newcastle woodworking€¦ · · 2012-01-25newcastle woodworking ta12006.docx page 2 ©2012...

©2012 NEWCASTLE WOODWORKING

NEWCASTLE WOODWORKING ™Seaswift Investments LLC

CUSTOM CLOSET SYSTEM

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION NOTES

AND ENGINEERING DRAWINGS

2 Fixed Shelves3 Moveable Shelves1 Closet Rod

Lower Closet Rod

Upper Closet Rod

Lower Rail

2 Fixed Shelves6 Moveable Shelves

2 Fixed Shelves2 Moveable Shelves3 Drawers

2 Fixed Shelves2 Closet Rods

2 Fixed Shelves1 Closet Rod forLong Clothing

Top Rail

Bottom Rail

Standard Upright

Tall Upright

Newcastle Woodworking TA12006.DOCX

©2012 Newcastle Woodworking

DESIGN NOTES

Basic Module

The basic module used in these plans is made up of 2 rails attached to the wall, 2 uprights attached to the rails and 2 fixed shelves (as shown below). The number of these bays is limited only by the length of wall available.

The rails will be attached to studs in the wall whenever possible. When installed, the rails are almost completely concealed from view by the shelves and by hanging clothes.

The uprights can be located as desired along the rails, including at the ends. We usually use bay widths of about 30”, but other widths can be used if necessary to fit the closet.

Inside this basic module the optional elements can be installed.

Additional uprights can be installed on the rails as desired and optional elements can be installed between the existing and new uprights. So construction of 2 basic modules requires only 3 uprights, not 4. This can be continued with more uprights as desired.

On bays with tall uprights the lower rail is mounted at the bottom of the tall upright, lower than with the standard upright.

Floor Space

Because the closet modules mount on the wall, the floor space underneath is completely clear for cleaning. Any tall bays have room underneath for shoes and laundry baskets.

Customization

The basic modules can be customized in many ways as desired by the user. One bay can be used in a closet, or as many as can be fitted into the space available.

We are presenting 5 different configurations here:

Upper and lower closet rods

Upper shelves with a lower closet rod

An upper shelf and a closet rod for long garments

Full height array of shelves (tall uprights)

Upper shelves and lower drawers (tall uprights)

Any of these options can be used in any bay. The options are shown in the isometric sketch on the cover page.

Cabinet doors can be mounted on the shelving modules if desired.

A chest of drawers, not greater than 37” high, can be placed under the standard height modules if desired.

Application

We have used this design for installation of closet organizers in large walk-in closets, where modules can be mounted on 3 or even 4 walls, depending on the closet dimensions.

We have used it in common minimalist reach-in closets that with a depth of less than 24”.

We have even used it successfully in 24” deep closets where the door is



much narrower than the closet itself, resulting in a deep pocket where it is necessary to reach in to access hanging clothes.

Mounting

The rails will be attached to studs in the wall whenever possible. When installed, the rails are almost completely concealed from view by the shelves and by hanging clothes.

The uprights will be attached to the rails by mounting brackets incorporating wooden dowels and a machine screw, generally as shown below.

The top and bottom (fixed) shelves in each bay will be located by shelf pins just as any other shelf. However, they will then be fixed to the upright with steel brackets as shown below.

This results in a rigid structure for each bay.

Recommended Tools

Table Saw Miter Saw Router Drill Press Dowel Jig Jig Saw Stud Finder

Materials

The rails can be made from hardwood or softwood 1 x 4 boards as long as there are not many defects. We recommend hardwood for the brackets - we use red oak.

The common choices for material type for the uprights and shelves are plywood and white melamine particle board. We normally use particleboard. Lowe’s now carries this material with a bullnose edge in the front, an aesthetic improvement over the standard square edges.

Material thickness should be ¾” to prevent shelves from sagging.

Pre-drilled boards, specifically for the use of shelf pins in closet uprights, are available. But different manufacturers use different hole patterns and we usually prefer drilling holes only where needed.



For normal wall closets, which are often about 24” deep, 12” wide boards (nominal width) are probably the best, and we have used this width in the drawings here. Shelving material is also available in 15” wide boards and this wider material might be considered for walk-in closets or shelving systems with drawers.

Advice

Melamine coated particle board can be difficult to cut cleanly. Cutting can also raise a safety concern, with flying shards of melamine, which are hard and sharp.

If not experienced working with melamine, you might want to refer to our free paper How to Work With Melamine Coated Particleboard Shelving at:

http://newcastlewoodworking.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/working-with-melamine-coated-particle-board-2/.

CONSTRUCTION NOTES

Rails

Please refer to the detailed drawings for the rails, attached.

