Raised Panel Door advice

[Jeff Cord]

I finished a "practice" raised panel door for a garage cabinet today.
I call it practice because this was a learning project before making cabinets for the house.
Some details: The opening between the rails and stiles was 17" x 28" and the wood is poplar.
I used a reversible router bit to create the rails and stiles with little (after figuring it out) trouble.
The groove created by the router bit is 3/8" deep so by adding 2 X this depth to the 17" I get 17 3/4" wide.
Now the question: I realize the amount of wood movement is going to be based on the type of wood, time of year, etc.
So, I added 1/4" to all sides (allowing 1/8" on all sides for expansion) and cut the door to that size and then routed with a raised-panel bit.
Was 1/8" too much?
When I put the door together there appears to be alot of movement in the door.
thanks,
Jeff

[John Fry]

If I'm understanding you right, I think you mean that the 1/8" clearance you left on all four sides is allowing the "panel" to move around inside in the rail and stile assembly?

I leave the exact same clearance on average sized doors, but I use a spacer called Space Balls to fill the gaps. They are little rubber balls that are .26" in diameter and they fit in the grooves, usually two per side work well. When you assemble the door, they compress to the 1/8" thickness that you have allowed. They not only allow further expansion/contraction of your solid wood panel, but they center the panel and also prevent rattling.

Some folks make their own out of a bead of silicone caulk, but heck, space balls are cheap and they are all the same size.

I think they are available at Rockler and Woodcraft type stores, or you can buy direct from the manufacturer.

HTH

[Jeff Cord]

John, I left 1/8" on each of the 4 sides so the door was actually 1/4" narrow.
About 2 minutes after posting I remembered the space balls. I guess that's why we invented the word "duh". :D
Jeff

[Tom Hintz]

I also like and use Space Balls and leave 1/8" per-side of clearance. howver, when I do not use the Space Balls, I reduce the clearance to 1/8" side-to-side and 1/8" top-to-bottom. I've never had a problem either way with expansion pushing the frames apart or distorting them.

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I use and have space balls, they work great, the only thing I don't like about them is I drop the darn things and then have to chase them around the floor (my fat fingers are the problem)

The next time around, I'll use something even cheaper, the round, soft, tube like stuff that they use here to hold in the screen for window screens. This stuff is pressed into a round groove on the aluminum frame of the window screen to hold the screen in place on the frame. It comes in various sizes one of which is right on 1/4" (6mm) I buy it for pennies for a yard or so, cut it up into 1" long bits and then stuff them into the grooves, works well, and I find them easier to install, and when I do drop one, they don't go rolling under stuff that I cannot get at.

BTW, where are the pics of your practise cabs? :D

Cheers!

[Jeff Cord]

OK, here's the first set of pics.
This is the complete door (I posted this in another thread, hope this works.)
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=45798&d=1156820374
Here is the glued up panel (3 7" wide stips of poplar) before cutting and routing.
45799
Just jointed and glued.

I'll post more when I attach the door to the case.
Jeff

[Rick de Roque]

The amount of space you leave for wood movement depends on alot of things, but one is what time of year you make the door. In the summer I leave very little space because here in AR it is humid and the panel will only contract since it is fully expanded. In the winter I leave more space because it is fully contracted and needs room to expand. I only leave a hair of space at the top and bottom because there is very little movement lengthwise.
Just my .02

Rick

[Scott Thornton]

I would recommend getting some space balls or the rubber pieces from sommerfeldtools.com, those are what I've been using, they're cheap and they're easier to handle (reference to what Stu said, I've had the same problem).

[Larry Fox]

I leave the same 1/8" space all the way around and use the Space Balls. They are at my local Woodcraft for something like $5.00 / 100 of them.

I have also heard of people using the rubber tubing that they sell at aquarium stores or little sections of rope.