Machining raised panel mdf doors with sqaure corners

[danfec]

We want to machine raised panel doors on our Thermwood, I would need some advices on what's the best way to have "almost square" corners.

 

Thank you very much.

[Tom Szelag]

Go in with a big tool, remachine a few times with smaller and smaller cutter?

[George_Gerhard]

danfec

there are several ways, of course tooling is a major factor. Mastercam engraving has an option to do this for you. Just describe the tool geometry, and engraving will trig out the corners for you

 

rgds

George

 

ps

I have used this many times

[Ripper3785]

Anybody have a good source for tiny wood cutting bits? I haven't had much luck.

 

George, I'm not following what you mean when you say it will trig out the corners for you.

 

Ripper teh 'where's my square endmill'

[George_Gerhard]

Ripper

In order to cut a square corner, whrn the machine arrives at the corner the corner the machine must move x,y and z simultaneously. Engraving will figure out the moves for you

 

ie, G01 X1.2345 Y1.2345 Z1.6875

 

rgds

George

[Ripper3785]

George, maybe I'm dense. I'm pretty sure danfec is talking about cutting square pockets square, for door hinges or door latches. You're telling me I can cut a square inside corner with a 1/2" endmill by using engraving?

 

I'm feeling dumb..

[Chris Rizzo]

Don't forget to use a tapered tool. Single lip engraveing tools taper to a thou or so, giving you that sharp corner when used with mcam engraving.

[The Iron Chef]

Sorry, It wont ever look like a real raised panel

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

Use a .50 router bit to cut a groove then use a 45 deg. MDF tool available from Whiteside to cut sides of the groove. Then trace the groove bottom with a 1/4" bit then use an 1/8" bit to go around the outside of the 45 deg. and it will appear to be square corners.

[George_Gerhard]

Ripper

if you take the 45 degree tool and run it into the corner there will be a huge radius in the corners. However if at the corners you execute a 3d move equal to the tool geometry there will be what appears to be a square corner, there will always be some radius, but it will be very small.

 

rgds

George

[danfec]

Thanks for all response. Exactly, what I'm doing, I machine my doors with two V-groove, a 30degree inside and a 45 degree outside with a flat in beetween. What I'm trying to is to square the corners of the outside v-groove as much as possible. I think I have to use the same 45deg v-grooving tool and start at the bottom of my groove and go on a straith line all the way up to the upper part of the groove by giving a x,y,z point reference. The problem is that I'm not real good in mastercam....that's a very simple thing to achieve for most of you I'm pretty sure...We have Mastercam Router by the way, so no 3d.

[Tom Dorgan from American Precision]

danfec, when you finish with the 45 in the corner just take an 1/8" bit and cut about 1/32-1/16 deep around the top of the 45 deg and it will look really square. If I can find one of my demo panels here I will take a pic and post it for you to see what I am talking about.

[Dan Kintzel]

quote:

---

when you finish with the 45 in the corner just take an 1/8" bit and cut about 1/32-1/16 deep around the top of the 45 deg and it will look really square

---

Exactly! I run these MDF panel doors 2 shifts a day on a Onsrud and use the same technique for the corners.

 

Iron Chef:

Take a look at our website; http://www.wood-mode.com Look under "Style Options" and most of our Brookhaven I line is MDF doors.

 

You will see several Raised Panel MDF doors on the site that you probably can't even recognize as being MDF. With the right processes in machining and finish, MDF doors can look just the same as a Solid Wood raised panel doors.

 

If anyone would like more info on machining MDF door styles, email me. I can supply the cutter info that we use in more detail.

 

[www.fabrik-style.com]

Daniel

 

If you are who i think you are we met at cnc automation I think you have a thermwoood router

I sometimes do specials panels with mastercam What i do with if i understand correctly what you want to do is draw a 3d line to follow the exact path witch i want the tool to go in the corner and use a (v 45 degre pointu)

 

Daniel

Usifibre

[danfec]

Yes I'm the same guy, thank you all for your help, I finally got what I want and it looks perfect. I knew I had to draw that 3d line but I did not knew how, now I found it !!! I'm not very used to mastercam so......

 

 

Thanks

[Keith Graydon]

dkintzel.

