Making flat cabinet doors

[scott vroom]

Good advice above.

On tall raised panel doors I've always added a third, wide center rail. Seems to help...maybe gives the door more torsion resistance? Most of that work was maple/mdf.

[Warren Lake]

still dont know what he means. some of his doors dont come out flat? hes saying they are not coming out flat after he has made them so I can only assume hes got a clamping issue.

[jack duren]

Over the years, some of our cabinet doors have come out flat and others not so much. We are at the point of making the doors for our kitchen remodel. The raised panel will be MDF, the stiles and rails hard Maple. Some doors are pretty tall, up to 72". What is the best way to glue and clamp our doors to insure flatness?

Thanks,

You do the best you can.. Your using a MDF panel and as long as that is as flat as expected the solid maple will be the only flaw if it is milled and assembled as flat as possible. I've put doors on and a year later seen them twist a bit and under warranty repaired or replaced if they couldn't correct the problem.

In most repairs it's nothing more than a turn of a screw driver on the adjustable hinge...

I use to do a lot of full inset doors. Adjustable hinges my friend ...

[John Gregory]

Some doors I have made in the past has a corner that hits the frame first. But I have made lots of good doors too.

John people put posts and we all answer but often there is not enough info. YOu post your doors are not always flat? what does that mean flat accross the width? ir on the length you did not say later on so it sounds like the issue is there after clamping If you are talking width then clamping on bar clamps and some are flat and some arent then its to do with your clamps or more likely the height of the wood in the clamps as you will get a different door pressure on the styles at the bottom of the clamps so you need to adjust the material height on the clamp, use the winding stick as Brian has said. I dont use cope and stick but you should still be able to get a straight door with that, that is you dont need to have a full size tennon for a straight door, sure it would help a bit its what i was taught. You dont need six months on a door if you have style issues, you can machine your material once or twice over a few days taking tension out to make it more stable but that doesnt sound like what you are saying when I hear some come out straight some dont need more info. when doors get to a certain height id like to see thicker doors. ive opened high end kitchens with a long door in 13/16 and they bend from a magnet on one end trying to hold it tight,

[John Gregory]

We will have a center rail. One door must be tall to accomdate a pull out pantry.

Good advice above. On tall raised panel doors I've always added a third, wide center rail. Seems to help...maybe gives the door more torsion resistance? Most of that work was maple/mdf.

[John Gregory]

Wow your work looks great!