glue or screws

[Odysseas]

Ok, this might be a newbie question.....

Why everybody uses glue for the cabinets and nobody screws?

Is it only aesthetics, or is there anything more?

[Cal Weldon]

If you have been involved in woodworking for a bit, you'll find that screws are more bother than they are worth for speaker cabinets. Pilot holes, pass holes, counter sinking, filling and sanding are all steps you eliminate if you use cleats, clamps and a finish nailer.

What are you building?

[atarashi]

Ok, thats an easy one:

the glue helps you keep your cabinet air-tight,
surpresses the inevitable dimensional changes in the wood
and is stronger than the glued wood anyway. (if done right!)

Screws on the other hand wont help a single bit in keeping you cabinet air-tight,
will not survive the "working" of the wood when humidity changes
and are a pita when the wall thickness is not very high.

Did that help ;-)
Michael

[Osvaldo de Banfield]

In my K15+4, I used both: screw for robustness and glue to seal air escape.

[Cal Weldon]

Screws are just non-removable clamps, they add little to the structure. Glue is the strength.

[Charles Darwin]

Originally Posted by Cal Weldon

Screws are just non-removable clamps, they add little to the structure. Glue is the strength.

That's what I use screws for. They just stop things moving while the glue sets.

[Osvaldo de Banfield]

Hopefully electronic manufacturers would read your words: I´m tired of removing lots of screws in a simple speed controller!!!

[jitter]

The glue not only makes a cabinet airtight. Because the joints are fully glued from end to end and side to side, it makes them way stiffer than with just a few screws.

You may use screws to clamp the pieces together, but why not use clamps for that? It may sound rediculously short, but using bog standard wood glue, panels may only need to be clamped together for about an hour!
When using clamps you can also forgo filling and sanding the srew-holes, like Cal alreday mentioned. If you paint the cabinet, you will always see where the screw holes are, despite filling and sanding flush, especially with high gloss paint.

[Odysseas]

Thanks everybody, I'm convinced!

I know clamps, but what are cleats and finish nailer??

[puppet]

Screws have their place. Inside the cabinet (blocking, bracing) where conventional clamping could be near impossible for instance.

Finer exterior finishes have a higher chance of success if their surfaces aren't penetrated. Fastener telegraphing can ruin an otherwise fine paint/veneered exterior finish.