A dowel jig is required to locate the dowel holes with sufficient accuracy. We use a Dowelmax jig, which we recommend highly. The dowel hole spacing in the drawings is intended for the Dowelmax. For other jigs the spacing might need to be adjusted.

The Dowelmax is quite a bit more expensive than most other jigs but is extremely adaptable to many situations. We use it for nearly all woodworking joinery, which makes the investment worthwhile for us.

We laid out lines for each of the dowel pin locations on the rails. To keep the holes in the same plane we clamped a square to the work and clamped the jig against the square.

On long walls it might be advantageous to use rails that are too long to be made from a single board. Rail sections can be spliced with a dowelled joint and we have included this in the drawings.

We recommend that this splice should be loose (not glued) on one side to allow the rail to fit through the closet door in applications where wall closets are significantly wider than the closet door.

Brackets

Please refer to the detailed drawing for the brackets in the attachments.

The brackets are quite small parts and they need to be cut and drilled accurately.

When cutting, they are too small to be held safely by hand near any tool blade. We clamped them to a crosscut sled when cutting on the table saw for safety and accuracy.

Left handed and right handed brackets are required in different locations. To avoid having to make opposite parts we have designed the brackets in these drawings to be symmetrical. They can be flipped over to use as opposites.



In this application, working with ¾” thick materials and using 1.5” long dowels, we have opted to drill the dowel holes through the brackets and uprights. Using blind holes, as would normally be the case with dowels, would have required shortening the dowels.

In the center of the brackets we are going to use threaded steel inserts. These provide a steel ¼-20 female thread. They require a 3/8 diameter drilled hole in the bracket. The inserts should be driven from the side that will mate with the upright (the side that will be hidden on final assembly) (See attached drawing).

These inserts can be a little difficult to install and can cause the wood around the hole to split and bulge up. Countersinking the hole before driving in the insert will prevent this. If damage does occur it can be dressed up with a Microplane Rasp or similar (the surface will not show when assembled).

Glue the dowels into the brackets as shown in the attached drawings. Wipe off any excess glue that squeezes out with a wet cloth before the glue dries.

Uprights

Please refer to the detailed drawings for standard and tall uprights in the attachments.

Firstly, cut the uprights to length.

Since we will be reworking some of the corners, which will also be used for reference planes, we will drill the mounting holes and shelf pin holes before cutting the corner chamfers and cutouts.

Shelf Holes

Jigs are available that are designed specifically for drilling holes for shelf pins. They tend to be expensive and also sometimes require the use of an expensive self-centering drill bit. Users who need such a jig frequently might want to buy one.

The locations of the pin holes are not as critical as is the need to have all 4 pins for each shelf to be located on exactly the same plane (thereby making the shelves stable and not wobbly).

We used our Dowelmax jig, set up for ¼” holes, to drill the shelf holes. We laid out lines for each of the shelf planes. To keep the holes in the same plane we clamped a square to the work and clamped the jig against the square as above on the rails.

We used a stop collar on the drill bit to control the holes at 3/8” deep.

Mounting Holes

The mounting hole locations will result in the upright standing off the wall by 1/8” when installed. This is often necessary to prevent interference with the wall because we have found that interior wall construction is often neither flat nor square.

We drilled the mounting (dowel) holes in the uprights using the dowel jig. The hole locations can be changed from the drawing to suit other dowel jigs. In either case, the dowel pattern in the mounting brackets must match the pattern in the uprights.

We drilled these holes through the uprights. Drilling through can damage the melamine coating on



the far side. A sacrificial backing board clamped to the work during drilling can prevent this.

Cutting Recesses

We rough cut the corner recesses with a jigsaw, leaving about 1/8” excess, and then cleaned up on the router table.

Corner Chamfers

The chamfered corners in the front edges of the uprights can be easily cut with a miter saw. A stop block on the miter saw table can be used to make repeatable cuts.

The chamfered edges should then be dressed with melamine tape. We use iron-on, not stick-on, tape to avoid fouling tools with the stick-on adhesive.

Leave excess tape at the ends. After ironing, rough trim the ends of the tape with scissors, not a Stanley knife. Final trim with a Microplane rasp (fine tooth model, very light pressure, cut toward or along the glue joint to avoid prying up an edge and hold the tool parallel with the mating surface) or a sanding block.

Dress the edges with a file and touch up any melamine damage with typists’ correction fluid.

Shelves

Please refer to the detailed drawing in the attachments.

We have designed the shelves to be 1/32” shorter than the nominal distance between the uprights as shown in the drawings. This avoids any interference with the uprights during installation that might result from tolerance stack-up.

Also, in the drawings we have called for trimming 1/8” off the back edge of the shelves. This shelves are mounted flush with the back edge of the uprights. Doing this sets the shelves slightly to the rear and avoids an awkward joint between the front corners of the shelves and the uprights when using bullnose material. This step would not be necessary with square-edged material.

