Which comes first...paint or assembly of cabinet???

[hellothere123]

1) Do you prime and paint all the pieces and then assemble?

2) Or do you assemble, prime and then paint?


Also, do you paint the entire cabinet (including inside) or just prime and paint the faces you can actually see?


Thansk!

[ARTIFACT]

cut, assemble, etc first

then wood fill - you WILL have small gaps here and there, and you use wood fill to make it all feel like 1 piece ... you sand that

prime (2 coats) - dont need to sand TOO smooth here

paint

this way you can fill all the small gaps, and paint over it all.

ALSO ... you may ding the paint while building/cutting/etc.. this way you dont have to worry about it while building


I personally only painted the visible parts.

[miles2912]

Assemble.  There shouldn't be too many small gaps if you measured correctly  .  After you assemble take it all apart and paint.  Keep in mind that paint has a thickness so tight fitting pieces might not not fit after painting.  Leave a little room.  After that re-assemble.

[ARTIFACT]

as you can see there are many ways to do this...

the gaps I mentioned is from cutting. You can't count on *exactly* be on the lines you draw, and will get gaps if even just 1/32" here and there (if not, good for you!).
Beside, I personally don't see any issue about painting while the cab is built and standing... It worked fine for me and was convenient to access all sides at once.

anyway - different ways to do this, again!

[f4phantomii]

I'd say it depends on the space you have available to work.

I have a large workshop with plenty of room to cut out large pieces and assemble them as I go.

I was then able to roll the whole assembled cabinet (minus the control panel box) outside and spray the whole thing with several coats of flat black paint.  Flats dry quickly, especially in the sun.

If you don't have a garage or a larger space where you can work, it may make more sense for someone to take all the panels outside and paint them.  Then assemble them later and retouch any fastener holes or marks in the paint.

[gbeef]

To save time you may want to PRIME first. its alot easier to paint 3 large flat pieces of MDF. I wouldnt do this if you are planning on glue.

GLUE and PAINT dont mix

[javeryh]

The next cab that I build will be stained and I am DEFINITELY staining before gluing.  I'll get everything assembled and held together with biscuits/dowels and clamps to make sure it all fits.  Then I'll disassemble and stain everything before gluing it up.

It is so much easier to paint/stain a flat panel than trying to paint/stain interior corners once the piece is assembled.  That said, if you are painting I'd be a little worried about gluing over top of the paint - if the paint peels off. the glue will probably go with it.

[torez]

If you stain first before gluing, put some tape over places that will have glue on it.  That way you will have clean wood surface where the glue will go.

[javeryh]

If you stain first before gluing, put some tape over places that will have glue on it.  That way you will have clean wood surface where the glue will go.

Good idea.  I'm probably going to try and stain and then apply several coats of poly on top of it - I should try and leave the bare wood for glue strength.