How to make glass panel doors?

[Wade Lippman]

My wife wants some glass panel doors in a china hutch I am making.
I have made many raised panel doors, but never glass.

I picture making them the same way, trimming the bottoms off on three sides, assembling the doors, and then somehow fixing the glass in. That last part is what has me stalled.

How is it properly done?

I thought of just making them like raised panel doors, but if I ever break the glass it will be a problem. I suppose then I can just route off the bottom and go back to the first method. After all, how often do they break?!

[Karl Brogger]

I cut the back side of the rails out on the table saw. Its easy this way. Then use a router to cut out the material on the back of the stiles. 1st a rabbet bit, followed by a laminate flush trim bit. The kind with out a bearing. You may have to grind the tip down a bit to get enough clearance.

For attaching the glass you can use clips that screw onto the back of the door. They're easy to install, but the glass can rattle. Which to me is really annoying.

One shop I worked at we had a kind of rubber moulding that was pressed into a routed out slot with just enough room for the glass. This worked well, but there was a semi special bit that you had to use.

I just silicone glass in. Its the easiest, the cleanest looking, and the fastest. I don't put any on the face of the glass, just on the back. If the glass ever needs to be replaced a razor will cut away the silicone easily enough.

[J. Z. Guest]

A couple ideas.

Make the frame with pocket screw joinery, then order the glass panes slightly undersize and use the rubber bumper thingies from Lee Valley.

[Bob Rufener]

I made a gun cabinet with glass doors in it. The glass shop where I purchased the tempered glass put the glass in for me for a few bucks. He used caulk to install it. He did a nice job. No rattles and looks good. That's a possibility for you.

[David DeCristoforo]

You can make them "like raised panel doors" but, before you put the frames together, rip the back of the rails so that there is a rabbet instead of a groove. Then glue up the frame and use a router/rabbeting bit to remove the "lip" on one stile. Clean up the corners with a chisel. Now you have a rabbet on 3 sides and a groove on the fourth. slip the glass into the groove and drop it into the rabbet. Many simply use silicone to "bed" the glass but you can also use small wood stops if you want a really finished look on the back of the door.

YM

[Dave Bureau]

Sommerfeld tools has a good video for glass doors and they have the rubber insert also.
Dave

[Jim Becker]

I just did this for my wet bar project...the upper cabinet doors get glass. I made the rails and stiles normally and then cut off the back of the panel area on the router table. straight through cuts for the rails and stopped cuts for the stiles. It was quick and easy using some extra stock milled to setup for the stops. The glass will be held in by some fitted strips of wood that are just pin-nailed to the door frame, making them removable should the glass need to be replaced for any reason.

[Lee Schierer]

Doors that have glass have a bad habit of getting broken at some point in their life. Make your doors so that replacing the glass doesn't require disassembly of the rails and stiles. It is relatively easy to cut the back side of the rails and stiles to accept push in glass molding strips. It also gives you rattle free installation.
http://images.rockler.com/rockler/images/34757-md.jpg

Several of the woodworking suppliers have the strip material. It gives a professional touch to a project for a minor amount of effort and cost. As a second place, holding the glass in with silicone sealant might be my choice, but I've never had to replace a piece of glass that was installed with that method. It could prove difficult.

[Vince Shriver]

How do you make and attach muntins and mullions if you want to add them to the project as a decorative accent? I keep looking at the Ethan Allan hutch in my dinning room and that part of the glass doors has me scratching my head.

[David DeCristoforo]

"How do you make and attach muntins and mullions..."

You make them the same way you make the rails... coped on the ends and "stuck" on the edges. But the pieces can get pretty small so you often need jigs and fixtures to mill them safely.

YM

[John Lucas]

Several partsto the answer:
but I t hink starting at this page will get you what you need to know:
http://www.woodshopdemos.com/jrl-24.htm

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/jrl-2511.jpg

[David DeCristoforo]

"...but I think starting at this page will get you what you need to know..."

Yep... that's one way to do it... Nice post.

YM

[J.R. Rutter]

How do you make and attach muntins and mullions if you want to add them to the project as a decorative accent? I keep looking at the Ethan Allan hutch in my dinning room and that part of the glass doors has me scratching my head.

I lower the cutters and cut the profiles into strips sized so that the sit on top of the glass, then cope the ends. I use a feeder for the sticking, but still plan to throw away the beginning and ending section because it is more likely to get spoiled as the cut starts / stops. For shaker doors, I make the grids with half lapped joints. Then to attach them to the door frame, I push them into the door frame and drill shallow 3/8" holes to span the joints on the back side, and super glue dowels into them (this goes very fast with accelerator on the dowels). A flush trim saw slices the extra dowel off.

