Advice on clamping Mitered Cabinet doors

[John Bouthiette]

Hello Everyone,

I was in my shop last night prototyping some cabinet doors for my wife to look at so she can decide what she wants for the kitchen cabinets i will be building. Her latest suggestion is to build flat paneled mitered doors with 3/16" beads along the inside and outside of the frame. I am fine with the beading, but have never had good luck gluing up the miter joints. I used bisquits, which help with the alingment, but clamping was a challenge. I am open to suggestions, and have searched through this formum, any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Gene Michael]

There are a number of corner clamp devices on the market. You might look in the Rockler, Woodcraft or similar catalogs. When I built my last set, I made my own corner braces from hardwood, then cross clamped the door frames with pipe clamps. Using the biscuit joiner should make the job even easier as you will only have to worry about horizontal alignment. Good luck! :)

[David DeCristoforo]

There are jigs and special clamps as Gene mentioned. But these tend to be expensive. I just use "pipe" clamps but here's the "trick": you need four clamps per door. Lay two down on the bench and set your door on top of them so that the stiles are centered on the pipes (and the jaws of the clamps are centered on the width of the miter). Then place the other two clamps on top, centered on the rails. By adjusting the clamp pressure, you can move the miters into alignment pretty easily. If your miters are accurate, the door will pretty much "automatically" square itself as the miters close (but check anyway).

YM

[Rick Lizek]

http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/orderstatus/html/smarthtml/pages/merlclmp.html
The Merle clamp with it's steel band is the best I've used.

[Rob Wright]

Clam Clamps Miter Clamps:

http://www.miterclamp.com/


work as described.

- Rob

[Chris Padilla]

Merle's band clamp looks nice and I've read a lot about the Clam Clamps, too (pricey little suckers!) but my good old Bessey Bandclamp (http://www.grizzly.com/products/High-Torque-Band-Clamp/G4955) does the trick every time.

I am currently using it to clamp up door casings (yep, mitered corners with glue/biscuits put together on the floor...install when dry; yep, Mr. Clam Clamp himself sold me on the idea but not his clamps, which look like they would work just splendid but for the 6 I need to do, a bit pricey).

[Grant Morris]

Here is a nice cheap solution

http://www.amazon.com/Bessey-Tools-WS-1-Angle-Clamp/dp/B000VYFNCA/ref=pd_bbs_5?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1204675454&sr=8-5

I am not affiliated with either Amazon or Bessey in any way.

[Chris Padilla]

:eek: WOW! That price is low for a Bessey product!! :eek:

[Peter Quinn]

Clam clamps work great for casings but I'm not sure I would want the holes they leave in the wood on cabinet doors unless they were paint grade. The clam clamps really dig in but seem to work better on stock over 3" wide as well. I've used cheap compression straps from the borg and shop made corner blocks (of which there are no shortage of designs) to glue up mitered frames. Seems like the wood working band clamps are like $15-$50 where as the same web strap on the cheap tie downs are like 4 for $12.

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=124963#post124963

Bill Arnold posted about using packing tape to close miters. I think this might even work better than my bandclamp for my door casings! I'll give it a shot this week and report back my findings. Cool!

[John Bouthiette]

I appreciate all the suggestions and pointers. I will be continuing to prototype for a while until she decides so I will be able to get plenty of practice! I will check out all the pointers too!

Thanks again!

[John Bouthiette]

Hi, Thanks for the tip! I will be trying out this method, especiually since I have a nunmber if pipe clamps already and have used my tool budget up for the for quarter of 2008 already!

[tom cooper]

John-
Here is another tip worth looking at: get the March issue of Fine Homebuilding and look at the "Tips & Techniques" section on page 32. There is an illustration of using pairs of plywood panels cutout to the shape of the obtuse mitered joint being glued. All you would need is scraps of plywood and some F-clamps or bar clamps.
Give this a try and let us know how well it works.

[Bill Huber]

When I made my shop cabinets I made miter doors on them and I use dowels in the miters so clamping was not a problem. I even used dowels in the face frame miters.

I guess it take longer to use dowels but it sure make clamping very easy. I just use my parallel clamps and that work just fine. I use the Dowelmax to drill all my dowel holes, 2 in each corner.

[Jim Becker]

In a similar question not long ago, my suggestion was to consider a mitered lap joint. It gives you the look of the miter from the face, but the huge glue area and strong joinery of a lap joint. I little bit of work to create, but might be worth the effort!

[Ed Peters]

In a similar question not long ago, my suggestion was to consider a mitered lap joint. It gives you the look of the miter from the face, but the huge glue area and strong joinery of a lap joint. I little bit of work to create, but might be worth the effort!

There are few joints weaker than a mitered corner. You are essentially gluing end grain to end grain. If you are dead set on ignoring the tried and true method of stick and cope joinery used around the world, then at least consider the method Jim described above. Even thoughiIt requires an awful lot of work with multiple setups and fittings, it will yield solid joints. If that is beyond your interest level, at the very least, incorporate dowels at the corners.

Ed

[David DeCristoforo]

"...at the very least, incorporate dowels at the corners..."

While I cannot agree more with the need for some kind connection at the corners of mitered doors, dowels can be a real PITA. Years ago I made a jig for my biscuit joiner to slot the faces of the miters. Since then I have used this method for at least a million mitered doors and I have rarely had one fail.

YM

[Joe Chritz]

If the flat panel is plywood then you can glue the panel in to add strength to the doors.

I have a couple spider looking shop built clamps for picture frames that work very well. Basically a couple pieces of all thread to pull the corners in. If I can find a picture I will post it but I found the design by looking for plans for clamps for picture frames.

Joe

[Bill Huber]

"...at the very least, incorporate dowels at the corners..."

While I cannot agree more with the need for some kind connection at the corners of mitered doors, dowels can be a real PITA. Years ago I made a jig for my biscuit joiner to slot the faces of the miters. Since then I have used this method for at least a million mitered doors and I have rarely had one fail.

YM

Dowel are really easy to do on miter with a Dowelmax, clamp it on, drill 2 holes in each side and put the dowels in.

[John Bouthiette]

All, Once again thanks for all the advise and suggestions.

I am going to experiment with the doweling methods, and with the half-lap methods.

My prototyping was delayed this weekend as I was "volunteered" to finish my niece's basement since her husband is not considered "handy" although I intend to drag him kicking and screaming into helping with the drywall hanging and painting when I get to that point.