How long does it take you to build these doors (paint grade)?

[Phillip Mitchell]

A takeaway from Dan's comment is that you can't compete with a shop like that, so maybe you should look to outsource the doors to one them. You might be money far ahead and have time to work on other aspects of the project where your shop rate has less impact on overall project cost.

John

I have done some of both and find it completely impossible and futile to compete with cabinet door factory pricing for paint grade, shaker, off the shelf type designs and sizes if that’s what someone wants. The only time it “makes sense” to make standard design doors is if there’s a timeline crunch or if there’s only a small handful.

I do tend to like to keep things in house, though, and tend to take on projects that are not standard so my value proposition of true customization is actually valuable to the client. And I am not a cabinet shop, though I do tend to take on occasional smaller scale custom cabinetry projects at times.

You could order these doors from a cabinet door factory online or locally/regionally and get them for probably around $1k +/- depending on location, etc.

I ordered a kitchen’s worth of sanded but unfinished doors for a re-facing project once and it cost a little more total than what my estimated raw materials cost would have been, not to mention the labor to build them. Not sure if the scale is there for 8 doors (and only 2 different sizes), though.

[Walter Mooney]

Yeah, I've seen that video a few times and that's a million dollar shop. Not my speed yet

I’m not sure a million dollars covers it

[andrew whicker]

Yeah, looks like $900 for those 8 doors from our local vendor. I'll have to see how well they are filled and prepped for paint.

It's a good point. Maybe I should let it go.

[andrew whicker]

I’m not sure a million dollars covers it

I don't think so either

[John TenEyck]

I would not try to handle full sheets of anything on a TS. I use a circular saw to break them down into manageable pieces. In your situation, a track saw may make more sense as you could easily cut to finished dimensions, no RAS required (though I do love mine and am jealous of one that has 24" capacity).

John

[George Yetka]

1 hours to program
4 hours to cut on cnc(solid MDF)
1 hrs to paint over a day or so
is what your probably competing with.

If it were me:
6 hrs milling
6 hrs cut and prep
2 hrs glue
2 hrs sanding
4 hrs paint

[andrew whicker]

Here's more my speed on future shop set up (short term):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSche40a-O0

I would do some things differently, but tooling wise this is pretty close to my 1 year vision of where I'll be.

As far as tracksaws, I'm using it a lot and I prefer to move on from it soon. They take a long time to set up, etc. Right now I use a track saw both for ripping and cross cutting. For cross cut, I use a MFT set up. It takes a LONG time to break down sheet goods using this method. My RAS is theoretically going to take over my cross cuts and that will speed things up quite a bit. If I could cut full sheets on my cabinet saw, that would speed things up even further.

[John TenEyck]

Here's more my speed on future shop set up (short term):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSche40a-O0

I would do some things differently, but tooling wise this is pretty close to my 1 year vision of where I'll be.

As far as tracksaws, I'm using it a lot and I prefer to move on from it soon. They take a long time to set up, etc. Right now I use a track saw both for ripping and cross cutting. For cross cut, I use a MFT set up. It takes a LONG time to break down sheet goods using this method. My RAS is theoretically going to take over my cross cuts and that will speed things up quite a bit. If I could cut full sheets on my cabinet saw, that would speed things up even further.

Not sure I understand why a tracksaw takes a long time to set up. Flop the straightedge on the cut line and cut. Picking up full sheets of plywood and especially MDF to get them onto your tablesaw will make you old before your time. You need some sort of lift system if you want to pursue that option. Your back will thank you if you do or curse you if you don't.

John

[J.R. Rutter]

Ready to paint in about 4 hours, with the last 45 minutes or so on day 2. But I am pretty optimized for this. And the tall doors would still fit in my clamp. I dislike hand clamping, haha.

Edit: I just made 7 paint grade maple doors this morning for a friend who was under the gun to finish a little project. No center rails, but <3 hours total, starting from 15/16" H&M material. He wanted veneer panels, so I used a mix of leftover maple. It really is nice to have a complete system for door making. Karl and I have compared notes in the past and we have a slightly different approach but similar results. With engineered panels like mdf core, no need to reinforce the cope and stick, just glue the panels in.

[Jared Sankovich]

I don't think so either

You could ask him.

This is the build thread for that shop.
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....hop&highlight=

[Kevin Jenness]

Ready to paint in about 4 hours, with the last 45 minutes or so on day 2. But I am pretty optimized for this. And the tall doors would still fit in my clamp. I dislike hand clamping, haha.

Edit: I just made 7 paint grade maple doors this morning for a friend who was under the gun to finish a little project. No center rails, but <3 hours total, starting from 15/16" H&M material. He wanted veneer panels, so I used a mix of leftover maple. It really is nice to have a complete system for door making. Karl and I have compared notes in the past and we have a slightly different approach but similar results. With engineered panels like mdf core, no need to reinforce the cope and stick, just glue the panels in.

You don't run your doors through the wide belt immediately after clamping? ( I'm sure Karl did that only to show the elapsed time in an unedited sequence, I mention it only to point out that sanding before the glue dries invites sunken joints.)

Do you reinforce the cope & stick on doors with solid panels?

[J.R. Rutter]

You don't run your doors through the wide belt immediately after clamping? ( I'm sure Karl did that only to show the elapsed time in an unedited sequence, I mention it only to point out that sanding before the glue dries invites sunken joints.)

Do you reinforce the cope & stick on doors with solid panels?

Haha, my understanding is either widebelt immediately after glue grabs or wait until it is dry. I have a wood welder that I use to heat up joints on rush jobs. Then they are good to sand as soon as it cools down ~ 1/2 hour.

On unusually large doors, I'll put a domino in, but otherwise no reinforcement. On doors that I've broken apart, the glue lines stay intact.