The Shop Table - Face Frame Backers

I didn't get as far along as I wanted to tonight, however, I did make some progress. I needed to install backer pieces to support a few face frame pieces. These are located near the top of the carcass, between the drawer space and the lower compartment.

The backers are 3/4" plywood, 3-1/4" wide and 17" long. They get attached to the end and interior panels with pocket screws on the underside of the backer. Here you can see the completed piece. It's actually upside-down to illustrate the pocket holes.



Here you can see the holes for the pocket screw are slightly offset from each other. This is prevent the screws from interfering with each other and really only affects where the backers meet the interior panels.




The backer is installed using two pieces of scrap plywood cut to 5-1/4" long. They are placed tight to the top cleat and the panels. It's also important to align the front edge of the backer with the panels.



Here is the carcass in its current state. You can really get a sense of the space definition now. The top areas for drawers and the lower areas are compartments to house 3 bench-top tools. The lower compartments will have pull-out trays at the bottom to make it easier to retrieve the tools.

I took the time to cut the pieces for the slide shims before I called it a night. I'll install those tomorrow.