wadrobe doors.

[Jezmaster]

have to make a wadrobe to hide a bolier., need two doors. what should i do, rip up 18mm mdf and place them on plumb hinges, or make a two doors and have stiles and rails, grooved out to take two half inch mdf panel, hinged on 3" butts. any help, woul be grate full.

cheers (homer)

 

[9fingers]

I'd do the latter.
MDF only will be very heavy and difficult to secure hinges. You will still have to lip the edges anyway and still end up with a featureless door.

Make sure the timber is well acclimatised to the warm, dry near boiler conditions otherwise the dorr frame will twist something rotten.

Good Luck

Bob

 

[Jezmaster]

is it best to add a middle rail to help stop the door twisting.

also wht timber sizing should i use for door.

will route out a groove to take half inch or three quater indch mdf panels?
which woul be best?

 

[9fingers]

Perhaps two middle rails?
Three panels of 12mm mdf with panels raised to fit in 6mm groove centrally in 22mm finished timber. Your choice which side to put the raised panel face. consider the style of other doors in the room
Depending on the width of the opening, consider also a pair of doors.

Maybe more work than you anticipated but should be worth it for a good result.

Bob

 

[jasonB]

I have done lots of doors in MDF, you can either use 18mm for styles and rails, grooved out for a 6-9mm panel with loose MDF tongues. OR make the door out of 12mm MDF and glue strips of 6mm to it to make it look like a shaker frame & panel door. Fare less likely to move than softwood framed doors and less expencive than using something like tulipwood.

Either way use Blum (not plumb) hinges as butts into the side of MDF don't hold well.

Jason

 

[houtslager]

Jason wrote

make the door out of 12mm MDF and glue strips of 6mm to it to make it look like a shaker frame & panel door. Fare less likely to move than softwood framed doors

Yep I would go for this option, just make sure the 12mm panal is CUT SQUARE and for the Frame I would use 121mm too cuts the cost of buying different thicknesses, and allows a decent profile to be routed.

HS in a sunny and SNOW FREE Northern Germany

 

[WellsWood]

I have done lots of doors in MDF...

18mm for styles and rails, grooved out for a 6-9mm panel ...

Either way use Blum (not plumb) hinges as butts into the side of MDF don't hold well.

Jason

Me too, although I glue my panels in (which I was a bit duboius about the first time - but Ive never had a problem with movement and it makes them very strong)

Mark

 

[Johnboy]

Another way is to use 18mm for the stiles and rails and 12mm for panels. Biscuits and glue with the 12mm flush on the inside leaving a 6mm reveal on the outside. Simple to make and strong.

John

 

[Wanlock Dod]

I have made some quite tall doors (about 5 foot) by Jasons method. I used 12mm MDF and 12mm softwood "frames" glued and pinned ontop. It made a considerable difference to their stiffness with a small increase in weight. I used 2 doors both a bit more than a foot wide to fil the opening.

I painted the MDF before putting them together, but still haven't put any finish on the wood

Cheers,

Dod

 

[Anonymous]

18mm flat doors are fashionable at the moment esp with a high gloss finish, so if you want an easy life just rip the 18 and put them on blum hinges with soft close, or push to open blums (actually I use Hettich) with no handles.

 

[WellsWood]

18mm flat doors are fashionable at the moment esp with a high gloss finish, so if you want an easy life just rip the 18 and put them on blum hinges with soft close, or push to open blums (actually I use Hettich) with no handles.

Senior, I have to do doors exactly like that quite soon. Does what you say above mean that there are blum hinges with "push to open" as a function of the hinge as opposed to using a separate catch? If so could you let me know which ones you recommend. Or have I just interpreted your post wrongly?

Mark

 

[Anonymous]

Hettich do a reverse sprung hinge, so if you use it in conjunction with their catches all you do is push the door and the door will open all the way, on its own.

I'm not sure if any other companies do a hinge with the reverse sprung, they all do unsprung hinges, but these only pop the door open a little way depending on how far the catch will throw it.

 

[WellsWood]

Ah, excellent, reverse sprung sounds like just the ticket - didn't know such a thing existed I'll have a scout round for some.

Thanks
Mark

 

[CWatters]

Hi Jason,

You gave me the tip about using 12mm mdf with 6mm frames over at askthetrades some time ago. I'm still finishing up my house but will get around to trying this technique eventually on some oak doors for the study cupboards.

There are plenty of sources for oak venered mdf but how would you source the 6mm solid for the frames? Do you rip up and thickness some larger stock or is there a friendly mill somewhere that will do that for you?

 

[jasonB]

how would you source the 6mm solid for the frames? Do you rip up and thickness some larger stock or is there a friendly mill somewhere that will do that for you?

I usually deep cut 100mm wide 32mm sawn boards into three pieces than put them through my planer/thicknesser.

If you don't have the machinery for this then find a supplier who can machine to your spec, not the cheapest option though. For example I recently had some 94x8mm finish size oak run out by South London Hardwoods at £4.71 per mtr + VAT.

Jason

 

[CWatters]

Thanks.

 

[danf]

Please dont shoot me down in flames for this one but I just finished doing a fitted cupboard for a friend and she bought a couple of full height doors from MFI (£80 for the pair approx), with an oak finish as used on their fitted wardrobes. As the cupboard was in a recess I fitted frame, clad frame front in 18mm MDF and laminated to match the door finish and hinged doors on sprung hinges. She is well pleased with her cupboard and as I didn't have to manufacture doors it was all done in a day.

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Dan

Welcome to the forum.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi CWatters

Welcome to the forum.

Cheers
Neil