Construction of case furniture depends mainly on the purpose of the furniture piece. The designer always has a different approach when designing furniture for children, schools, offices, hotels, bedrooms, dining rooms or garages. Joints, types of elements and construction materials are chosen in terms of future conditions of use and variability of loads. A few examples have been provided in this chapter of construction solutions used in the design of case furniture.
4.8.1 Joints of Elements of Furniture Body
To connect board elements of case furniture, usually joints from the flat L-type and wall T-type group are used. Depending on the needs, these are separable and inseparable joints. Figure 4.60 shows the design of a glass case, in which the side walls have been connected with flanges using coupling eccentric connectors only. A characteristic feature of the chosen type of connector is minimal visibility of the eccentric box on the surface of the flange and the possibility of repeated assembly and disassembly of the construction. These types of joints are used in the production of kitchen furniture, office furniture (especially containers and boxes), as well as bedroom furniture.
Another, probably the most widely used type of joint is a wooden dowels. It is an inseparable joint, preferred in designing constructions supplied to the user in an assembled state (Fig. 4.61). Usually, this type of structural node can be encountered in furniture made only from wood or also in furniture, where it is the dominant material. It should be noted here that this kind of connecting elements of a furniture piece follows the best traditions of the carpentry craft.
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Fig. 4.61 Cabinet connected using dowel connectors |
Modern furniture intended for DIY assembly not only have eccentric joints, but also dowel connectors. However, the task of wooden dowels is not connecting elements, but enabling easy determination of the mutual position of individual elements during DIY assembly by an inexperienced user.
Figure 4.62 shows the dimensional proportions of connectors most commonly used in connections of elements of the bodies of case furniture.
