Thread: Raised panel door

would a vertical panel raising bit work on the curve?

In short, no.

You're stuck with the horizontal bit or doing it by hand.

Hazo,
as far as I know a vertical raised panel bit will only cut in a straight line. And if you are going for a 90mm raised panel bit you would deffinately need to slow it down. 80-90mm diameter bits should have a maximum speed of 10,000 RPM, and only be used in router tables with appropriate fence, guards, hold-downs, personal protective equipment, etc. [the edge of a a 90mm bit @ 10,000 RMP is moving about 170km/h] They have been referred to elsewhere on this forum as helicopters, so be careful

Ummm.

I know this is complete heresy, but for the cost of the bit and a speed controller and the mucking around that will be required, for only two or three doors I would be surprised if you couldn't buy matching doors for less money.

Check the yellow pages for a cabinet door supplier. (Commercial kitchen companies mostly buy their doors ready made anyway...)

If you were building heaps of them, or had a future use for the bit, that would be a different matter!

Sorry to be a complete wet blanket though....

P

Yeah, what Mr. Midge said.

A halfway solution is to have the prepared panels shaped at your friendly machine shop?

I have also seen this done using the table saw, and an angled fence. Lots of sanding with this, and a bit dodgy. I'll give you the website if you want.

Den

I think you'll find it impossible to do on a table saw too. With a curved panel, you need the axis of the cutter to be perpendicular to the panel face. If it is parallel to it, then you can't follow the curve.

Originally Posted by TassieKiwi

Yeah, what Mr. Midge said.

Den

Oh! OOOH!!!

It's catching.............Sorry Mister TassieK1W1


Nah!!
Sorry TK

Arh!! struth!
had a bad day

time for some 'Cold Tea'.................Scotch and Stones to the unknowing

Count

I was going to say something similar to Biting's reply but slightly different in that I would advise you to make up the basic door parts yourself then take it round to your local joinery place and get them to do the raising. On the other hand, this is agreat opportunity to buy/make a router table.


Bugger just read the rest of the replies and see that this has been covered by TassieKiwi.

Thanks Guys
Already had a quote for whole unit - $1000,so didnt even ask for door only price! got the feeling they weren't interested as most cabinet shops are flat out here in Perth due to the building boom.
The carcase cost me less than $150 all up so thought I would have a go at the doors too.
I,m now retired so time is no problem and already have router, table etc.I would have to buy the bits but they would probably get more use down the track.Will give it more thought and try another cabinet shop maybe.
Cheers Brian

Ah yes - I missed that 'curved top' bit.

Hazo,
Ive no experience with this but it occurs to me you might consider a smaller diameter of the same profile. The difference may not be noticable depending on how close the new doors are to the existing ones.

hazo, if it's a simple curve, it really isn't difficult to shape a couple by hand - not worth a router bit for so few panels. And who wants to be stuck with the same boring profile forever?! Cut the straight sides on the table saw, mark out the lines for the curved part, hog off most of the waste with a chisel and finish with a sharp plane. If you want other than a straight profile, you'll need to make a scratch-stock from an old saw blade or worn-down scraper. They work amazingly well and quickly, especiqally if you remove most of the waste by saw/chisel first. You could have 3 panels done by the time you locate and go & buy the router bit...
FWIW,

Until I get more room and a panel cutting set I raise my panels on the table saw but can only do so for rectangule doors.
I clamp a straight edge to the table at approx 45° so that the edge of the panel is level with the centre of the blade.
It's then a matter of slowly raising the blade between passes & hope the work doesn't kick back.
It's scary wth no guard doing it this way.
One slip and goodbye hand.
Some sanding with a ROS completes the panel.
The 1st door I made this way left the biscuits showing.
Fortunately I had raised the panel from both sides to keep the faces level with rails and styles so put that bit inside the cupboard.
You learn by your mistakes so don't have the biscuits too close to the edge. lol
The panels now have pride of place on my computer desk based on the NYW one but altered to suit the stock and tools I had.

See if there are any other woodworkers nearby with a shaper. I've done several things for other people that aren't set up to do it themselves. You can also make a new friend or two.

Maybe post an ad in your local newspaper or check out some of your local woodworking supply stores. Some have business cards of people doing business locally.

I'ld do it on a shaper myself, but a router table might be ok to do it if it will handle a bit that big.