I get to the point were I have to use a router to get the nice looking curves. I was looking at a jig designed for plywood strait cuts. I assumed it would cut with minimal edge ripping.

Take for instance a Galaga cabinet. The top and front curves I would use a router with a jig, but the rest I would cut with a simple say & straight edge.

Would you have any tips on how to route plywood with out ripping it up?

[ScottS]

To be honest, I wouldn't bother with the CNC metalworking. Unless it's absolutely free, it sounds like overkill. Heck, even if it's free it's overkill! If you're going to go CNC, you might as well just have them cut your wood directly...

I'd cut a template out of hardboard or 1/4" plywood using a jigsaw, sand it until the shape was correct, then use that as a template for the full-thickness plywood. Drop the template onto the plywood and trace the outline. Cut the full-thickness plywood out with a jigsaw; don't cut right to the line, just get close. Once you have the piece cut out, attach the template and then use a router to trim the full-thickness pieces so they're exactly the same size and shape as the template.

Routing plywood without ripping it up is a bit of a black art. Ultra-sharp router bits are a must. Climb cutting is often required near corners. Don't move too fast... but you don't want to move too slow either. Higher-quality plywood like Baltic Birch, Finnish Birch, Appleply, etc. increases the chances that your edges won't have huge voids like the Agathis will.

Don't spend the money for Oak, Birch, or Mahogany plywood unless you're planning to stain your cabinet. If you're going to paint it, stick with something cheap or use MDO. Paying for nice wood and then painting it is a complete waste of money.

[merdman]

OK, I will take your advice and use MDO. I think I remember seeing a tutorial or a DIY cabinet thread where some one used MDO that had an orange overlay. If I remember correctly the thread was quite detailed.

I need to build 4 cabinets. 4 of the same type. I was taking from the Multi-Williams cabinet. Its to expensive to order them off line so I thought I could save loads of money by building them my self. I also though I could get perfect edges each time by have a small jig for the router that covers the round corners and other curves. I'm not that good at wood working so I thought that the jig would be sort of like a fail safe. I couldn't go wrong if I used the jig each time. The jig would cost be like $70 - $100; maybe even less. Depending on the size (i.e. the whole side or just parts of it).

What I need is some good wood working tutorials that explain a few tips or tricks to get those round corners, like say, for example, on a Galaga / Galaxian cabinets.

My idea, is to make something simple and elegant. I'm probably overkilling it a bit, but I just wanted to be safe. Now, that I know what material to buy I can at least start planning... planning... planning... until I have a solid design on what I need to do. I've researched lots of material so far and I understand a lot more (like, 100% more) then when I started.

Back on topic, MDF vs Plywood. No comparison, MDF sucks then! I need strength durability and over quality over time and usage. I should have figured plywood would out perform MDF. I did in fact, but I all ways like to make sure before I get into something. I have a limited price range, so I also was checking maybe to see if the materials were that far apart via quality.

Anyways, please, please post some links for wood working related to arcade cabinets. I'm always looking for more material to study so I have a better understanding of the overall process of construction.

Thanks you for your advice, as it HAS been very helpfull.

[DrewKaree]

If you have a Menard's store near you, they should carry MDO.  Oh, and see if the template makers would be interested in dropping the price in exchange for being able to make a copy for themselves.  Can't hurt to ask, anyway.

[ScottS]

I need to build 4 cabinets. 4 of the same type. I was taking from the Multi-Williams cabinet. Its to expensive to order them off line so I thought I could save loads of money by building them my self. I also though I could get perfect edges each time by have a small jig for the router that covers the round corners and other curves. I'm not that good at wood working so I thought that the jig would be sort of like a fail safe. I couldn't go wrong if I used the jig each time. The jig would cost be like $70 - $100; maybe even less. Depending on the size (i.e. the whole side or just parts of it).

You definitely want a jig. But I think you could make your own jig out of 1/4" plywood or hardboard for a quarter of the price. Once you have the jig/template made, you can use a router to duplicate it onto as many pieces of plywood or MDO as you want.

There are lots of methods for drawing curves and rounded corners. For curves, I generally use TIG welding filler rod. It's 36" long and flexible. I think I usually use the 1/16" rod. Your local welding supplier will probably give you a couple for free. I hold one end down with my knee, position the other end with my hand, then use the other hand to run a pencil along the wire to draw the curve. Rounded corners can be drawn with a coaster, cup, or can of the appropriate size. Once you have the template drawn on your plywood or hardboard, you cut it out with a jigsaw. Cut as close to the line as you're comfortable with. Once you have the piece cutout, sand the edge right to the line. It may take some time, but once you're done you should have a perfect light-weight template of the side of your cabinet (or whatever piece you're working on).

Then, as I said before, drop this template on top of your MDO or plywood, run a router equipped with a template bit around it, and you have an exact duplicate of the template. Repeat it as many times as you need and the resulting pieces should all be identical.