Oh, and for the door frames, I use a rabbeting bit in a router table to cut the backs of the groove off, then use a small diameter flush trim bit (solid carbide works well) to get into the corners. A chisel would work fine, too. Do this BEFORE you install the mullion / muntin grids!

[Dick Sylvan]

I built this corner cupboard:

http://www.lonniebird.com/Image37.jpg

The upper door was glued and assembled with rabbets on the back of the muntins. I cut some small triangular pieces of molding, about 1/4" on each side and to appropriate length to frame the inside of each muntin. They were finished with shellac just like the rest of the piece and held in place over the glass with clear silcone caulk. I haven't had to replace one yet, but I believe that I can remove the molding with a thin "razor" blade and reinstall with a minimum of fuss.

[Randy Cohen]

i know this is an old thread but....how about bedding the glass in silicone? is there any reason not to do this? should there be some depth allowance for the silicone? like if the glass is 3/16" thick and i rabbit out to that depth should i add something for the thickness of the silicone so the glass will sit flush with the frame? like another 16th? and the silicone will hold the glass by itself?

[Karl Brogger]

I just silicone glass in. Its the easiest, the cleanest looking, and the fastest. I don't put any on the face of the glass, just on the back. If the glass ever needs to be replaced a razor will cut away the silicone easily enough.

covered already

[Randy Cohen]

covered already
how about the second part of my question about the depth?

[Karl Brogger]

You will want the glass to be recessed somewhat on the back. I leave the reveal on the front the same depth as my other doors at about 3/8" If the glass is cut an 1/8" less in height and width there is plenty of room to silicone it in. I just do a bead around the edges of the glass and try to sqeaze some in around the edges to hold it better.

Like I said before this is my preffered method as it is easy, quick, doesn't rattle, and is the glass is semi easy to replace should something happen to it.

[Bob Feeser]

The Freud 1-17/32-Inch Divided Light Cabinet Door Bit Set (http://www.amazon.com/Freud-99-270-32-Inch-Divided-Cabinet/dp/B00004T7MN/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1211252267&sr=8-2) produces a variety of styles of glass pane doors. Simply choose your pattern and let these bits do most of the work.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NQKSSBY3L._SL500_AA280_.jpg
I have this set both in cabinet door style, and exterior windows style. They leave you with an exterior finished side, and a rabbited interior side that you can slide the glass into. Then what you do is make a pass with one of them to create moldings for the inside that match the outside. Cut the corners in 45's, and they make a snug fit. You can adjust the thickness to compensate for glass thickness.
Pertaining to the silicone for a rattle free seal, the problem is one with exterior windows wanting a sealed glass edge for repelling rain, and with the cabinet door type you don't have that much of a need, other then possible moisture when cleaning. So if you seat the glass with silicone for the exterior glass, that will prevent rain moisture from penetrating the crack where the glass meets, but make it a pain in the butt to remove in case of breakage, at least without marring the mutins and mullion edges. With interior cabinet doors the way around that is to only seal the mldg side after installing the glass, and scraping out all of the excess. So only a little bit sits between the play in the glass, and the wood. Let it dry thoroughly, then when placing in the mldgs, they are easily removable. All you have to do then is use a razor blade, and remove the silicone at the out edge of the glass, never going anywhere near the outer finish edges.

[mike holden]

Doesnt any one use glaziers points anymore? You know, the little triangles that hold the glass in while you putty (showing my age here) or silicone?

I always found that four of those held the glass in place while I sealed the edges and eliminated any fears that turning the frame around would have the glass fall out before the sealant cured.
Mike

[Brian Penning]

I used those freud bits that Bob mentioned above. Work great.
There's a complete article on how to make such doors with those bits in American Woodworker magazine July 2006. I think the issue no. is 115

http://www.brianpenning.com/index_files/image5011.jpg

[Bob Feeser]

That is beautiful and true divided light. You must get a charge when people come to visit, and open the doors. You know they are peeking at how they are put together. You did a beautiful job of building the cabinet, the design is wonderfully proportioned. The accent wood molding at the top is just the right touch.

[Mike Porter]

Nothing wrong with using silicone or latex caulk in my experience. I have a production shop and use this method on all my glass doors that use cope and stick joinery. I've never needed more than say, 1/16th of an inch allowance for the adhesive. Sort of a moot point though as cope and stick joinery dictates your depth/reveal.