dowel and glue Vs glue and screw

[rackoon]

Well I'm building a cocktail cab and have all the parts cut and ready to put together.  I'm using a 27" dotronix monitor that is (very heavy) and need my cab to support the weight.

 I was going to dowel the ends of the panels together but decided to add a 1.5" frame for extra support. So I started by gluing and doweling the 1.5 frame to ends of two panels. It was way hard to make it all match up when I was ready to put the dowel in and glue it. I used a lot of clamps and a eight pound hammer were involved. Always living in fear of plunging through oak plywood with my homemade depth guide. 

Now I'm thingking of clamping it all together and just drilling some pilot holes for some screws, then take it apart, slap on some glue, then clamp it again, and Finlay sinking some screws from the inside.

(The problem is that only .5" of a screw will sink into the panels once they go through the frame. It seems like the dowels would hold a lot more weight but be a total pain to do. Do you think the dowels are over the top to hold a monitor?)   

[patrickl]

I kinda like dowels myself. I bought one of those dowel jig things and that speeds up things considerably (and prevents drilling too deep). It still is a lot of work though, but probably not more than drilling pilot holes

[ChadTower]

Looks much like a biscuit joiner.

Hell, if you are that worried, dado the thing.

[ScottS]

Dowels really aren't necessary. Screws and Titebond wood glue are all you need. Actually, the screws are optional, too. Of course, you also need a good design. Assuming your cabinet is solid, I'd just glue and screw two pieces of wood on either side of the cabinet and put a shelf of 3/4" plywood across it. The screws are mainly to hold the wood in place while the glue dries. If your monitor is heavy enough that the shelf sags, run a brace from the left side of the cabinet to the right side. End grain doesn't glue well, so I'd run long screws into the brace from the outside of the cabinet. Countersink them and fill with putty or Bondo before painting. You want the edge (narrow side) of the brace against the plywood shelf.

[NiteWalker]

Glue and screws all the way. I don't bother with dowels at all anymore. I now prefer pocket hole joinery.