Okay, we're ready to install our bench top in this kitchen renovation that we're doing.
The equipment that we've got and that we're using are an impact driver to drive screws
if need be, we have a drill driver, and it has a special boring bit in it, which we'll
explain later with our specialized bench top joiners as well, and a spanner so that we
can tighten those up.
We have a handsaw, a tape measure and ruler, a pencil.
We have a chisel which we'll show you what we're doing with that later, carpenter's square.
We've got some glue, and, of course, because we're using power tools, we have our safety
gear as well for our eyes and our ears.
And I've got my good friend Michael.
He's going to help me install these, and these bench tops are quite large and heavy, so great
idea to get someone to give you a hand.
Let's go.
We'll move all this stuff out of the way.
First thing we want to do is make sure that we're going to locate our bench top joiners
in the correct place where we're going to join one surface or one section to the other
section.
Generally, the best way of doing that is just to get underneath the cupboards and just mark
a little what we call a datum point, so we'll align and mark or make a line that will go
from one part of the bench top to the other part of the bench top because once we've done
that, we need to turn both of them over, and that's when we'll actually do all our joinery
work.
Now we're going to flip our bench tops over so that we can mark out for our joinery work.
So making sure that you follow the manufacturer's instructions, we're marking out here.
We need to come in 100 millimeters from this end, another 100 millimeters from where our
join will be, and also in the center of that area as well.
So I'll mark that out now.
There we go.
As per the manufacturer's instructions, we now need to come in 20 millimeters from that
edge, and I'll mark those as well.
I've set my combination square to a depth of 20 millimeters to make it just that little
bit easier.
That way I know they're all 20 millimeters from that edge.
I got that one done.
Now it's time to bore our holes for the bench joiners.
So again, because we're using power tools, I've got on safety gear as well.
So this special bit on the end of this drill is called a Forstner bit, and it is for drilling
large, round holes.
You may have seen them in various cupboard doors over the years, so they will drill a
large, nice, square-bottom, round hole.
And this is what we need for our bench top joiners as well.
You'll probably also notice a little bit of tape I've got on here.
This is a little indicator to help me know how far into the bench top I need to go.
So what I've done is I've got the measurement from the joiner, figured out how deep that
has to be, and then I'll transfer that measurement onto my little joiner, okay?
So good tip.
Just keep in mind that that first mark that I've made is for the outer edge of the hole.
Then because I'm using a 35 millimeter boring bit, I may need to come in 17-1/2 millimeters,
and that's where I start.
That's my center point to start drilling that hole.
Now that our three holes have been bored, we need to actually cut out a small trench
from the edge of that hole to the edge of the bench top.
That trench is for the joiner bolt that we'll use when we pull the two bits of bench together,
and I'll get Michael to do that trench cut from the other side.
Now that I've cut those two little grooves in, we have that little channel to take out.
Using a 10 mil chisel, you simply remove it, and that's it.
Frank: Okay, this particular piece of bench top is now all prepared for joinery, to join
to the next ones.
So we'll continue on with that as well, so let's give that a go.
So now we'll just repeat exactly the same process for this bench top, and in this case
we've got to do both ends, and then, of course, the third bench top as well.
So what I'm doing here is just marking my holes that I need to drill for these small
90 degree brackets, and these are used to hold the bench top down onto the base cabinet,
particularly up near the back of the cabinet itself.
So I'll just pre-drill my holes, and put those in.
These screws are only quite short, because they only need to be the thickness of the
material at the back.
There we go, and we'll continue working our way around these base cabinets.
Okay, we've matched these two pieces of bench top up, and for the purposes of showing you
how these connectors actually work, we've flipped this bench top upside down.
Normally, you put the bench tops back and situated back on top of your cabinets, crawl
in underneath there, and put our little connectors in.
So I'll just show you how they just drop in.
I just open them up so they just drop into the bored out holes, nice and easy.
We have our 10 millimeter spanner in this case, and we just nip them up.
Keep tightening them up until they nip up, making sure that the two bits of bench top
are lining up, top and bottom as well, as we go.
Almost done.
We'll get stuck into this and put the benches on correctly now.
What I'm doing here is just pre-drilling a couple of guide holes for me so that when
I'm up underneath the cupboard, attaching the bench top with the screws, it just makes
it a bit easier for me to make sure my holes are lined up.
Our next step in the bench top process is to apply wood glue to both surfaces where
the two bench tops are going to meet, and now it's just as simple as pushing the two
pieces of bench top together.
Marvelous!
Now to go down underneath.
As a reminder, the demonstration before with the bench tops upside down was just to show
you how the joiners worked.
Now I've got to get inside the cupboard.
I'm using my pilot holes, or my guide holes that I drilled earlier, and I'm going to pre-drill
the hole up into the bench top.
Okay, our bench tops are all installed.
They're joined together.
They're attached to our base cabinets here as simple as that.