Cutting out doors/hatch--need advice...!

[Arne]

I have never, ever, been hurt by the square corner on my door...

I have been hurt many times by entering the tear and hitting my head on the top of the door frame.. too many times to count...

[Boodro]

On my door corners , I took a file & rounded off the corners with a few quick strokes. I have yet to have an incident. I made my doors for easy in & out, I liked the round doors too , but decided that funcinality far outweighed looks. Just me. Good luck .

http://tnttt.com/album_ ... ic_id=1744[img]

http://tnttt.com/album_ ... ic_id=1742[img]

Not real clear ,but hope it helps.[/img]

[madjack]

Arne, it is a mental/psychological thing with me...just knowing those points are there make certain body parts just crawl....
madjack

[Miriam C.]

On my door corners , I took a file & rounded off the corners with a few quick strokes. I have yet to have an incident. I made my doors for easy in & out, I liked the round doors too , but decided that funcinality far outweighed looks. Just me. Good luck .

http://tnttt.com/album_ ... ic_id=1744[img]

http://tnttt.com/album_ ... ic_id=1742[img]

Not real clear ,but hope it helps.[/img]

I just knew if I watched this long enough someone would give up a great idea with pictures.

Great pictures Boo
Miriam

[kayakrguy]

Boo and everyone,

Thanks for the pics. I share MJ and Arne's concern for body parts including my head which already has enough wrong with it <g>

I tried advice you all gave about cutting with rotary and jig saw without drilling etc...here are my results. I AM NOT assuming these are typical, which is why I would appreciate your experience here...

1) rotary saw a bit difficult to line up...I did not use a guide, I just wanted to get an idea of how the cut would go...but it cuts great, very little splintering on the bottom side of the ply...of course, it is a more powerful saw than the jig...2.4 horse/5K rpm vs 5.5 amps/3.2spm

2) Jig a bit easier to line up; with heavier, coarser 'quik cut' blades, I got quite a bit of bad breakthrough on the bottom, though the cut itself went very smoothly.

3) Jig with finer cut blades didn't break through nearly as much, but the cut was not nearly as straight and the finer cut blades tended to bend...

Overall, I was quite pleased with the practice cuts, but would appreciate any advice about the breakthrough/splintering problem with the jig saw...

Jim

[tonyj]

Overall, I was quite pleased with the practice cuts, but would appreciate any advice about the breakthrough/splintering problem with the jig saw...

Jim

From my experience, to get a non-splinter cut with a jigsaw and plywood, you have to hold your jaw in perfect alignment with the magnetic poles. In addition, put the good side down--the saw cuts on the way up and will splinter mostly on the top side. You will also always have more splintering on the crossgrain cuts. Putting masking tape on the wood and drawing and cutting your cut line helps, but there will still be some splintering. Don't force the saw, cut slowly.

I have always found it hard to cut straight and square with a jig saw, so it helps there will be trim around your door and opening. What I haven't seen addressed here is the amount of gap around the perimeter of the door and teardrop side. I think you have to make sure to allow for the thickness of the door and side trim pieces, possible gap for the hinge (piano or flush mount), and enough gap on the latch side so the door will open freely. Top and bottom door gaps aren't as critical as the sides. I would love to hear what others have done--I went to the extreme of a template and router to create an almost 1/4" gap around the entire door. That's 1/8 for the trim pieces (2 pieces 1/16 thick) and an 1/8 for gap that I figure will be violated by the curves in my trim pieces (I am using rounded corners).

Round corners? Is that like saying hot water heater?

[madjack]

...we had built our doors with a 1/4 gap using the same considerations that you did...when we did the dry fit we found that we needed 5/16 to keep from having clearance problems...an easy fix at that point and the reason you should always dry fit EVERYTHING...
madjack

[tonyj]

My life seems to be ruled by sixteenths! I'm either 1/16 too long or short, tall or wide, thick or thin. Who invented them damn sixteenths?!

[madjack]

My life seems to be ruled by sixteenths! I'm either 1/16 too long or short, tall or wide, thick or thin. Who invented them damn sixteenths?!

...well if it weren't fo the 16ths the it would be a doubling of the 32nds...not to mention everything we could do with silly millimeters
madjack

[scopeaddict]

When i was doing custom cabnet instals, id take a razor knife and pre-cut my line, as deep as i could,
then using the jig-saw, or skill saw cut the knife line slowly,
staying to one side of the line, if the lines on the left of the saw-blade,
the right will get the splinters, so chose yr side before cutting,
theres less splintering, as youve relieved the up-pressure of the cut at the top,

easyer said than done, but can be done,

johnp



From my experience, to get a non-splinter cut with a jigsaw and plywood, you have to hold your jaw in perfect alignment with the magnetic poles. In addition, put the good side down--the saw cuts on the way up and will splinter mostly on the top side. You will also always have more splintering on the crossgrain cuts. Putting masking tape on the wood and drawing and cutting your cut line helps, but there will still be some splintering. Don't force the saw, cut slowly.

[madjack]

JP, hit the quote button at the top of the post you wish to quote from...the software will do the typing for you...alott easier than doing it yourself...you can also delete or highlight those portions you wish...try it, you'll like it
madjack

[Nobody]

madjack wrote

...we had built our doors with a 1/4 gap using the same considerations that you did...when we did the dry fit we found that we needed 5/16 to keep from having clearance problems.

Jack, did you use the 5/16" gap measurement all the way around or just make the doors 5/16" smaller total ? Thanks

[sid]

JP, hit the quote button at the top of the post you wish to quote from...the software will do the typing for you...alott easier than doing it yourself...you can also delete or highlight those portions you wish...try it, you'll like it
madjack

Thanks madjack, that was a lesson for me!

[kayakrguy]

Whoa! Getting dizzy <g>

I did find that cutting against grain with jig produced more splinters than going with the grain. At least 1/2 my door has to go against the grain <g>
so I obviously need to look at the tape etc.

I did do magnetic pole alignments, threw salt over my shoulder and consulted the astrology column for the day--the latter said: 'be careful as you undertake new tasks for which you might find difficulties arising in Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto, Venus and Earth'. Damn if it wasn't righ on<g>

Moving on, I would appreciate MJ and all expanding on his '5/16' point. I interpret that to mean that there is a 5/16 inch gap between the door cut out and the wall to get adequate clearance for the door to swing etc (I am using 3/4" plywood) 5/16 seems like a huge gap to me, inviting rain to pour in!

That aside, how do you get a reliable, uniform 5/16 inch cut after the intial cut for the door?

Which leads me to the 'trim' issue. I am not clear just where/how trim on door wall is addressed once the door is cut.

Off to family reunion tomorrow morning, back Sunday night. Monday, back to work on the T!!! Yeah!

And, a word of consolation to Tony: 1/16 is a horrendous measurement.
MJ is right 1/32 is worse. For me, I think the Shim was invented to deal with stuff like that <g>

Thanks to all,

Jim

[Miriam C.]

That aside, how do you get a reliable, uniform 5/16 inch cut after the intial cut for the door?

Jim
I would use a belt sander to smooth things out before I cut anything. Then dry fit and measure. I put my framing up and am sanding to meet the framing. Good clean line.

If you still need some off and want a straight line. Use your table saw. Very carefully. Because:

If you have a table saw with a fence,and set the fence at 1/8 (thats 2/16 ) you should have removed some with you jig saw so if that is 1/8 then the width of the blade is another 1/8 and you are over (3/8 is 6/16):roll: However your jig saw blade isn't 1/8 so you can still be ok. You will have a straight line for your door If you go less than 1/8.

Hate math. Just sand it.
Aunti M