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MDF Cabinet Screws Advice


Potostew42

Question

I have two screw types that I need help with to know which is best to use with 16mm MDF for my woodie cabinet, the MDF has veneer on both sides and is 16mm thick total, the two screws I have are: the left one is a 32mm pine wood screw with less ridges and the right one is 30mm with a bigger head and more ridges that I got from a kitchen manufacturer he said that is what they use for their MDF, the screws are going through 19mm hardwood with the holes honed and countersunk and I'm aiming to drive the screws 12 to 13mm into the MDF, the hardwood will be support rails for under the controll panel and to support the weight of the CRT monitor. I could grind down the tips by 2mm or more if this would help have more thread grip but I need advice on this too, I won't be glueing the wood with the screws. Should the MDF be pre-drilled or drive the screws straight in.  

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If you are going straight into the face of the MDF, you don't really need to pre-drill but you definitely should be gluing with liquid nails.

Gluing will make it a lot stronger and make everything more rigid.

Make sure you clamp the timber in place whilst you are screwing in the screws.

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2 hours ago, Boots said:

If you are going straight into the face of the MDF, you don't really need to pre-drill but you definitely should be gluing with liquid nails.

Gluing will make it a lot stronger and make everything more rigid.

Make sure you clamp the timber in place whilst you are screwing in the screws.

I'm not sure if the cabinet as it is now, is glued or not but I was hoping to avoid glue if I needed to change something in the future unless its possible to remove the parts without ripping away the veneer with it can that be done?

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43 minutes ago, Boots said:

Make it so it doesn’t need changing

it will remove veneer if you rip the glue off, it wouldn’t be worth having otherwise 

Thanks Boots I'll use liquid nails, have you come across cabinets that were built and then rebuilt mine looks like it's been redone a few times with the last build done with a piss poor effort do you know what my cabinet was originally from the picture 

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From what you describe I understand that you are wanting to screw the timber rail into the inside of the side panel which is made of mdf (assume this is about 20mm)

My 2c

firstly, generally speaking particleboard/mdf screws will have a wider screw pitch to assist in holding under a tensile load. You will be fine using either particleboard/mdf or normal wood screws

As boots says no need for a pilot hole in the mdf unless you are screwing into the edge, however do drill a clearance hole for the screw in the timber rail. This will pull the 2 piece together nice and snug, do not over tighten the screw as it will turn on the spot and you risk churning up the mdf and you will lose the holding power. This is another reason there is a wider screw pitch.

you want to aim for the screw to grab at least 2/3rds the width of the mdf

liquid nails is over kill and I would not recommend it, if you use a sufficient number of screws it will hold in the situation you describe under a shear load.

if you want to err on the side of caution you can use titebond (or similar yellow glue) it is an aquadhere with improved properties. The glue joint is stronger than the timber around it, ie the timber will fail before the joint. In addition if you want to undo it at a later date you can use heat to breakdown the joint and sand it all nice again (not going to be possible with liquid nails)

hope this helps

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