You can assemble furniture without the help of professionals. The main thing is to know the basic rules and have the necessary tools. First, it’s worth studying all the nuances associated with the design of furniture. For example, when buying a wardrobe, you should pay attention to the presence of special profiles. If they are not there, this indicates that mirrors will be built into the wardrobe. In this case, the fastening will be carried out using special brackets that will prevent the mirrors from falling.
Many people have a dream - to assemble furniture themselves. For example, a good kitchen, wardrobe or bed. But in practice this can pose many difficulties. Here are some tips to help you save time and money.
Determine the size of the furniture
Buy furniture that exactly matches the size of the room. Many manufacturers offer furniture in standard sizes and to order. But it is always more profitable to buy a ready-made model, because it has several advantages. Keep in mind that some manufacturers offer furniture assembly services.
for furniture assembly
Prepare your workplace
Assembly is carried out on a flat surface. The surface on which assembly will be carried out must be clean, free from dust and dirt. If necessary, it is recommended to clean the surfaces from dust using a soft cloth or sponge. We recommend using a power tool with speed control for assembly. Do not use tools that may damage the surface of the furniture. Before starting assembly, it is necessary to determine the purpose of the parts. To do this, please read the instructions carefully.
Common mistakes while working
When a person who has no experience in this takes on the task of assembling furniture, mistakes are not easy to avoid. Especially if the necessary tools for assembling furniture are missing. Let's look at the most common mistakes that novice masters most often make.
Refusal to study the instructions. Some people believe that reading the instructions is completely unnecessary. But manufacturers provide this manual for a reason. Therefore, before you start assembling a piece of furniture, you need to familiarize yourself with its contents.
Incorrect installation sequence of structural parts. For some reason, craftsmen without experience believe that it is first necessary to secure all the large elements, and only then begin installing smaller ones. However, this is the wrong approach. First, small elements are fixed, and then larger ones.
Incorrect product specification. Oddly enough, experienced professionals sometimes make this mistake. Without studying the instructions, it is simply impossible to determine which parts are left and which are right. This causes confusion.
The surface for assembling furniture is dirty or uneven. Before starting work, you must clean the surface and check whether it is level.
Refusal to measure the diagonal of furniture. This makes it more difficult to avoid distortions. It is imperative to use a level to prevent this.
Complicating the work process due to confusion. By violating the order of work, you can complicate your task.
Refusal to verify the length of holes for fasteners. Schemes for assembling furniture with your own hands must contain information regarding all important quantities. And they need to be checked to avoid errors during the assembly process.
Before starting assembly, check that all parts are included
If any part is missing, contact the store where you purchased the furniture. Make sure all furniture parts are present. Incompleteness of parts can be determined visually; the presence of defects can be indicated by the seller who sold you the furniture. Check the packaging and its integrity. Damaged packaging may result in significant product defects. Make sure that the kit contains all the necessary parts and accessories provided by the manufacturer.
Work with an assistant
You can assemble a simple piece yourself, but in order to assemble a more complex piece of furniture, you will need to get someone to help you. In this way, objects can be prevented from falling and becoming defective, from incorrectly screwed screws and from improperly fastened to the wall.
If this is your first experience, then an assistant with at least some skills will be an additional guarantee of successful assembly.
screwdriver
If you want to make furniture yourself, then first of all you need to decide on its type and purpose. You should not immediately try to assemble a wardrobe if you have never done this. It is best to start by creating the simplest furniture - a chest of drawers or a nightstand. And only after that move on to more complex designs.
Furniture fastening elements
The choice of fasteners is influenced by:
- the material from which the furniture is made;
- required joint strength in different planes;
- design requirements: hidden or open fasteners;
- Manufacturability - convenience and speed of connection.
The most common fastenings are using:
- dowels or dowels;
- corners;
- self-tapping screws and self-tapping screws;
- furniture ties, including confirms and eccentric connections;
- bolt-nut pairs;
- special shelf holders.
Some elements require installation skills and special tools. Violation of technology leads to damage to furniture.
Dowels and dowels
Dowels are wooden or plastic cylinders with a diameter of 4 to 30 mm and a length of 15–200 mm.
The fastener serves for precise positioning of parts relative to each other and absorbs lateral loads. For example, dowels are used to install countertops or connect vertical walls to horizontal ones in cabinets and cabinets.
Longitudinal, transverse or helical notches are made on the surface of the fastening element. During installation, air escapes through them, and glue also accumulates in the notches.
A dowel allows you to connect parts in a hidden way. This is its difference from dowels , which are mounted through a hole in one of the parts.
Typically, the holes in both pieces are made by the furniture manufacturer.
If a table is being assembled , first install the fasteners into the end part , and if necessary, lubricate the surface of the dowel with wood glue. After this, apply the lid.
If there are no holes , they are made with a drill with a diameter 0.3 mm smaller than the diameter of the dowel . It is advisable to use factory or homemade conductors to eliminate through holes and sideways deviations.
