Re: Twisted inset doors
Lets try this again- wife distracted me and I closed the browser instead of a window. Was just about done and lost everything- argggg!!!!
Dave, as you know, I have a lot of flush inset doors on my shop cabinets.
I had some problems with misaligned doors also. Some were the result of doors that were actually warped, some that were the result of poor hinge mortises. First determine the problem. If needed, redo your hinges- mortised hinges can be remounted- fill the screw holes with glue and tooth picks then redrill.
If the problem is warped doors or possibly doors assembled with mis-cut mating surfaces which also look like they are warped, there are two things you can do if the warping isn't too bad.
First, you can clamp the door in a jig that forces it flat, actually you want it to overcorrect past flat to allow for spring-back. If the door is unfinished you can dampen it slightly. Leave it clamped for a few days. I have had only limited success with this techinque in the past.
You can also use a combination of catches and stops. Obviously hefty ball catches or other type of catch should work, but since your warping may be in different corners you may have to have a catch(es) in different/multiple places. You will also need stop(s)- if you pull the door corner that is proud of the face frame back, it may cause another corner to be recessed.
I did two things when I built my last set (best set) of shop cabinets to help with these problems. First, I built the cabinet box with the bottom shelf proud of the top edge of the lower rail by about 1/4"- to act as a full width stop at the bottom of the door (first pic) (I thought about doing something similar at the top). Secondly, I used rare earth magnets inset opposite each other in the edges of the top rail and door, as catches- I don't like catches that intrude on the cabinet opening (second pic).
I used the 1/4" X 1/4" round "Rod" (B. in pic)
rare earth magnets from Lee Valley and they worked great. For bad warping you might need a magnet in another location or use a larger one like the 1/2" long X 1/4" rods (C. in pic). I drilled a 1/4" hole and just glued them in place with super glue.
I really like the lood of flush inset doors vs overlay, but now you know why most cabinet shops use overlay doors and Euro-style hinges. :-D:-D:-D
