My name's Alastair Johnson, Freebird Interiors is my business. We design, make and install fitted furniture/ built-in furniture in Sheffield, England.
Since beginning in my garage to our new 2500 sq ft workshop with CNC machine and staff, we have helped many others in this industry via RU-vid, Instagram and member site content designed to instruct and encourage.
You can go deeper at www.buymeacoffee.com/freebird
Explore this RU-vid channel to see our methods in the workshop and on site, plus SketchUp tutorials and insights other aspects of scaling and running the business, plus painfully honest confessionals about the highs, lows and mental health challenges of running such a demanding type of business alongside raising a family and the limitations of my own neurodiversity.
Great video. The jig looks great. What do you do when the end panels are visible? Use a different fixing method, fill and sand or add an additional panel to cover fixings?
Most often, we add an additional cover panel, which allows us to scribe to floor, wall and ceiling as necessary, and doubles up the thickness to match the look of adjoining open units. This may be attached with glue, or Lamello Tenso fixings, or screws under mounting plates if it’s fitting to the hinge side of a cupboard or wardrobe. With our fitted furniture it’s very rare that you see the end of a cabinet itself
Ashley the plaster coving specialist came and matched up the ceiling coving around the front, that was always the plan. I just didn’t get any footage of that
Alastair - I am just at the start and am going to go through the training video's from the start. Just one question, currently we use cabinet vision and have done for a number of years. I have a bit of a love hate for CV - long story! However as a user of Sketchup and an extension called cabinet sense - roughly if you don't mind what is it costing you? And another question - on the standard Sketchup can you export the cutting lists from SketchUp with layers into Vetric? thanks Tim
Hi Tim I am on the top level of cabinetsense which costs $100 per month but you do get some cnc functionality on lower tiers. This is on top of a yearly Sketchup pro subscription which is £300 I think, and vectric Cut 2D which was a one off payment of something like £250 if I remember rightly.
Please watch this video which compares ways of getting vector date from Sketchup into vectric without CabinetSense, then explains the benefits of using CabinetSense
@@Alastair_Freebird Thanks for the reply and am enjoying your Video's - I really don't know when you get the time. We bought C/V some years back and now only pay a monthly support of around just under £100 per month for support which we never use - I have never been a fan of there rendering which we no longer use, and there ability to draw in CAD is virtually none existent . Aspire I think is great and use it every day and have done for many years, however I have never got my teeth into Sketchup and was wondering if there was another way to - skin a cat, as they say. We still use the C/V however if Vetric and there approach was to jump into dedicated detailed cabinet design and construction, I think they would nail it.
Hi Alastair! Amaizing work, thanks for all of this! Also, ive been folowing the series, and noticed that sketch up make is no longer available, would you consider adding the download in your membership? Its daunting downloading it from a random website :/
Hi thank you for this feedback. It has been on my mind to do an update to this series showing the latest versions of SketchUp but I haven’t found the time. I’d be reluctant to officially sanction still using SketchUp Make as it is no longer supported and I think it would be better to use SketchUp free online, and then transition to purchasing SketchUp pro, which for what it can do is quite good value for a cad program
Great video! @7.40: don't worry about the face garments - the evidence they do anything (let alone achieve any clinically significant effect in the context of the ubiquitous virus in question) is very poor indeed.
I wanted to just write a random comment to align with yours, given that I have the unfortunate situation of having lots of experience with a lot of different plug types. The main issue with RU-vid plug reviews is that they typically assume reallly good setting of the plug. The Fisher universal plugs (the expensive ones you mention) are the worst offenders. You can see RU-vid videos of the plugs not properly deploying. A lot of tests will indicate that these plugs are strong, but I woiuld much rather have a slightly weaker plug, but which deploys much more reliabily. For the case of plasterboard with dot & dab, there are better options out there, including the metal plugs that require a fixing tool. The Rawlplug Unos are super reliable. They have no complicated deployment, and as long as the screw goes in, you can be sure the plug is properly expanding. There is also a huge reason to prefer the simple expanded design. The reason is that if the plug ever fails, you can essentially insert a smaller plug, i.e. put a smaller uno into a larger one. Again, this covers those situations where your shoddy wall crumbles, the hole ends up bigger than it should be, specifically near the opening. If this happens with the universal plugs, you would need to re-drill, and insert a bigger plug, potentially doing additional damage to the wall. UK walls are tricky.
Yes I would like to transition to doing this. I would prefer to have a self reliant manufacturing business alongside that. So for now I have to focus on that.
Great video, I know its a few years old now I have a question. The plinth is sitting on spacer/feet at the back, and feet at the front, does the face of the plinth sit over the carpet gripper?
A very good viedeo. Where or what kind of projects require track saws? I am thinking of doing diy kitchen cabinets and wardrobe and i have only circular saw and very very basic ultra heavy table saw.
Hi thankyou. A tracksaw allows you to easily cut to an exact line on a board the track edge itself shows where you will cut. It is especially suitable for finish materials that you need a clean cut edge on - melamine and veneers. It is a much more suitable tool for this purpose than a standard circular saw because of the spring that brings it up into it's shell by default. This makes it easy to do a quick scoring cut on the top face to cleanly break the surface; and to control the depth of cut to go through the bottom face. The purpose of the sacrificial rubber strip on the rail edge is also to act as a chip guard, and the festool has plastic attachments for the outer blade edge that serve this purpose too. For easiest cabinet assembly fast, accurate and square you will also benefit from embracing our 3D Assembly square system as show here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Lzb2MeSNdlc.htmlsi=tSLyq0Yl_Ha4juQ_ - unless you want to spend more money on a biscuit joiner or domino jointer, which will also take you more time.