Drawers

Some users may want to include drawers in their closet systems. Drawer drawings are not included here. Information on building drawers is widely available, including a plan for building drawers using dado cuts at http://www.ehow.com/how_2313360_build-drawers.html.

In the near future we plan to release a paper with an efficient, strong and accurate method of making drawers using glued dowels.

ASSEMBLY NOTES

Bracket Assemblies

Please refer to the bracket drawing in the attachments.

There are many types of dowel pins available, including fluted, spiraled, compressed and all of the above. All work well in glued applications.

For the bracket dowels that will mate dry with the uprights we recommend the use of spiral dowels because they slide better in dry fit applications.



Rail Assemblies

Please refer to the rail assembly drawing.

We have designed the rail assemblies to be convenient for attaching the uprights by right handed users, with all but the right-most bracket facing right. Left-handed users may want to change this, taking care because doing so will require that some of the dowel holes in the rails will need to be relocated.

We have included a design for splicing rails in the drawing. This can be used for applications where the closet is wider than available boards for the rails.

Splicing will also be necessary if a wall closet is much wider than the closet doors since a contiguous rail likely will not fit through the door.

For splicing we recommend that the dowels should be glued into one end of the rail and inserted dry into the other end.

Shelves

Please refer to the shelf drawing.

The top and bottom shelves in each bay should be fitted with steel brackets for attaching to the uprights. This helps to make each bay a much more rigid structure.

Bay width is critical for most drawer slides. To help control width, shelves with brackets should also be installed at each location between any drawers.

We have called out Simpson Strong-Tie GA-1 brackets for this purpose (at Lowe’s or Home Depot for less than $1 each).

INSTALLATION NOTES

Install the Upper Rail

For use in closets with 8 foot ceilings, the top of the upper rail should be located about 88.5” above the floor. For 7 foot ceilings, mount the upper rail as high as practical.

Locate the correct installation height and location and mark the wall at the center of the drywall fasteners at one end of the rail. Install the drywall anchors and loosely attach the first end of the rail.

Level the rail, mark the second end for drywall inserts, install the anchors and fasten the rail in place at the ends.

Drill through the rail in place and fasten the rail to the available studs. If the rail is warped it should be manually straightened when fastening to the studs.

Install the Uprights

Temporarily attach the outer 2 uprights to the upper rail, so that they are in location and hanging from the rail.

Temporarily attach the lower rail to those 2 uprights, so that the uprights and lower rail are all suspended from the upper rail.

Holding the uprights vertical, mark the locations of the drywall inserts at the ends of the lower rail.

Take down the lower rail, drill for and install the plastic inserts.

Note: If the lower rail is warped at all, we will use the interior uprights to pull it straight.

Install the interior uprights to the upper rail.

Attach the lower rail to the all uprights, align the uprights to that they are vertical, and permanently fasten the lower rail to the wall.

Install Upper and Lower Shelves

Note: The upper and lower shelves in each bay (plus the shelves between any drawers) will be permanently fastened to each upright. This will lock the uprights in position before installing closet racks and loose shelves.



Insert the shelf pins for the upper and lower shelf in each bay.

Install the upper and lower shelves in each bay, with the angle brackets either on the top or the bottom of the shelves, depending on which is less visible when in position. Use the brackets and #8 sheet metal screws to permanently fasten them to the uprights.

The rigid organizer bays are now complete and ready for outfitting with closet rods and additional shelves as desired.

General Arrangement - Closet SystemDwg: TD12002Scale: 1/25©2011 Newcastle WoodworkingNewcastle Woodworking

™Seaswift Investments LLC

2 Fixed Shelves3 Moveable Shelves1 Closet Rod

Lower Closet Rod

Upper Closet Rod

Lower Rail

2 Fixed Shelves6 Moveable Shelves

2 Fixed Shelves2 Moveable Shelves3 Drawers

2 Fixed Shelves2 Closet Rods

2 Fixed Shelves1 Closet Rod forLong Clothing

Top Rail

Bottom Rail

Standard Upright

Tall Upright

3/8" Dia Dowel Hole(8 Places)

W + .75 W + .75 W + 2.25

2.261.790.47

3 x W + 4.50

0.38

Standard Rail -Closet SystemDwg: TD12003Scale: 1/15©2012 Newcastle Woodworking

Newcastle Woodworking™Seaswift Investments LLC

Rail Detail for 3 Bays(Where W is the Width Between Uprights)

Rail Assembly(2 Required)

Notes1. Dowel hole spacing for Dowelmax jig. Adjust as necessary for other jigs.2. Lightly chamfer all dowel holes to ease assembly.3. Attach 4 bracket assemblies to each rail as shown (3 right-facing and 1 left facing) using 3/8 x 1.5 dowel pins coated with woodworking glue. 4. Briefly clamp each bracket assembly tightly to the rail with woodworking clamps (until glue squeezes from the joint) while glue is wet. Clean up excess glue while still wet with a wet cloth or paper towel.5. Prime and paint the assembly to desired finish. Avoid painting exposed dowels.

