Thread: Router Wardrobe Door Query

Yes.

I am guessing the ones in the pic are commercial CNC produced units. Unfortunately, because they are wide shots I cannot tell what profile bit they have used, or whether (profile permitting) the are using squared or radiused corners.

Provided that you can get the profile you want in a plunge bit, and don't want square corners, then you should be able to route the patterns yourself using home made patterns. If you wanted the corners squared, it can be done on a CNC with a V bit of virtually any angle, but it isn't practical to do this with a standard router,

I would suggest that it might be easier overall to talk to a couple of cabinet makers near you to find out what it would cost to get what you want done. Some parts of the industry are booming at present and others are in a slump. I used to drive a CNC for a cabinet maker, and might again if he can get the work. Our machine could cut a 2400 1200 sheet of plain or carcass satin MDF in 2-5 minutes for plain panels, or 6-15 minutes for a basic patterned panel like those in your pic. Laying out a sheet would take a similar time in the software.

Material is cheaper as it is purchased wholesale, minimum handling, no chips etc, beats handling full sheets, roughing oversize, finish cuts, making multiple templates cutting patterns, etc.

If you want to go it alone and paint with normal house paint, normal MDF or moisture resistant would be adequate, if you want to go to 2 pack, use the carcass satin board, and then you don't have to pay to paint the back side, saving $100+ per door. If you wanted 2 pack, again the cabinet maker may have local contacts to help you.

Most of these doors are mass produced on huge CNC machines then heat coated in vinyl. More than likely overseas.
Making that size oneself is a heck of a job.
First cutting it absolutely square then carving it with a handheld router and, if you are not an accomplished painter (I am not saying professional, just very good) you will see either brush or roller marks in the door.
Could end up looking like "whomever done it done it himself"
Weigh up whether the savings are worth it.
Cheers
Wolffie

thanks for the feedback.

out of interest, why is there a difficulty getting square corners? a mate was saying that too...

am actually wanting to do 3 smaller rectangles, but was just using that pic as an example.

so i may still be up for the challenge, and was wondering if i should consider doing 2 sheets of mdf glued, or make a door out of real wood and with framed panel...(i'm assuming making a panel door out of mdf would be a no no, but any advice is really appreciated).

Originally Posted by satorumusashi

out of interest, why is there a difficulty getting square corners? a mate was saying that too...

If you want to cut the pattern with a router, you are using a circular bit. Move the bit in one direction to a corner point then move it at right angles. The corner will have a radius equal to the bit radius at that depth on the internal corner, and a square corner on the external corner.

If you are using a Vbit on a CNC, you program it to make the first cut up to the corner, then move in 3D, drawing the bit from the work at an angle to match the V of the bit, while moving in the original direction of cut for the last bit radius of travel, and moving in the opposite direction to the new line of travel for 1 radius of travel. Once the bit leaves the job, you reverse the plunge back to original depth and move in the new direction of travel. This leaves square corners on both sides of the groove, but would be almost impossible to do properly freehand. For profiles other than Vbits, the CNC can be set up use a high taper Vbit to trim the radius out for the internal corner while matching the main bit profile, but this could take a lot of programming time and a couple of minutes cutting time per corner.

Some of the builders we used to work with used straight 18mm MDF doors for their robes, hung off 4 or 5 kitchen cupbroard hinges fitted to the carcase (melamine chipboard). These were painted with the rest of the house. Kitchen doors are generally 16mm coated MDF cut to size and edged, or 18mm Carcass Satin coated MDF for 2pack painted doors or carved doors.

ahh, thanks, that makes sense.

so i either have to compromise with slightly round corners, or, i could make it with several pieces and join them to get 90deg corners?

The rounded corners thing is not just rounded corners, it's unbalanced corners.

You route a profiled groove with a right angle and one edge of the groove has a square corner while the other has a radiused corner, and the radius generally gets bigger as the groove gets deeper.

Lot of work to build panelled doors from scratch just to hide them under paint. You can buy moulded doors for $30-40 at Doors Plus etc, but could probably get a 2400 x 1200 sheet of them cut for about $100 if you find the right guy, and get custom sizes and patterns into the bargain.

Onlyother suggestion I could make would be to start with an MDF blank (or plain door) and build up the raised effect by glueing on panels and surround strips to create the required effect, A lot of mucking around, but should be quicker, cheaper and probably more durable than making paneled rail and stile doors.