Drilling holes for dowels
When making holes, the following conditions are observed:
- marking is carried out with a sharp object, and not with a pencil, this way the necessary accuracy is achieved;
- the holes are made with a wood drill - the thin tip prevents the drill from going to the side;
- A locking ring is put on the drill and fixed to make holes of the same depth.
When connecting, be careful not to apply excessive force.
Corners
An old and proven method of fastening - corner connection - is one of the most reliable. There are varieties:
For internal corners
For installation at the ends of parts
Fastening is carried out with self-tapping screws or self-tapping screws . It is important to choose the required corner size. Inserts for screws can be used , which simplifies installation and makes the structure more reliable.
A separate type of corners is designed for mounting cabinets on the wall . Reliability is achieved by the fact that the corner is attached to the furniture using a bolt and nut, which prevents it from falling if the screws become loose. It is these compounds that are desirable to be used in kitchen furniture, where laminated chipboard loses strength and becomes loose due to constant moisture and high temperature.
The special shape of the hole allows you to remove and hang cabinets without unscrewing the fasteners from the wall.
Modern models of corners may have plastic linings that increase the aesthetics of the connection.
Andrey Peregubsky
Furniture handyman
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For critical connections where loads in different planes are possible, use angles with stiffening ribs made in the form of stamping or bossing at the bend point.
Bolt-nut fastening
The connection with a bolt and nut is most reliable.
A hole is made in each part into which a bolt is inserted, a washer is placed on the inside and a nut is screwed on.
Pros and cons of the bolt-nut connection
Easy to install
Reusable
A large assortment
Bolt heads visible
Only parallel parts can be connected
The principle of the “bolt-nut” connection is used in many types of furniture ties, for example, intersectional or for hidden installation . For example, this is how you can connect countertops .
Furniture ties
Furniture ties have been developed specifically for joinery and therefore have the most suitable properties for furniture. Fasteners are used to connect parts at right angles .
The simplest, single-element type is confirmat ; other names are often found: eurobolt or euroscrew. Products are made with threads and heads of different sizes, as well as with slots for a hexagon or Phillips screwdriver. There are 3 common sizes of euroscrews: 5x50, 6.3x50 and 7.0x50 (70) mm.
The threads closest to the blunt end are made in the form of a cone and have serrations , which simplifies the cutting of threads in the body of the part.
For manufacturing, high-quality steel , which has increased ductility, which allows it to maintain integrity when bending and eliminates breakage. All European screws have an anti-corrosion coating , which is important for furniture in the kitchen and bathroom.
For installation, use two drills of the required diameter: one to drill a hole for the threaded part, the other for the head. Currently, special combined devices have appeared that allow you to make the desired hole without changing the drill in the screwdriver.
On sale there are confirmations with a boss-tooth on the head for countersinking and products with a flat head .
Tighten the euroscrews manually or with a screwdriver at low speed . It is not advisable to use a drill; at high speed, the European screw may turn and the threads in the wood will be cut off.
Furniture on confirmed mats can be disassembled, however, after 2-3 cycles the hole acquires a larger diameter and the connection becomes less strong.
Seats for eccentric couplers are made at the factory or independently using a Forstner drill of the required diameter. The ties themselves consist of two parts: an eccentric and a pin.
The pin is screwed into one element of the furniture, and a blind hole is prepared for the eccentric in another element. After installation, the eccentric is turned and it tightly pulls the stud head.
The difficulty of self-installation lies in the correct marking; an error of 2–3 mm will lead to the inoperability of the entire structure.
Eccentric couplers can be assembled and disassembled several times; the only danger is the breakage of the silumin eccentric, which will have to be replaced with a new one.
The side racks of the cabinets can be fastened together with shelf holders with eccentrics . A pin is screwed into the sidewall, and a hole for the eccentric is drilled in the shelf. The parts are connected, the eccentrics are tightened, and the shelf is pressed tightly against the sidewall.
Shelf supports with eccentrics cannot serve as full-fledged fastening elements when assembling cabinets - under load they can be torn out of the wood. The main fastening is carried out with corners or confirmations.
Self-tapping screws
Self-tapping screws and self-tapping screws are similar in appearance, but have differences in the material of manufacture and functionality:
- The screw shaft is thicker than a self-tapping screw, and the threads are shallower. As a result, the screw can withstand heavy loads.
- Self-tapping screws are made of hardened steel; they break more easily. At the same time, the slots on the heads of screws are often cut off with a screwdriver.
- The thread on a self-tapping screw usually reaches the head, while a screw's part of the shaft remains intact.
- The thread tip of the self-tapping screw is sharper, making it easier to tighten. For a screw, a hole of 70% of the diameter is usually drilled, since a screw without such preparation is difficult to tighten.
Design features give screws advantages when working with wood, while self-tapping screws are also suitable for chipboard, plastic, metal and drywall.
