Making cabinet doors with plywood panels

[skipwill]

I need to make some cabinet doors with plywood panels. My rail and stile bits cut a 1/4" groove for the panel.... but the plywood is a good bit less than 1/4" nowdays and it tends to rattle around in the groove or leave an unsightly gap.

Solutions I have thought of trying:
- Adding a small shim all the way around.
- Using 1/2" plywood instead and routing a rabbit all the way around to 1/4" to fit the grove.
- Bondo

Does anyone have a good solution?

Thanks!

[mbmcewen]

The thicker ply is probably best, but i have used shims (toothpicks)on the backside, those little rubber balls, caulk if painting and 23 ga pins . They alp work fine for the rattle, some do for the gap.

[Sassafrasman]

I used to work for a company that made wood hospital cabinetry and they were using 1/4" plywood and shimming the panels from behind.

I fixed the process by purchasing 1/4" MDF core panels which also eliminated the telegraphing of the core and the cross lines that are often visible in stained panels. This may not be available to you if you don't buy supplies from a commercial supplier.

[daveferg]

A very common design is to have the frame proud of the panel on the front, and flush on the back---you could accomplish this with some 3/8" plywood with a rabbit on one side deep enough to match the distance between the inside of the frame and the start of the grove. Then, rabbit the front of the panel to get a total of 1/4" to fit in the grove.

[jteneyck]

I either use 1/4" or 1/2" veneered MDF. I order it through my local full service ACE Hardware. It is exactly the correct thickness and dead flat.

John

[Robert Adams]

Depending on the bits you have you can change the slot size. The infinity bits have an available replacement cutter that fits the thinner plywood. I am using their shaker set for our kitchen and they cut very nice in cherry.

That said I'm using mdf core for the panels.

[AHill]

You could apply a few dots of hot glue after assembly to each side of the panel and that would stop the rattling. Another option is something called space balls. They are little foam balls you put in the groove prior to assembly. They expand when the panel is clamped up to eliminate movement.

[ruffcutt]

[handi]

Better quality stile and rail bit sets like Freud's PARS set allow you to adjust the groove width to fit your panel. IIRC, you can set the groove from about 3/16 to 3/8".

Ralph

[JGrout]

some cutter sets can be changed out for thinner grooves you have to do both the cope and stick if you go this route.

Me I just use space balls and a few shims to hold the panel forward if stain grade if paint grade I make the panels the exact size of the opening ( no clearance) glue the entire thing and again wedge forward then caulk the back to fill the gap before paint


1/4" material is preferable and my first choice however