Choosing cabinet construction defaults

Choose the construction family first

Start with the Cabinet style field: frameless, face-frame, or inset face-frame. Then choose the native unit defaults and cabinet standard that match the shop. These decisions establish the available reveals, openings, fronts, toe-kick behavior, and default carcass joinery.

• Frameless keeps fronts tied directly to the carcass and is the simplest baseline for Euro-style construction.
• Face-frame adds rails and stiles as solid-lumber members that CutCAD can route into its dimensional-lumber stream.
• Inset face-frame keeps the same frame structure while changing front fit and reveal controls.

Units and cabinet standards are separate choices

CabCAD keeps a two-by-two default matrix. Choose Metric or Imperial under Units for the native shop-dimension row, then choose European or North American for the construction standard. This supports all four combinations, including European construction with imperial-native measurements and North American construction with metric-native measurements.

Metric-native defaults use ordinary metric sizes such as 18 or 19 mm panels and 6 mm dados. Imperial-native defaults use ordinary inch sizes such as 3/4 in panels and 1/4 in dados. ShopCAD does not substitute awkward converted defaults such as 6.35 mm in a metric-native project or 18 mm in an imperial-native project.

Qualified blind-dado construction stays optional

At the bottom of CabCAD Step 1, choose CNC router before selecting Qualified blind dado + screws. Panel saw and CNC router use the same names and manufacturing choice as CutCAD; CNC router reveals Profile bit diameter and Pocket bit diameter in that setup area. With Panel saw selected, qualified options remain visible but disabled and explain that CNC router is required. Choosing Panel saw after a qualified profile is active returns it to the relationship-specific legacy setting.

In Construction, choose the Cabinet style and then use Qualified blind dado + screws in an eligible Top panel joints or Bottom panel joints selector. The qualified panel tuning appears directly after Bottom panel joints, before the unrelated Divider joints control. Divider, shelf, and back joinery keep their established choices, while rail-to-side and drawer front/back construction remain in their own relationship-specific controls. BenchCAD mirrors the independent top and bottom choices as base-wide settings and keeps rail construction in its dedicated section.

The qualified recipe is relationship-specific. Rails cover eligible stretchers, shallow drawer-separator rails, and nailers. Direct CabCAD cabinets can independently qualify dado-joined bottoms and tops where they meet the sides, and BenchCAD maps those same base-wide choices through versioned linked cabinet runs. Archived standalone CabCAD runs retain their saved legacy case-deck behavior. Direct CabCAD cabinets and standalone drawer-box projects can qualify dado-joined fronts and backs where they meet the drawer sides; new BenchCAD cabinet-base links can materialize the same drawer-wall profile while archived links without its versioned contract retain their prior geometry. Shelves, dividers, backs, full-depth separators, and the drawer-bottom perimeter keep their established construction.

Drawer box construction appears only when the selected cabinet has live drawer openings and Drawer boxes is enabled. Drawer-less cabinet presets omit those controls. BenchCAD retains base-wide drawer-box defaults and shows per-cabinet drawer controls only for run items with live drawer openings; standalone drawer-box projects retain their own box-construction controls.

Each eligible male edge is qualified from one machining face, leaving an offset tongue registered to the preserved face. Tongue side can preserve the relationship-specific interior-facing or exterior-facing surface; helper text identifies the actual bottom/top, front/back, cabinet-interior, or drawer-interior face. Existing projects default to Interior-facing. At an exterior envelope face, fit clearance is placed toward the machined face so the receiver remains inside the panel. Blind setbacks locate the tongue ends; the receiver pocket extends one global Pocket-bit radius past each end and must retain a 2 mm blind shoulder. CabCAD stores the exact side-pilot location on the nominal centerline of the original full-thickness part as metadata only.

CabCAD stores one manufacturing choice and passes it forward. A fresh CutCAD handoff derives its saw/CNC nesting mode from that choice instead of storing a second breakdown field that can drift; the pocket bit drives dados and pockets while the profile bit is for outside profiles and through cuts.

For CNC projects, CabCAD resolves dado endpoints after cabinet-run and shared-carcass optimization. A truly blind endpoint receives one pocket-bit-radius of clearance, while an open or already cross-cleared endpoint is not extended again. Panel-saw projects keep the established machining output unchanged.

CabCAD blocks 3MF / STEP export and JoinCAD/CutCAD handoff when the pocket bit cannot fit the groove, the radius cannot remain inside the part, or the remaining blind shoulder is under 2 mm. Preview, editing, and saving remain available so the construction can be corrected. When used, JoinCAD preserves each valid source operation, materializes each source pilot once using its current Predrill diameter, and drills through the receiving panel thickness only. Users may instead continue directly to CutCAD; the exact pilot metadata remains in the source handoff, but no pilot-bore machining is created. A JoinCAD-routed CutCAD handoff receives the materialized operations without adding a second overrun or extending a pilot into the tenon.

Metric sheet-tool defaults are native 6 mm in both cabinet-standard columns. Imperial defaults are native 1/4 in in both columns. Changing Units selects the matching physical tooling defaults.

• Rail dado depth controls how far the rail engages the stopped receiver pocket.
• Qualified top and bottom panel joints share the tuning values shown immediately below Bottom panel joints and reuse Carcass dado depth; tongue side, tongue thickness, front and rear blind setbacks, and fit allowance affect only the selected top-to-side or bottom-to-side relationships.
• Tongue side, qualified-tenon thickness, front and rear blind setbacks, and fit allowance control the mating rail profile.
• Drawer dado depth controls front/back engagement; tongue side, tongue thickness, and bottom/top blind setbacks control only the drawer wall corners, not the drawer bottom.
• The global Pocket bit diameter controls the automatic receiver-pocket end overrun; it does not change the tongue profile.
• Pilot diameter is a JoinCAD Predrill setting. Pilot depth is not editable: the resulting operation is always a through hole across the receiving panel thickness only.

Use resets when a section diverges

CabCAD shows a reset action when a control group differs from its default. Reset only the section you want to restore; the project does not need to be rebuilt from the beginning.

Related documentation

• Cabinet anatomy basics