Hi, thanks for watching, I accidentally uploaded this one with no sound! It works better on instragram where I also posted a fuller description: instagram.com/reel/C66nTbaoeXj/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
The material is 'Compacmel', made by Finsa. It is a very high density black-dyed MDF core, with a melamine face (in this example the melamine is a dark grey called 'Gris Gu'). Compacmel is sold by Lawcris in the UK and is designed as a lower cost alternative to compact laminate
@@Alastair_Freebird PS hi from London, I've been making commercially for a year. I know you don't have to share this stuff so it's much appreciated as someone starting out
@@stephenhull7120 Thanks for that. My original motivation for sharing like this was the pain of starting out on my own - I like the idea of helping others skip a few steps to get started. FYI I am more active with tips and tricks these days on the instagram account @freebird_trade, and the membership site www.buymeacoffee.com/freebird which allows me to get something back in return for my advice - let me know any particular areas of interest and I'll point you in the direction of any relevant posts, either free or in some cases behind the paywall.
THANK YOU! I’m struggling with uneven walls and trying to add trim to an ikea pax and diy doors. That inset example is my exact setup and now I can visualize what to do (beginner woodworker here😂).
Hi that’s nice to hear! This one is Compacmel with a dark grey melamine face. This is an old video that has been unlisted for some time, linked to from a QR code sent out with jigs. I decided to make it public to coincide with Makers Central where I am selling cut price jigs in various experimental materials.
@@Alastair_Freebird very well thank you :) I didn't go to market central otherwise I would have picked up one of your corner jigs they look so useful!!
I get asked this so often!! The Compact hinge. I keep meaning to make a RU-vid video about this one. In the meantime, see this instagram story highlight: instagram.com/stories/highlights/17955056138320141/
I just got a new kitchen in my rental home. The installer used soft-close on all doors. However, since they designed it without handles they added pish-to-open. Perhaps im wrong, vut isn't that a waste of the soft closing ng mechanism. All the doors look clean without handles, but I think I prefer a small latch or grip so it makes actually use of the soft close. Now I need to push each door to close it. I feel like I'm a camper again hahaha
Yeah I think touch - latched are best with unsprung (or even reverse sprung) hinges that ensure the door keeps swinging wide open after the latch does its job. But I’ve seen doors delivery fitted on spring hinges, so the touch latch just forces a finger gap then you have to pull it. It’s really pointless to use soft close hinges though!
Great video. I have been asked by AO to replace with thinner hinge for an integrated fridge installation. Still wondering what they mean by a thinner hinge. Would you be able to advise the best ones for an integrated fridge freezer.
Thank you so much for making the video to educate us!! I am about to make my first fitted in wardrobe. Just wondering what kind of screw you use to fix the wardrobe on the wall in the corner bracket. My chimney breast is mixture of dot and dab wall and stud wall. Do you think I will need corefix or concrete screw to secure it?
Hi sorry for the delay, almost always I get a good enough grab in the wall with a red uno plug ( to suit a 6mm masonry drill hole) and a 4.0 x 35mm standard pozidrive screw
21:12 to be honest.... this looks like a its not an issue with friction on the track to me, the blade is dull and the saw has way too much play in the track. in combination of both you cant push the saw smoothly as shown
as someone else mentioned, use the festool track on the makita saw, best combination. we have both in company for years and i prefer the makita over the festool you will get a very good saw with the festool, but its just not worth the upcost in my opinion as a dayli user for 15y
Hi, the truth is that for years my main audience online has been trade. Or at least a mix of trade and DIY, more than people who might actually want to buy Freebird Fitted Furniture. And the foundation of any successful business is marketing, which continues to be an uphill battle for mid to high end fitted furniture. So since I’ve already invested so much time building this platform, and I understand my audience’s needs pretty well, it just made sense to tilt this way - CNC shaker doors, training, CNC manufactured work aids. Definitely not giving up the main business, but I do see the trade side of things being more delegatable in future 👍
Hello always happy qatch ur videos still using sayerlack or afe u recommended any others made top coat paint i just opwn my workshop and will be my first paint job help pls
I just try this week its really good paint not like the other water based paint it's like a 2 k paint can I ask u 1 more question they are selling hardener aswell for water based topcoat did u also try that is it worth it?
@@yavuzhocaoglu8568 Hi we do not use it with any additives. We feel it dries quick enough and is durable enough without them. But if we were doing kitchens I might use them for extra peace of mind.
@@Alastair_Freebird make sense be honest after watch your video I get 1 litre sayerlack waterbased ans test it its really unavailable for water based paint even I didn't use sayerlack undercoat just use for top coat and I order now renner aswell want to test it renner aswell I normally using 2k paint but health issue I don't want to use anymore solvent any way even water based paint has solvent but not like propa solvent paint what is your personal mind use sayerlack for tv unit with out croslinker (hardener it's will be fine)also what size tip u guys using with sayerlack water base 310 or 210 or etc what is best result for airless sprayer
@@yavuzhocaoglu8568 Yes we use it for that sort of project all the time without any additives at all, see for example these projects all painted with Sayerlack AT99: instagram.com/p/C5nxaJgo112/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==instagram.com/p/C5nxaJgo112/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I recently figured out how to stamp the file name and sheet number at the top of the pdf export pages from cabinet sense, using guided actions in acrobat.
Thanks so much for sharing the video, I finally found the one I was looking for! We're excitedly waiting for our council house, and we've been told it will be fully adapted for our needs. I was wondering if you'd be willing to share your experience with adapting your home for your children's needs. Specifically, it would be really helpful to know: What types of adaptations did the council allow or provide? Were there any additional adaptations you found helpful to add yourself? Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
