Space balls and raised panel doors-various questions!

[introuble!]

Hi All,

finally got some time to have a go at making some raised panel doors to fit a in-built chest of drawers and cupboards i've been working on. Could do with your help and advice on a few points please.

The doors need to be approx 1550mm by 520mm and made of pine to match the drawers already built.

My questions..... after some forum searching and general goggling i'm now concerned at my intended method. I was thinking of going for a twin panel cope and stick but i'm worried that the size of these doors means that 6 glueing points are just not substantial enough?

This leads on to question 2, the thickness of the stock for doors of this size to ensure no twisting etc, i was thinking 30mm with a 20mm panel but is this man enough? i have plenty of space to work with so could be bigger stock.

Third question is one of rattling really, the room these doors are going to be in contains a big sound system and i don't want the panels to be rattling away all the time, on a lot of the US sites their talking about space balls between frame and panel but have failed to find something over here, is there an equal?

Any help and advice would be great :roll:

Thanks,

Dean

 

[Chems]

Any sort of little rubber ball will do for the space ball, just something that will squeeze easily.

Not sure about your other questions, but don't under estimate the power of modern glues!

 

[introuble!]

Thanks for your reply Chems, maybe something stronger than PVA would do it, just seems a bit lightweight though! Don't have to start work yet so i'll wait to see what others think as well. With the space ball thing i have considered running a mastic bead in the panel grove, maybe that would provide the required squish without the rattle?

 

[Chems]

I use TiteBond 3, its very good stuff. Don't know if its stronger than PVA but certainly sets quicker.

 

[MickCheese]

I have not seen space balls in this country. You could try those little polystyrene beads you get for packing.

Mick

 

[tom owens]

You can get little speaker spikes that stand roughly 50mm high formed like an upside down pyramid. They reduce niose vibration to next to nothing.

 

[introuble!]

thanks Tom but theres 9 amps, 4 powered subs and over 1.5K so i have to try and limit the capacity for the panels to shake as much as possible, all drivers are on vibe platforms anyway. Would have similar concerns with packing peices because of this and to be honest it is the reason for starting to doubt the cope and stick method.

How strongs that titebond! I know i could go about this using mortice and tenon but the cope and stick bit sets give me that nice bead, which just so happens to match the draw fronts i've done, maybe M&T with a bead applied after? I know theres probably a way of doing it but im lost!

 

[promhandicam]

Tiitebond 3 will give you joint that is stronger than the wood and using a panel door set like this http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Combination_Bit_193.html gives a long glue line. I wouldn't have any worries about using it. If you use a veneered mdf panel rather than a solid panel, you can also glue it in place and you will therefore have a stronger construction and no problem of the panel rattling.

Steve

 

[Chems]

If you use a veneered mdf panel rather than a solid panel, you can also glue it in place and you will therefore have a stronger construction and no problem of the panel rattling.
Steve

Thats your ideal solution, if you have a bandsaw you can cut your own veneer and stick it to the MDF sub panel, as bought panels can be quite expensive.

 

[promhandicam]

If you use a veneered mdf panel rather than a solid panel, you can also glue it in place and you will therefore have a stronger construction and no problem of the panel rattling.
Steve

Thats your ideal solution, if you have a bandsaw you can cut your own veneer and stick it to the MDF sub panel, as bought panels can be quite expensive.

From memory I pay around £23 for a 6mm sheet (1220 x2440mm) of Oak veneered mdf - £25 for 9mm so would never dream of veneering my own mdf.

Steve

 

[Chems]

I tried to get hold of some character oak veneer for my last job. Heres the email:

The Minimum we can supply are 2- 8x4 sheets
What thickness board?, what do you require on the reverse side?.

£79.21 per sheet. Delivery approx. £120

Ernie

Crazy price! That was from relianceveneer.

My local Focus does a sheet of euro oak for a very reasonable price!

 

[Jake]

I use TiteBond 3, its very good stuff. Don't know if its stronger than PVA but certainly sets quicker.

It is PVA, with accelerators and other admixtures and a heap of marketing.

 

[introuble!]

Thanks for all the replys folks

I've used wudcare internal and external waterproof Pva on the rest of the build and can't fault it, but thats been m&ts, drawer lock joints and t&g, no critical joints really, looked for glue strength type charts without success but if folks think titebond would be stronger then its a no brainer to get some, would be interested to know if the additives are just to set it quicker.

i've got a set of three cutters (i have some smaller doors to do at some point so i knew i'd need them) two of which do the job of the cutter in the link above, the third provides the profile on the panel itself. This is a detail i'd like to keep but i like the thought of a completely glued door. Excuse my newbie questions but i take it there would be a need to run a rebate on the panel to get it to fit in the small cutter grove... sorry shouldn't think out loud! No bandsaw yet unfortunately but to be honest learning how to veneer is not something i had contemplated just yet anyway.

The cutter sets effectively produce a small m&t don't they? If so i was wondering if i could get a couple of scraps and try to modify a small hidden fox in there to get some extra strength - again i'm new to this so that may well be a daft idea!

Will try to find some veneered pine sheets for pricing and have a think - also thinking i should embrace the whole photobucket thing and put a post up in the projects thread to show what i'm on about!

Lastly any thoughts on the stock sizes? Are my ideas suitable?

Thanks all

*edit* with choice of stock i could always go for wider stock and hence horizontals as well to give a wider glue area? So much to think about!