What's the easiest/neatest way to cut out doors from plywood leaving a clean opening?

[Alan Lightstone]

I'm building a desk addition with two doors that will open giving access to the back for wiring.

The substrate will be 3/4" plywood, which will then have a teak veneer.

I'd love to just be able to cut out the rectangle neatly for the doors, and then bisect them and veneer them, but I can't see how I could get good corners with a track saw.

Similar issues with a router and a track I think.

How would you all approach this?

[Andy Pratt]

I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't mention that I don't think this would be a common way to solve this problem. Generally door borders would be solid wood, especially on something incorporating an expensive wood like teak.

If you are committed to this method: when I have had to cut a clean inside 90° corner in plywood I use a down-spiral router bit to make the cut using guides then use a chisel to mark the exact edge of the cut line on the ply veneer then use a fine handsaw to make the corner.

[Jerry Miner]

I've done this several times, for access doors in cabinets. I usually make the cuts on the table saw, but a track saw would work fine. Stop the cut at the corner and finish with a good hand saw. There will be a little clean-up, but not much if you're careful with the handsaw cuts.

The door parts will need the little corner nibs trimmed off--again, I use the table saw, but a block plane, file, or sanding block would do it.

How are you treating the ply edges? If you will be adding edge banding of sufficient thickness, you can make your cuts with a small router bit guided by a template.

[Michael Kellough]

I use a Festool track saw and this blade. The kerf is the same as a fine jigsaw blade so it almost automatically guides the jigsaw to complete the corners. In fact, the kerf is so narrow that if you used the technique on stock thicker than 3/4" a hinged door might bind in the opening.

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[Dave Richards]

Alan, I would agree with Andy. The common thing would be to put on solid wood edging to cover the edges of the plywood. If you do that, then you don't need to be quite so concerned about cutting the opening. You can use his method to clean up the corners. You would normally veneer the inside as well as the outside which I didn't show.

(c)Dave Richards2014

[Sam Murdoch]

…and the track saw does this better than any other method I have ever used. The secrets are: 1) a good thin blade (Michael K's post # 4), 2) allow room under you supported work for the full depth plunge, 3) accurate location of your corners, 4) and well positioned stops on the guide rail at both start and end points. The start point stop is A MUST HAVE. Without it you are risking your work and your personal safety.

[Bill Huber]

I did something like this at work a few years ago. The cabinet had a 3/4 back, just painted black, no veneer, just painted. The cabinet was used for all types of AV and Computers stuff.

I double backed taped some 1x2s on it for the router and 2, 1x2s double backed tape on the inside to catch the part cut out. Used the router with a 1/4" bit to cut out the door, left the rounded corners.

Then installed a 3/4" bit in the router and set the depth at 3/8" and cut a dado around the opening. Cut a new plywood board to fit in the dado and rounded the corners to match the ones left by the 3/4" bit. Now at the router table I cut a 1/4" wide by 3/8" deep dado around the new board, with a forstner bit I drilled 2, 1" holes in the new board.

I then installed about 8 small rare earth magnets spaced around the hole in the back of the cabinet and the same in the door, these were like small flat ones about 3/16"D. Sanded the board and painted to match the back, it worked out very well.

We can now just pull the door out and do any wiring we need and then pop it right back in.

[Myk Rian]

If I was using a router, I would use a compression bit in plywood. The center of the bit being set for the center of the ply. That bit will compress both edges inward for a clean edge.

[john lawson]

+1 on the tracksaw. I did this on some large kitchen walls/cabinets and it turned out really well. Did the plunge cut with the Dewalt tracksaw then cut the final 1/2" with a dozuki, cleaned it up with a chisel. Then I trimmed the doors with tablesaw and banded them with maple.