6 panel doors

[habbi]

Can a bit set for making cabinet doors be used to make full size 1.5" thick

80" tall) panel doors. What are some tips on making full size doors? Thanks

[David]

Is your question, "can I use router bits instead of shaper bits to make

1 1/2" panel doors"? I've not seen any router bits for rails and stiles that cover 1.5", but maybe they are out there somewhere. Sounds like a shaper kinda task.

Dave

habbi wrote:

[habbi]

A 1.5" thick door is basically 2 3/4" cupboard doors back to back. Couldn't you just do one side of all the styles and rails and then flip them over and do the other? And the same for the raised panels?

[David]

No! Think where the groove is, for one thing. Think about the scale of the profile on a kitchen cabinet with a rail/stile about 2-1/2" wide, vs the width of rails on a door.

Dave

habbi wrote:

[Teamcasa]

CMT makes a door set for the router. Works great. Check with your local CMT vendor. Dave

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[habbi]

Would they be the easiest way to build doors. What is the common home method to build 6 panel doors with no shaper?

[no(SPAM)vasys]

MLCS has passage and entry door router bit sets. Check about 2/3 of the page down at:

[dadiOH]

Sure. And all the passage doors in my house prove it.

Depends a bit on the geometry of the bit though. And do some figuring as to how the bits are going to effect things; for example, you will probably need to plan on a 1/2" tongue on the panels.

One thing you *can't* do (IMO) is to expect gluing the coping to hold the rails and stiles together...need more glue surface and a mechanical joining as well. In my case, I used loose tenons 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 5"- half the length in the rail, half in the stile.

Tips? keep things square, keep them flat and finsh as much as possible before joining.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[dadiOH]

Sure can. To both.

[Lenny]

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 09 Apr 2005 02:06:09 GMT, the inscrutable "dadiOH" spake:

Wouldn't that leave double grooves for panels?

[David]

That would be a good method for him to build the door if he doesn't have the proper tools to cut the large profiles (shaper).

Dave

Lenny wrote:

[dadiOH]

No, the goal is one 1/2" (or a smidge less) groove and that is what you get if the cutting depth is set properly. As I said in another post, one has to consider the geometry of the bit and how one is going to use them prior to starting.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[Edward LeBlanc]

As others have pointed out, there are bit sets for doors. However, you do not need a specialized set.

If you are willing to do a little extra hand work, you can use a router table to create the profile on the stiles and rails with a quater round bit of the appropriate size. A groove can then be cut using a straight bit (I suggest using a spiral bit for this).

Cut mortise and tenons on the appropriate parts. A few things to think about:

1. There are more mortises than you think on a door like this. Count them before you decide to cut them by hand then see if you know someone with a mortiser.

1. If you use a 3/8" router bit to cut the groove and have a metric mortise chisel, they mayl not quite match. Check to see that they are the same size. Even though the chisel may be marked 3/8", it may be 10 mm.

2. Don't forget to leave enough length for the tenons. Also leave the ends of the stiles a little long if you are going to hand chop mortises to minimize any chance of breaking the end out.

Where stile and rail meet, the quarter round on the stile is carefully trimmed flat with a chisel. The quarter round is either coped or mitered to meet the adjoining piece. This is easier than it sounds because you should have a shoulder to show you exactly where to trim. Use a gauge block cut at

45 degrees to guide the chisel to cut a miter on the quarter round. You can either cut a matching miter on the rail or cope the joint. I prefer to cope the joint.

For the raised panels I used a vertical raising bit because I was able to get a little more reveal using a vertical raising bit. IMO, a horizontal router bit is not large enough for sufficient reveal--you really need a shaper to raise the panel horizontally. Draw a scale drawing and see what looks right to you.

I will post a picture to ABPW of an exterior door that I built using these methods. The door is only 1-1/8" thick since it is a screen door, but the same methods apply.

Ed

[habbi]

What is ABPW?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking

[skeezics]

I havn'ty tried it but with some figureing you probly can. However---- are you also making the jambs as well? most interior doors are 1 3/8" thick and exterior doors are 1 3/4" thick. so 1 1/2" doors aint gonna fit standard jambs. you will need jambs that you can apply your own stops to. YMMV

skeez

[Jason Quick]

Interesting. There was an article in, I think Fine Woodworking, maybe FHB a couple issues back dealing with door construction in a laminated fashion. It intrigued me enough that I'm thinking of tackling the front door for the house we're gonna build next year.

Basically you make a sandwich of your chosen wood, using pocket-hole joinery to do the rails and stiles in three layers. Looked pretty easy compared to the alternative. Besides, it gives you an excuse to buy a Kreg jig (if you need an excuse that is)... : )

Jason