Left Facing Bracket

Right Facing Bracket (3 Places)

0.471.79

3/8" x 1.50 Dowels(Glued at 1 End Only)

Rail Splicing Detail(If / As Required)

0.81

ø 0.38


Closet System -Rail BracketsDwg: TD12004Scale: 1/2©2012 Newcastle Woodworking

0.81

1/4-20 Threaded InsertMcMaster-Carr 90192A117or Equal

3/8 x 1.50 Spiral Dowel Through (2 Places)

Notes: 1. Hole pattern shown for Dowelmax jig. Adjust spacing as necessary for other jigs.2. Lightly chamfer all holes to ease assembly.3. Glue dowels in place with woodworking glue. 4. Drive threaded insert from near side.5. Exposed edges can be chamfered or rounded over if desired.

Bracket Assembly

Bracket Details

Drill Thru (3 Places)

0.47

1.13

1.792.26

0.471.792.26

ø 0.38

ø 0.38

0.75

1.38

1.75

1.00

Standard Upright -Closet System Dwg: TD12005Scale: 1/10©2012 Newcastle Woodworking


0.471.13

1.792.38

0.471.13

1.792.38

1.12

0.75

1.38

2.00

9.50

11.25

1.942.38

4.76

14.51

24.26

34.01

41.3843.76

47.75

Closet Rod SocketReal Organized Closet RodSocket (Lowes Item 16696or Equal) (2 Places - As Required)

1/4" Shelf Pin Hole x 3/8" Deep(10 Places - As Required)

Notes1. The drawing shows the upright for the left side of each bay. The right side is opposite (the shelf pins and closet rod are on the opposite side of the board).2. Dimensions are for Lowe's 3/4" x 12" white particleboard bullnose edged shelving. Adjust width as necessary for other material.3. Dowel hole spacing is for Dowelmax jig. Adjust spacing for other jigs (must match brackets)4. Holes for 1/4" shelf pins shown. 5mm pins optional.5. Corner notch dimensions provide 1/8" clearance for rails when assembled.

1.12

0.75

1.38

2.00

Left Side Shown - Right Side Opposite

3/8" dia dowel hole through(locate with dowel jig)(6 places)

Tall Upright -Closet SystemDwg: TD12006Scale: 1/15©2012 Newcastle Woodworking


Left Side Shown -Right Side Opposite)

0.471.131.792.38

0.471.131.792.38

0.75

1.50

2.13

1/4" dia shelf pin hole x 3/8" deep(16 places as required)

1.12

3/8" dia dowel holethrough. Locate withdowel jig (6 places)

Alternative Lower Shelf PinSpacing for Use withDrawers

Notes1. The drawing shows the upright for the left side of each bay. The right side is opposite (the shelf pins and closet rod are on the opposite side of the board).2. Dimensions are for Lowe's 3/4" x 12" white particleboard bullnose edged shelving. Adjust as necessary for other material.3. For installations with drawers, consider using 15" (nominal) melamine instead of 12" (nominal).4. Dowel hole spacing is for Dowelmax jig. Adjust spacing for other jigs (must match brackets)5. 1/4" shelf pins shown. 5mm pins optional.6. Corner notch dimensions provide 1/8" clearance for rails when assembled.

4.7516.75

28.75

40.75

1.94

4.7513.75

22.75

31.75

40.75

49.75

58.75

67.75

71.75

1.12

0.75

1.50

2.13

11.25Apply iron-on melaminetape to upper and lower

chamfers (Band-It MelamineEdge Banding or Equal).

Trim with Microplane woodrasp or sanding block.

Note 3

Simpson Strong-Tie GA-1(Lowe's or Home Depot)(Fixed Shelves Only)

Standard Shelf -Closet SystemDwg: TD12007Scale: 1/10©2012 Newcastle Woodworking


11.22

W - 0.03

Shelf Detail

Shelf Assembly

Notes1. Shelves are trimmed 1/32" narrower than uprights to avoid bull-nose mismatch at front joints.2. Gusset angles are installed on fixed shelves only (top of upper shelf and bottom of lower shelf to put them out of sight).3. Attach brackets to shelves and uprights with #8 x 5/8" pan head sheet metal screws.

2.00

newcastle woodworking€¦ · · 2012-01-25newcastle woodworking ta12006.docx page 2 ©2012...

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