 

I am "The Iron chef" when I post from home.

I Looked at you work web site. It looks like you make a very nice, well made and high quality product. Your answers in this thread were very helpful. You showed a real understanding of the problem and creativity in solving it.

 

My answer was based on my recent experience with rebuilding a ~150 yr old door in my house.

 

BTW i love your avatar. It is really amusing.

 

-Keith (The Iron Chef)

[Dan Kintzel]

Keith,

My specialty is high-end wood millwork machining. It is all I do and know when it comes to cnc work. I would love to share alot more info while I'm here at work, but time doesn't allow alot of that lately or hardly ever than more than a quick reply to a thread. This is why I ask for anyone to email me specifically if they would like to pick my brain further. I will gladly share my drawings, designs and tool library to any fellow forum member. I may need to work on a request after I put my 13 mo. old to bed at night, but I will answer any request to the best of my ability.

 

I too have recently worked on the doors in our 1826 home here in PA. I have successfully recreated all the doors and mouldings that match the originals. Maybe I have a program that would make your work easier?

 

Let me know If I can assist!

 

My New Years resolution was to drop the stress and be a better forum member!

[George_Gerhard]

dkintzel

I have done alot of work including the original training about 18 years ago at Northway Industries. I recently modified one of their Heians with a new plc.

I actually tried to sell one of my machines to your company many years ago

 

small world

gota loves this forum

regards

George

[Dan Kintzel]

Hey George!

Cool who you run into on this forum.

When I came here to Wood-Mode, they were at the time purchasing all of there MDF doors and a few other odds and ends parts. I was hired to put a CNC operation into place here and are now machining all of our own parts in house.

 

What type of machines do you manufacture?

Myself and one other individual have built 8 other specialized CNC units ourselves. Maybe we can swap thoughts sometime?

[Westgate Hardwoods]

dkintzel,

 

At some point I would like to link up with you via email to pick your brain on a few things. We do very much the same kind of work you do only on the left coast. I have only had about 4 years CAD/CAM experience, largely Trial & Error self-taught. I do have over 25 years background in high-end woodworking, however. We don't do a lot of MDF doors and those that we do, we outsource. We're running MC Router V9.1MR0105. with a custom made 4X10 2 head CNC Router. We also use CabinetVision for cabinet nesting/design. I'm much more proficient at that than with Mastercam. At some point I would like to get the Engraving package. I have made some toolpaths utilizing a ramp-in/out with a V-groove bit to simulate the square corner look, however it seems that for nesting MDF doors this would be a lot of programming. I like your 1/8 bit corner clean-out method. It's so close that it's almost negligible.

[Dan Kintzel]

Craig:

Nesting MDF doors is a lot easier than it seams. The approach that I have taken after a LOT of trial and error, is to:

(1) program one door not a nest of doors;

(2) Save it to a part library with tooling on seperate "properly" named layers;

(3) Use ATP in Mastercam to automatically set up your nested sheets.

 

Save your nested sheet files and you never have to re-program your doors again!

 

Plus, any new door designs you may come across, you simply apply your layer names to the new MC9 file, process through ATP and Bingo your done.

 

Learn to use ATP for MDF parts. It is simple to learn and use and the rewards are a HUGE time saver.

 

Contact me anytime, I'll do my best to help.

 

[Westgate Hardwoods]

Thanks dkintzel. I'll experiment with that.

 

Cool Avatar!

[Westgate Hardwoods]

I downloaded the Mastercam ATP add-on and when I try to open it, my Norton Antivirus keeps telling me there is a malicious script detected and shuts down MC right now. Is this true or can I tell Norton to ignore this?

[Chris Robinson]

Hi Everyone, I have been researching how to clean up my corners on mdf doors and found this thread. I need a little more detailed help.

 

I'm using Mcam Router v9.1MR0304 and a Thermwood Model 40.

 

The tooling I have is the Whiteside #5720 slant raised panel tool, #5610 inside edge tool and a #1570 Point cutter round over for cleaning up the corners.

 

I have read this post but I'm having some difficulty. I'm weak on drawing in 3d and I have never used the ATP function. So this will be a valuable lesson. Can someone please email me instructions?

 

I really appreciate your help!

 

Thanks,

Chris Robinson