Interior Door Build

[james glenn]

So I have progressed my continual home renovation to the next project which are doors. I am looking for advise on how to construct the design below.

A few things to know:

1. This is my first attempt at interior doors.
2. There will be various widths of doors and a few French doors as shown below.
3. Some will have 3/16" tempered glazing as noted in the design below, and others have either a 3/4" veneered mdf or plywood panel.
4. The curved part is a 1/2" or 3/8" (Walnut) veneered panel which would offset it from the 3/4" panel above and still allow for the glazing dado.
5. I planned on using dados for the glass and panels.
6. Considering building a jig to drill dowel holes in the stiles & rails, or a loose mortise & tenon which I am not really set up for.
7. Stiles & rails will be 3 layers of Kentucky coffee bean,cherry, or maple laminated and finished to 1-3/8" thick.


Please offer any suggestions, bad ideas, anything I am forgetting or have screwed up, elaboration on the above for me, as it would be greatly appreciated.

Jimmy

Interior Door Designs-Model.jpg

[Lee Schierer]

Have you checked the cost and feasibility of getting the curved tempered glass pieces. They would have to be ordered pre-cut as tempered glass cannot be cut. Also cutting the curved dado could be a challenge depending upon what equipment you have.

[Jamie Buxton]

Strong joinery at the corners is an important thing. Fortunately, because you're making your stiles from three layers of wood, you can make the mortises while you're laying up the stiles. You make cutouts in the middle layer, and glue everything together; instant mortise. You can do a similar thing on the rails. The middle layer is longer than the outside layers, and that forms the tenon.

[james glenn]

Lee - I have a friend who owns a glazing and window company, so I only pay his costs. It's the only way I am considering this design. I was thinking about cutting them on the router table, or possibly using the table saw with a tall auxillary fence and feather board to help guide the piece as I rotated it across the blade. I haven't quite figured out how that will work out.

Jamie - I did not think about that, which will save me a lot of time and energy and appreciate it. Sure will make it much easier to construct that way.

[Jerry Miner]

I would advise a rabbet-and-stop affair for the glazing, rather than dado---so the glass can be replaced at some point without cutting apart the door.

[Wayne Lomman]

I agree with Jamie re the construction - the 3 layer design is made for it.

Do you really need 3/4 panels? 3/8 makes doors as solid as a brick outhouse. I made about 20 doors for the house I am working on that are 8' high and 3' wide. Even with 3/8 marine ply panels they are heavy solid - about 55kg each (apologies for the mixed measuring systems)

I would make a template of the curve and use it with the router to get the shape. Bandsaw/jigsaw the rough shape to within 2mm and final trim with the router. It is such a big radius that you are unlikely to get tear out even going against the grain.

Since you are using ply or mdf for the timber panels, these are best fitted in the dado you have indicated in your design. However, I agree with Jerry about the glass. I would machine all the doors the same, but then for the glass ones, simply machine out one side of the dado to form a rebate for the glass and make a bead to suit. Have you considered laminated glass rather than tempered? Shape isn't a problem, its just as safe and it won't explode if you hit the edge. Cheers

[james glenn]

I have been thinking about how to make the stop to hold the glass due to it being a curve. One consideration is to make a large portion of the curved part as the bead to hold the glass and then just using a rectangle piece of glass which is under a few inches at the deepest area of the curve. Alternately, I wonder if making the rebate on the rails and stile and not the curve would allow enough room to pull the glass out if needed?

Wayne - I have attached the details of the doors below here. I hadn't considered the thinner panels, but it might help with a few issues. If the curved portion is 3/4" thick and the larger area is only 3/8" is just reversed the rebate (reveal) of the two different thickness. In turn that would lower cost for the plywood or mdf, make it easier to create the rebate and stop for the glass, and make the doors easier to handle.

Thanks for the insight. It's great to have people with knowledge and different views of how to construct these.


[IMG]URL=http://s1137.photobucket.com/user/jimmyg1134/media/Interior%20Door%20Designs%20detaill.jpg.html][/URL][/IMG]

[Wayne Lomman]

I think it should work to shallow groove - say 5/16 - the curved edge and bead the glass the other 3 sides. The groove may have to be slightly wider than the glass thickness to allow for the angle of installation. I would make the door, make a glass template that works and get the glass cut to that template. Cheers

[Jerry Miner]

Or---- you could set up the removable stop so the glass has room to slide completely free of the ply groove:
Glass Door Stop 11-9-16.jpg

[james glenn]

Thanks a great idea Jerry. Much appreciated. It seems that would also allow me to better secure the glass without having to leave extra space and potential "rattle" issues.