Expert: Jamie Yocono - 1/25/2005

Question
Thinking of buying a Porter Cable 895PK 2-1/4HP router to mount the fixed base on the bottom of a router table to build raised panel kitchen doors, and similar cabinetry.

Will this router be satisfactory for running the big raised panel bits, or will it tend to stall.  I am hoping to buy one router set that will do everything at the weekend-once-in-a-while hobbyist level, rather than a big 3+HP one, then others for smaller jobs.

Thanks for your feedback!
Henry.

Answer
Henry,

Yes, this router would be very suitable for running the cutters necessary to cut the parts for raised panels doors. I don't think you'll have any problem with stalling or with it balking at doing the work.

Let's talk about Raised Panel Doors...

I do not personally make RP doors, but helped a student of mine set up a router station which held 3 separate routers. One router cut the panels, the second cut the stiles, and the third machined the rails. Why three routers?

The truly tricky part about cutting RPD parts is the setup. Incremental tweaks are often necessary to the height of the router bit in relation to the router table. Once you get the setup right, it's very easy to make door after door. But that first initial setup can be a hair pulling experience.

The next part of the process is that once you get it set up for a certain thickness of wood, it only works with that thickness. So if you switch woods and use something slightly thinner or slightly thicker, you have to do the setup all over again.

I encountered that same problem with my Leigh dovetail Jig. I ended up selling it on eBay!

This is just my opinion, but I have found that for my cabinet shop, it's more economical for me to buy raised panel doors from a door company than it is for me to make them. Yes, they're more expensive, but I cannot make them as nicely and as quickly as the door company can make them. Just as an example, I just ordered 14 fairly large Cherry doors for a job I was working on. The cost of the doors was around $46 a door. I had done the math, and knew that I was going to spend about $20 a door just for the wood, so there was no way I could make the doors as cheaply as I was going to buy them already made. So outsourcing is a great thing for me, and - as long as I have a company that makes them well, I am happy.

Check out: www.maplecraftusa.com or www.caldoor.com. One is an east coast door maker, and one is a west coast. I prefer Maple Craft USA doors.

But- that said, if you have a lot of doors to do, you can really save some money by making them yourself. You just have to take a lot of care with your setup, so that everything fits together at the proper height.

Just a note- with those big cutters, you need to really be on your toes with safety issues. They take off massive amount of wood, and are quite dangerous. Make sure you use all the recommended safety stuff, like finger boards, push sticks, and so on. If possible, you might want to buy a zero clearance insert for the router bit opening that "just fits" your big panel cutter. You don't want that hole any bigger than it needs to be.

Good luck, I hope this helps. Feel free to write back with any other questions you might have after reading this.

Jamie Yocono
Wood It Is! Custom Cabinetry
Las Vegas, NV