Making Arched Top Raised Panel Doors
The truth is making doors with curved top rails and panels is no more difficult than making any other type of door provided you have the right equipment.
Making arched top raised panel doors. Bandsaw or jigsaw to within 1 16 of the lines on the top rail and panel using double faced tape secure the templates to each piece aligned with the outlines you drew earlier. As with any woodworking project however your first concern must always be safety. Below we ll go through the steps involved in making an arched top raised panel door. How to make arched cabinet doors easily.
There are lots of different choices and lots of different hardware considerations but one door style that makers come back to time and time again is the frame and panel door and particularly the raised panel door. Woodworkers with intermediate skills and some experience using a router table will have no trouble mastering the techniques in a short time. We make solid wood panels 3 16 narrower than the rail length to allow room for expansion aligning the template 3 16 below the top edge of the panel keeps the raised field centered in the door. Making a raised panel door safety instructions creating raised panel doors is a fun and rewarding woodworking project.
The front door company carries a wide selection of arched and round top wood doors. Bill ewing developed a quick way to cut arched doors using an adjustable jig that allows him to cut raised panel doors of almost any size. First you cut the parts for the rails stiles and panels to size. But many intermediate woodworkers consider them out of their league.
He says it s best to set design parameters first such as 1 in. Arches and then make two easy to build accurate templates one for the rail and one for the panel. There are five major steps to creating a raised panel door. Whether you are looking for the old world charm of a rustic door or the timeless elegance of a decorative glass door an arched door can be an important design element to a home or elevation.
It s important to use a guard with all router bits but especially so with raised panel bits photo 8. Cathedral and arched top doors are the top of the line when it comes to raised panel doors. Then saw the arch and smooth the surface as you did on the top rail.