Making Glass Doors

Now that you ve got the technique down for creating half lap joinery try your hand at using half lap joints to create the frame for a glass panel door or mirror.

Making glass doors.

Measure to determine the exterior dimensions of the cabinet doors. See how simple it is to install a friction fit pivot hinge onto a glass door panel. Cut enough retainer strip stock to cover the perimeter of all the glass pieces. Make sure to allow space for the hinges and some room between the doors if they are stacked on top of each other.

Glue these beside the stiles and rails. The other option is european style hinges made for glass doors. In effect glass doors give you many of the benefits of an open air entrance without these deterrents. Place a sheet of glass in each door.

Most production made cabinet doors are assembled with cope and stick joinery. The vertical pieces should go the full length of the opening and the horizontal pieces will sit inside. Saw the end of each section of trim at a 45 degree angle. Please be sure to subscribe for more diy tiny hous.

You can make the same joinery in your shop with a router table and a matched set of router bits. Sand and finish the doors and retainer strips to match the cabinet. A sticking bit forms a decorative profile around the inside edges of the frame and a coping bit creates a mirror image profile on the ends of the rails plus a stub tenon to lock the rails and stiles together. Make a jig for a half lap joint.

Cut the glass pieces or have them cut for you so they are 1 8 shorter than the rabbeted frame opening in each direction. That way all of the pieces will fit together easily with no need to adjust their length. You can make beautiful flush corners with a dado head cutter on your table saw. One way to make a frameless glass cabinet door is to install pivot hinges made for glass doors.

However even with these benefits there are a number of considerations to make before committing to a full glass entry door. Rout sturdy door joinery and glass retainers in one operation. How to make the diy glass cabinet doors.