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Thread: best way to cut rabbet on baltic birch ply?

  1. #1
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    best way to cut rabbet on baltic birch ply?

    Wife wants 3 new doors in kitchen. Rather than allow me to do a really nice job and make nice doors, she wants to save the others and have the new ones match. Old doors are 3/4" plywood with walnut laminate on the surfaces. The doors have a rabbet on the back side about 3/8" deep and 3/8" wide to allow the door to partially set in the cabinet.


    Question is what is the best way to cut these rabbets without making a mess of the layers of ply? I have a slider/shaper combo with the Felder Dado set and a rabbet cutter for the shaper. Since it is only 3 doors I am not worried about efficiency or speed, but do want the cleanest cut possible as I slice through the layers of the ply. i have already matched the laminate and have the panels for the door covered, but I can practice on pieces of scrap ply.


    Thanks.

  2. #2
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    Not sure about the "best" way, but I would use the table saw to make a cut on the back side of the door the depth of the rabbit. Then, you can get rid of the rest with the shaper ...

    The cut on the table saw will make a clean cut on the back of the door ... the shaper will be working on the edge of the ply, so there should be no problem with tear out ...
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  3. #3
    IMO, the cleanest way is to make two cuts on the tablesaw, one with the piece horizontal on the table, the second with the piece vertical. Of course featherboards or the like will help with stability of the piece when vertical.

  4. #4
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    Yet another approach would be my preferred way for only three doors, and that's using a handheld router using a rabbeting bit. Take 1/8" passes using a climb cut and there will be no tear out and the bottom corner will be square and not over or under cut.

    John.

  5. #5
    james

    do you have a power feeder on your shaper? I make a lot of flat panel doors and use 1/2" plywood for the panel - I just run a rabbit around the perimeter to fit into the grooves on the rails/styles. I use the power feeder so it is a climb cut and even on the cross grain the edge of the rabbit is flawless. I can sneak up on the perfect fit by trimming a fraction off the panel tongue and just run that edge back through the shaper - with a climb cut the results have always been perfect.

  6. #6
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    Id back the bb with a sacrificial sheet and make the cut on the shaper with the cutter I already own.
    Glad its my shop I am responsible for - I only have to make me happy.

  7. #7
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    +1 climb cut, whether hand held or table router or shaper.
    Scott Vroom

    I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.

  8. #8
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    I have a power feeder. Please refresh my memory as to what a climb cut is. Feeding in the direction that the cutter wants to pull the workpiece anyway?

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by James Baker SD View Post
    I have a power feeder. Please refresh my memory as to what a climb cut is. Feeding in the direction that the cutter wants to pull the workpiece anyway?
    James, a climb cut is a cut in the same direction as cutter rotation, it can only be done with a stock feeder.

    I would use the feeder and the rebate cutter on the shaper, that's what the machine is designed for............Regards, Rod.

  10. #10
    James - yes that is exactly what a climb cut is - you really need to try it with your power feeder - the cut quality is amazing. Only down side is the mess - the cutter rotation tends the throw the chips across the table in the direction of feed/rotation instead of back into the dust shroud. if I am doing more than a few cuts I tend to move the shaper to the garage door and position it so the chips get flung out in my driveway rather that all throughout my shop - lot easier to cleanup with leaf-blower vs broom

  11. #11
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    Do the doors have a round over on the face?If so,you might want to do that first.

  12. #12
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    door edges are beveled at 78 degrees (12 degrees off perpendicular). easy cut with the table saw. Whole kitchen is full of weird angles, many of the cabinets have sides at 78 degrees relative to wall and doors.

  13. #13
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    This is obviously not a rabbet, but it does show the difference between a normally cut 1/4" X 1/4" groove cross grain in cheap prefinished plywood, and a climb cut in the same piece.



    P6240228.jpg



    This was done on a router table with no power feeder. When making cabinets with the Sommerfeld T&G method, he recommends doing this. Self feeding seems fairly easy to control, probably because it is not a large cut, and I use feather boards set pretty tight.
    Last edited by Rick Potter; 05-26-2015 at 7:28 PM.
    Rick Potter

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    AKA Village Idiot.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rod Sheridan View Post
    James, a climb cut is a cut in the same direction as cutter rotation, it can only be done with a stock feeder.
    I would agree with that for hardwood. Plywood is a different story. I routinely climb cut grooves in plywood for cabinet carcass assembly. It does not grab and throw like hardwood. I consider it a safe operation on a router table. And yes, it does throw the chips forward but the quality of cut is worth the mess IMO.
    Scott Vroom

    I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.

  15. #15
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    I just score the line with a razor knife and use a dado stack . . . a good quality dado stack. As you can see from the responses, the "best" way is different for different folks. Try a few test cuts and pick your own "best".
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

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