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Thread: Cutting a hollow door
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2nd November 2019, 02:26 AM #1
Cutting a hollow door
Anyone had any experience cutting through hollow doors.
I have 2 hollow doors that's been doweled and glued together to make a large RC plane hobby table and in 6 weeks were moving to the beach for retirement and I'd like to cut through the doors to make the table smaller.
I'd like to make the door 3/4's the size it is now and the way I'm looking at to cut the doors is with a circular saw and then I'll fit new edges and cover with a sheet of laminate.
Wondering how you think the saw blade in the picture would handle the cut, it's just that being a hollow door I'm concern it might be a rough cut and destroy the door.
The blade cuts nicely on plywood but that's thicker and harder.
Hobby Table Frame - 31.10.19A.JPGHobby Table Frame - 31.10.19C.JPGHobby Table Frame - 31.10.19B.JPGLast edited by Specialized29er; 2nd November 2019 at 10:46 AM. Reason: Spelling
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2nd November 2019 02:26 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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2nd November 2019, 08:37 AM #2
The issue with hollow core doors is that they are actually hollow. Under the 3mm (or thinner) skin, the void is usually just filled with folded cardboard.
A blade like that shown on your circular saw will likely just chew the cardboard leaving a mess inside the door. What you could do is cut well clear of you final intended 75% trim and see what happens.
Depending on how the cardboard is attached to the door skins, inserting a new style might not be an easy process. Hence the suggestion to try an initial cut with your blade and see how it turns out. If you need a finer tooth blade, this will tell you before you completely bugger the door by cutting to the line.regards from Alberta, Canada
ian
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2nd November 2019, 08:48 AM #3GOLD MEMBER
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Clamp a sacrificial strip on top and bottom of the door surface and you should get a clean cut. The cardboard filling in the door will be able to be easily pushed back so that you can insert, with glue, a new timber edge and finish the door. You will need to thickness the filler strip to match the door opening.
You have enough excess door material to try a practice cut to ensure that it will be OK.
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2nd November 2019, 08:49 AM #4GOLD MEMBER
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you could also try just cutting the outer skin initially, so have the blade only protruding 3-5mm, and open up a section and hand cut thru the cardboard smaller than the cut (neater to do it by hand) and then do the final cut through the hidden skins so you don't need to cut cardboard with the circular saw.
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2nd November 2019, 10:51 AM #5
Hi Ian, I was hoping to use both sections once cut. We use the same doors at work and they have honeycomb type cardboard inside. What the hell I'll take a cut into the 1/4 section and see what the results are. Thanks
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2nd November 2019, 11:28 AM #6
another option ,.....if your moving, somewhere there must be a second hand/ recycling timber year, grab some doors from them and start from scratch,
or garage/yard sales.even op shopsI would love to grow my own food, but I can not find bacon seeds
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2nd November 2019, 11:29 AM #7
I've had to do this quite a few times, for various reasons. (Usually related to clients with short arms and deep pockets. )
The best results come, as Poundy suggests, when you only just cut through the skin on each side.
I do a full depth cut at each end (being as accurate as I can for position and squareness!) to just sever the top & bottom rails, then scribe a line on each side of the door between these two cuts.
Set the saw to only a few mm past the skin of the door and finish the cuts on each side. I like to use a jigsaw to quickly burn thru the cardboard for final separation, but in a pinch I've been known to use a utility knife, coarse hack-saw blade or even, once, a bread knife. It's just cardboard, after all.
You'll probably lose a few mm cleaning up the edges after you've glued in the new stile(s)... how much depends on just how accurate you did the end-cuts and marked out the lines.
- Andy Mc
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2nd November 2019, 10:12 PM #8
I took a cut into the end of the doors and surprise, surprise theirs no damage to either side. Now to glue on the new end timber and nail into place.
Hobby Table Top - Shortened 02.11.19e.JPGHobby Table Top - Shortened 02.11.19c.JPGHobby Table Top - Shortened 02.11.19a.JPG