Problem with cabinet doors

[Mike Conley]

I have a problem with a couple of cabinet doors I made. When I do a dry assembly of the doors and lay them on a flat surface, the assembly does not lay flat. If I hold the hinge side flat on the table, the bottom left raises about 1/16" to 3/32" off of the table. If I hold the handle side of the door flat on the table, the top right raises about 1/16" to 3/32" off of the table.

I made the stile and rails with a matched set of router bits. I used a coping sled for making the cope/rail end cuts.

The stile and rails are not warped or twisted. They lay flat when not assembled.

What did I do wrong?

If I clamp the doors flat when I do the glue up, will I be able to remove this problem?

[Dan Hahr]

I've noticed this problem when I cut the inside edges slightly off of square from the face. I would check the squarenes off of the face and see if that is the problem. Also, your router needs to be set up perfectly square to the plate, and the wood held tightly to the plate while routing. Unfortunatley, a very small error magnifies dramatically when multiplied over the length of the door.

Hope this helps, Dan

[Jeff Monson]

Did you use featherboards or holddowns when cutting the stiles? If the stock is flat, then there must have been some instability when making the cut.

BTW, a good set of adjustable hinges will hide the problem you already have with the 2 doors you have made.

[Mike Conley]

Did you use featherboards or holddowns when cutting the stiles? If the stock is flat, then there must have been some instability when making the cut.

BTW, a good set of adjustable hinges will hide the problem you already have with the 2 doors you have made.

I was hoping the hinges would hide the problem. I am using these: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=21311&filter=salice%20face%20frame%20hinges