After cutting the panels I lay everything out and make sure it all fits together properly. At this point I mark everything for cabinet and orientation. In pencil I write on the inside of the cabinet panels. “L”, “R”, or “Center” so I know which speaker it goes with. I also add “Top” and/or “Front” along with an arrow pointing in the correct direction. These two steps make everything much easier since it’s now easy to figure out exactly which panel goes where and which way it should be flipped around.
Cutting Biscuit Slots
I use a biscuit joiner for constructing the cabinets. It helps line everything up quite well and is fairly easy to do. For this build I used size 10 biscuits, which are 2 inches wide.
A sidebar: there is some debate on the merits of using biscuits joints. They are either a “MUST HAVE TOOL” or “completely useless” (Google it). The primary purpose if the biscuit joiner is alignment, so it’s not that the joints are stronger or weaker. It’s more whether or not it is worth buying a $100-$200 tool. Well, I already have one, so I’m using that bad boy. But, just gluing the joints is going to be just as strong, so that is a perfectly viable option as well. But, getting everything lined up during the glue-up is a bit trickier.
This is the point where I ensure everything is pointing the right way and everything is marked properly. I do a few things to make sure I don’t mess up the slots – which is easy to do.
- I ensure I am referencing off the same surface for the joints that are going to go together. The slots don’t cut exactly in the middle of a 3/4″ piece of MDF, so I ensure when I cut a slot in an edge that the corresponding slot in the side is cut with the side perpendicular to the table.
- For spacing, I tried to space the biscuits out evenly. But, I think just locating them a couple of inches from the edge would have worked as well or better.
- When laying out the joints, I draw a line where each slot is going to be cut. I then dry fit everything back together again and make sure there is a line on each side of the joint. That way once I start churning out slots, I don’t accidentally cut a slot in an edge vs. a side or vice versa.
- The actual slot cutting goes quite fast once everything is marked. The trick is to make sure everything is cut in the right place and referenced to the correct side.
