Cutting MDF Doors

[JohnLashuay]

I am trying to cut out some shaker MDF doors with an inserted 1/4" thick MDF center panel. The trouble I am running into is this;

When cutting out the center panel it hogs it out with a 1/4" bit. How can I just have it cut it without hogging it out?

The second step is to cut a rabbit into the back of the door to allow for the applied 1/4" thick panel.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
-John

[Josh Rayburn]

Hi John,
You can adjust your minimum pocket cut through settings in control nesting. This will cut the perimeter of the pocket (as long as it's a through cut) without turning the pocket into dust. It will follow your settings for the radius leftover area left by the pocketing tools and choose one appropriately.
I would not run something like a shaker door through e-cabinets anyway, I would just do a dxf file with a few rectangles. I'd make a compin through for the center, then a compin for the rabbet, then another compin for each .001 away to clean up the radi with a smaller tool.
jnr

[JohnLashuay]

Thanks Josh for the feed back! I haven't done anything with layering in CAD so I am not sure how that works.

Are you able to send a dxf file to the CN with tools specified for the various operations?

-John

[Josh Rayburn]

Well, it's not quite THAT easy...But you can accomplish what you're after much more efficiently than through the foolery required to get ecabinets to do it. Tools are specified by their diameter, not by a tool number or name. This can be confusing if you have multiple tools with the same diameter, but you just have to lie about the diameter and set the tolerance in tooling setup to 0 then you will be OK.

[JohnLashuay]

Thanks Josh! I'll give it try.

[Dennis Englert]

A booklet for Control Nesting can be downloaded from our website. There is a section about DXF files and layer naming conventions. One of the great things about dxf files is that since it used CN as its interpreter, it will also nest multiple parts. You will need one dxf file for each door size.

Dennis

[Kerry Fullington]

John.

Give the attached door a try. You should be able to batch each size you want.

You will need a default tool group in the Profile Modeler with a 3/8" straight tool and a 1/8" straight tool. Make the 3/8" tool the custom tool also.

In control nesting click the Mdf Door Tool Options Button and under Custom Tool, check Exterior and Interior and set the 3/8" tool as Exterior and the 1/8" tool as Interior.

I got this to nest and write CNC on the Thermwood Desktop but I haven't tried to cut it.

John.jpg (5.03 KiB) Viewed 10584 times

[Kerry Fullington]

Hey John,

I just realized I didn't cut the rabbet deep enough but we can fix that if the rest of the file works ok.

[JohnLashuay]

Thanks Kerry, I'll give it a try and let you know how it works!!

[JohnLashuay]

Thanks Dennis! I am hoping to stick with Ecab at this time, but will try the dxf direction when I get a chance.

[Dennis Englert]

If you can do it as Kerry suggested by batching the doors, it would make life easier.

Dennis

[JohnLashuay]

That is exactly what I was thinking!! Less steps the better.

[JohnLashuay]

Kerry, that door cut great once I added in the various settings for the profile modeler and the control nesting. The only issue that I see is that the rabbet was cut 13/16" wide instead of the 3/8" that you had set it for. Not sure why.

I'll work with this a bit and let you know what I find out.

Thanks again!!
-John