Wardrobe doors (making)

[ynotuk1]

Hi all, I have to make about 20 wardrobe doors ( inset flat panel ) my question is should I make them with stiles and rails or is it quicker to route out the flat panel and also which method is the most cost effective, the doors will be made out of mr MDF I was thinking 22mm with a 6 or 9mm panel
Thank you in advance

 

[chippy1970]

Stiles and rails then either tenon or loose tenon the joints. I use 6mm panels but quite a few people use 9mm up to you.

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[petermillard]

^^ What Chippy said ^^ I'll just add that if many of the doors are same-size it may be worth getting a quote to have them made.

 

[ynotuk1]

Thank you Chippy1970 and Petermillard,
I have a Dewalt table saw and a T9 Trend router but no router table in your opinions which way would be the quickest method to use to get them done the quickest?
The doors are all slightly different sizes due to the alcoves being different
Thanks once again

 

[custard]

Once you route out MRMDF (or MDF for that matter) you'll find the texture of the interior of the board is different to the texture of the surface, it's woolier and doesn't have that "glaze" to it. Bottom line is you should try it on some scrap first, you may be happy with the result, but you may well conclude it looks like total carp. You're the one who has to live with it so only you can decide.

There is a type of MDF that designed for machining, with a more homogenous surface and interior, I forget it's name, something like "Machinable MDF".

 

[ColeyS1]

I've just had to remake some doors that a builder got made on site. I can only assume they used non moisture resistant mdf as the doors were really bowed, only being painted on one side wouldn't have helped either. Those doors were 18 mm mdf with bits fixed around the front (look like stiles)

Coley

 

[Adam9453]

I was going to suggest using 18mm MRMDF and then applying 6mm MRMDF to the front (applied mouldings effectively).
As coley said above make sure you pick nice flat boards of MDF and paint them evenly on both sides to avoid warpage.

 

[skipdiver]

I've just come back from my niece's house where i have been fitting new hanging rails into her built in wardrobes. They have those sliding doors which she hates and i have been volunteered into making her a set of new ones from MDF as a wedding gift, so i have four quite large ones to do now. I'll probably just plant false rails and stiles on top of 18mm boarding.

 

[ynotuk1]

Thanks everyone for your much valued feedback on this matter, I've got to start the 20 doors from Monday of next week and I'm going to go with the stiles and rails method, all the larger doors are about 1900 tall, so should I use 3 rails over this length and what would be the most efficient method to pocket out the loose tenon?
I would've used the method that you suggested Skipdiver and Adam9453 but have read a lot about the doors warping doing it this way ( which would of been the quickest method but don't want any call backs ) so I think I'll have to make a jig to cut out pockets for loose tenons ( any advice here greatly appreciated)
Thank you all once again
Tony

 

[No skills]

I've not tried it yet but one method from folks here is to use a router table with a grooving bit with a cut the same as the panel thickness, if you run around the short ends of the stiles when your grooving you can use offcuts of panel for loose tenons.

 

[skipdiver]

Thanks everyone for your much valued feedback on this matter, I've got to start the 20 doors from Monday of next week and I'm going to go with the stiles and rails method, all the larger doors are about 1900 tall, so should I use 3 rails over this length and what would be the most efficient method to pocket out the loose tenon?
I would've used the method that you suggested Skipdiver and Adam9453 but have read a lot about the doors warping doing it this way ( which would of been the quickest method but don't want any call backs ) so I think I'll have to make a jig to cut out pockets for loose tenons ( any advice here greatly appreciated)
Thank you all once again
Tony

I've made doors all three ways in the past and either can bow slightly if you are not diligent. Always try to pick your own boards making sure they are flat to start with. When i'm making the doors, i always store and glue up everything on my workbench, which i know is dead flat. Hinges can straighten out any slight bowing when fitting but if you do it right they should be flat anyway.

I wouldn't recommend the routed pattern on the face option. It's messy and doesn't give great results unless you have top quality MDF as custard mentions. It also involves much setting out and in my case the making of jigs to keep the router going where you want it. Still made a couple of mistakes though and had to bin 2 doors and re-do them. When making stile and rail doors with panels, i did them with solid timber and MDF panels. Put a 6mm router bit in my table for the grooves, then morticed into that 6mm groove where the stiles met the rails with a 6mm chisel in my morticer. Tenoned the rails also on the router table, then cleaned up with a chisel. There's a lot of set up time and you have to work methodically, but the results are good. I would go with three rails on a 1900 door and i like to set the middle one below centre as a personal preference.

I'm choosing the planted on method for my niece because it's only 4 doors and is in a spare bedroom she uses for extra storage for her never ending selection of clothes. Why do women need so many clothes and shoes? Next year i am doing her a hand built kitchen and will do all the doors 'properly'.

There are plenty of threads on here and the net showing how it's done.

 

[SteveF]

Doctor Bob has a brilliant way of making them using an arbour and 2 cutters
I believe he then uses a piece of packer material to raise the table bed height without adjusting router bit height
I am still struggling with it in my head but sure it would become obvious when you got around to it
a picture would probably make it very easy to understand...if only I had one

Steve

 

[ynotuk1]

Thank you once again for all your comments, especially skipdriver for the very detailed method you use, this is the way im going to do it when my router table arrives, i did do a bit of a practise run yesterday but had to grove out on my table saw but had to make three passes to get the desired result so i think will be quicker on router table when it arrives.
Also i bought a cabinet router bit set today to be delivered, would these work for making larger wardrobe doors?

 

[skipdiver]

Do you mean stile and rail set? If so, then yes, they should be ok for wardrobe doors.

 

[petermillard]

There's a million ways to do these, and I'm pretty sure I've done them all. All you need is a groover, same thickness as the panel - though I like a 1/4" groover with a 6mm panel as it gives a bit of wiggle room. Groove the full length of the stiles, three sides of the top & bottom rail, all four sides of the mid-rail - yes, three rails on a 1900mm door, mid-rail at ~40% of height. Loose tenons from the same panel material, glued & clamped.

I like a deeper bottom rail (~150mm) on tall doors but depends how you want them to look. Rails and stiles are 22mm MRMDF, ~80mm wide usually works well - I just get my yard to rip a sheet down to 80mm strips & trim to length as needed.

3 hinges on a 1900 door, obviously; never had a door bow using the above.

HTH Pete

 

[ynotuk1]

Thank you Steve (skipdriver), peter Millard,Steve f, no skills and to everyone else