mdf paint doors

Michael S Murray · Post by **Michael S Murray** » Sun, Dec 24 2006, 4:39PM

Hey Every one,
Is any one up and running production on mdf doors with profiles? If so what are your experiences and do you think it cost effective.
Thanks for your time,
Mike

Rob Davis · Post by **Rob Davis** » Wed, Dec 27 2006, 9:05AM

Mike,
While it may not be lots of doors, we do make a lot of parts for other people that are MDF and we make them on the router successfully. We also paint them before shipping in many cases. The painting is the hard part, not the machining!

We are not big fans of MDF doors for cabinets. Not our niche as we are not trying to be the low cost producer of custom cabinets! Our doors are either wood or laminate, depending on the project.
Happy New Year
Rob

Michael S Murray · Post by **Michael S Murray** » Wed, Dec 27 2006, 11:14AM

hey Rob,
I am not a fan of mdf doors either, but I have turned down a couple offers of running them for other people and I was just wondering if any one was having success with it. I am more concerned with the modeling portion of it and how effecient it was getting them through the software and to the machine.Probably not a high profit item and I dont want to spend a bunch of time at it if it is not profitable. I know the gys with the hand held router setup and templates can make them pretty quick.
Thanks Rob and have a good holiday.
Mike

Forrest Chapman · Post by **Forrest Chapman** » Wed, Dec 27 2006, 12:42PM

Hey Mike,

We make quite a lot of mdf doors and other products. Just like anything there is a trick to doing it well and efficiently. Currently Ecabs does not support doing this on a production level, but you can do very unique one off designs which you can charge handsomly for. If you want to do alot of mdf your best bet for now is panel matrix or any cad program that will allow tool sets and parametric sizing. You will also need diamond tooling for consistant quality and longivity. As soon as ecabs will allow for tool sets instead of one tool it will be a fully functioning door program.

Hope this helps,
Forrest

Ps. Anything you run on your router should be a \"high profit item\".

Michael S Murray · Post by **Michael S Murray** » Wed, Dec 27 2006, 1:15PM

Thank you Forrest, that is just the info. I was looking for. I have cut some nice mdf projects, but am not looking to be the pioneer in anything new.(learning to rein in the horse a little) I have more to do than I can possibly get to and tackling something else problematic is not one of them.
Thank You for your input and I hope you and your family are having a nice holiday.

Rob Davis · Post by **Rob Davis** » Wed, Dec 27 2006, 1:22PM

you said:
Ps. Anything you run on your router should be a \"high profit item\".

rant on:

Tell that to the customers. If we could just get them to understand that if they are not taking time to make router components and use that time to make things they are good at or even go fishing and their capacity increases!

Sorry, just let one go becasue the guy wanted to talk me down 2.5%. Even though we were the lowest, he just felt it was more economical for him to make them in his shop for the same price and if we weren't 2.5% lower, then he would save the money. While I understand, I don't understand.

rant off!

Michael S Murray · Post by **Michael S Murray** » Wed, Dec 27 2006, 2:19PM

Rob, if your like me, your better off if you dont run something for some one who doesnt get it. My example would be the 4 guys in my shop who were just about caught up this morning, They are now buried 6 hrs later,thanks to the router and several jobs I had hiding in there!
How can you compare 2.5% to that advantage?

Rob Davis · Post by **Rob Davis** » Thu, Dec 28 2006, 2:39PM

Mike, those with routers tend to get it. And there is no percentage that works to discount the price for better construction, faster turnaround, more precision, etc etc etc. I had a guy today too who was \"needing a job since I am almost done with the other one\". In two hours the router gave this guy 3-4 days of work. Beautiful!!!!!!

We have the philosophy, right or wrong, that it is better for the router to sit idle than to run it just to run it. So ours does sit idle a fair amount at this point. Do you need any added capacity we can sell you?????

Happy New Year

Michael S Murray · Post by **Michael S Murray** » Thu, Dec 28 2006, 5:10PM

Hey Rob,
My router runs about two to three days a week, that is all we can get assembled and installed. I once ran 7 kitchens at one run and it was a mess for a month after, parts and carts everywhere. I now run only a couple at a time and weight for them to get through finish,then when they get to assembly, I cut a couple more jobs up. I cut for a few other customers in those times when we dont need it if possible. I will say I enjoy cutting up parts and sending them out the door for some one else to take over from there. I wish I would have used a cutting service before I got my machine, might have never looked back, but convincing a bunch of knot heads like cabinetmakers(myself included!) of the advantage is hard until they see it a couple times. Have a good evening.
Mike

Mark Hesketh · Post by **Mark Hesketh** » Tue, Jan 02 2007, 7:31AM

machines sitting idle? Gasp! I am usually in here 9-10 hours every day running the machine the entire time and still manage to fall behind more often than not... I dream of days to let the machine rest

Michael S Murray · Post by **Michael S Murray** » Tue, Jan 02 2007, 7:54AM

Hey Mark,
I dream of the Day when I get to rest!!!One of my employees just put in a 2 week pay period of 137 hrs. The sad thing is that I am here first and always leave last, so what is that saying about my sad, sick life ? We have more than enough work for the router, if the rest of the shop could keep up, but I am not ready to add another spray room and finisher, and then there is that quality employee thing that constantly hangs over my head.
Hope every one has a good yr.