Routing mortises for frame and panel

[RonMiller]

I regularly make frame and panel cabinet doors in a simple style - glued in flat panel with no bead - sometimes casually thought of as "contemporary" or "shaker". I need to do these faster. I've been using my Sawstop (love it!) to get a centered 1/4" dado down the middle but that leaves the question of what to do with the gap this leaves at the top and bottom of the assembled door. Making the cross member have a tenon is one approach but I'd like to do this faster than that. I could cut the frames on diagonal and  hide the cut - don't like that look. So what about using the 1400 with the routing aid to do this? I could stop the cut from each end that way. I will be getting a 1400 and KR32 kit anyway to speed up and improve the look of my cabinet holes, so the expense isn't really the issue (although $251 for plexiglass is buckets of bucks). Then I'd put dominoes (which I already own and use when doing cope and stick for more strength) in each of the 4 corners. That would give me the look I want and the domino has to be faster and more accurate than making a tenon.

I'd be open to other approaches including being told "make the tenon". But I make alot of these and want to be more production oriented.

Secondly, having read other 1400-related threads here, what optional accessories are most recommended? The hard fiber base runner and guide stop appear no-brainers. And can the 42" hole rail be used and then moved up for longer lengths of needed holes or is the 95" the only practical way to do that.

TX in advance cause I know I'm asking alot of question but I'm finding Festool is starting to make me good $ so I want to pursue it hard.

 

[RonMiller]

I keep noodling on this...perhaps a slot cutter run short of the ends?

 

[tbellemare]

Ron:

There are a lot of ways to skin that cat, more now that you're using Festool.

One way to make that dado is to use a straight bit and the router horizontally. You could either mount it horizontally like Jerry Work does or you can use the Edging Plate. You also need the Angle Arm to mount it to the router.

This set gives you the option of making sliding dovetails also, as Brice has pointed out. Jerry mounts his horizontally for the same purpose.

In the horizontal mode, you can also use the router for trimming.

If you add the Copy Scanning Set, it mounts to the Angle Arm and has bearings that can be used for copying or "adding a bearing" to bits that don't already have one.

This set of accessories adds a lot of flexibility to your router. It may not produce the ideal solution to your problem for a production situation but it's something to think about.

Tom

 

[woodshopdemos]

I will answer only one question...the length of the hole drilling rail. You do not need the longer one. It is so simple to move the rail down and use a drilled hole to register the next set of holes. The only exception would be if you really have jobs that always have a need for full length holes. Otherwise, make the shorter rail work.
  As to the square hole seen at top and bottom. Yes you can use a slot cutter and stop the cut short of the end. Or, how about gluing in a piece of wood to fill the slot. I know a lot of people who dont bother filling in the hole in at least one of the two ends.

 

[peter halle]

Ron,

You could always set up a router table with a 1/4 bit and do the rails all the way end to end, and then do the stiles using stopped dados.  If speed is a concern, you night want to practice with the table saw to cut the tenons.  You might find that method to be faster with a little experimentation and practice.

Peter

 

[Peterm]

Before I got my Domino I made a lot of doors held together with nothing more sophisticated than a loose tenon glued in from the top (or bottom) of the door where the grooves in the rail and stile meet. All those doors are still going strong...

These days I use a router in a table with a 6mm groover - like these - to cut the slots; a couple of pencil marks where the rail & stile meet shows where I need to start and end the groove, and like you say, dominoes in each of the corners for strength. I sometimes need to clip the corners of the panel if the groove runs a bit tight to the domino - esp. if the rails/stiles are narrower than my 'usual' 90mm (for cabinet doors).

HTH. Cheers, Pete