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c/cabinetmakers•emerym36emerym36•4d ago

Found a weird trick for squaring up frameless cabinets without a clamp

I was building a stack of upper cabinets in my shop in Denver last month and kept getting twist in the boxes. Tried shimming, tried my panel clamps, nothing was holding them square while the glue dried. Finally I just screwed a scrap 2x4 diagonally across the back corners and that locked everything flat. Feels like cheating but it worked perfect on all 6 boxes. Anyone else do something janky like this that turned out to be a pro move?
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3 Comments
vera_lewis2
Tbh I used to think diagonal bracing was just for rough framing, not cabinets. I was dead wrong. Tried it once on a stubborn tall pantry that kept racking and it locked up dead flat. Now I keep a few precut 2x4s in my shop just for this, makes glue ups so much less stressful. Its one of those things that looks janky but works better than half the expensive clamps I own.
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grantp14
grantp143d ago
Forgot my own diagonal brace trick twice this week. Getting old.
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hollyl25
hollyl253d ago
Precut some 2x4s myself after that same trick saved a wobbly bookshelf glue up.
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