Panel doors question

Rob Keeble

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Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Ok I am back in woodworking mode now the house is behind us and its quiet time for my business so i can get my mind around some woodworking once again.

Now making a panel door i note that some use ply and some use wood.

With wood i can see where the expansion and contraction means some space gotta be left in the slot and the use of the rubber ball whatchmacallits spacers.

But the lastest edition of woodsmith/shop tips showed the guy doing a center cut on the table saw to fit a 1/4" piece of ply on the stiles and he made it a snug fit.


Is this correct?

I have noticed that the wood raised panel bits would make that edge that fits in the groove slightly angled so does that mean the slot is made to be a press fit on the edge given the expansion of a wood panel is going to be mostly pushing out towards the bottom of the slot.


I am trying to brush up on my finer points and get em in my head once and for all. Getting a little tired just winging it and living with the consequences. :):eek:
 
I don't make ply panels fit what I would call snug. They fit "well" and I put a short line of glue in the middle of the slot in each rail and stile just because I don't like future rattles. I do not worry about movement very much with this construction but, I do allow a smidgen of room around the panel for the solid wood movement. Nothing scientific, I just don't make it fit like a glove.
 
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The Shopsmith method works very well if you want your panel centered and are using a stub tenon. I hardly ever do either. And the snug fit business depends on whether you are designing the panel to be structural or not.
 
ply panels are made to be close but not tight and glue cornerd or center.. solid panels 1/16 top and bottom and a 1/8 th on the sides depending the panel width..
 
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