One-piece cupboard doors made on Masterwood CNC

The Cupboard Door Company is using a Masterwood Winner CNC machining centre to produce bespoke kitchen doors from a single piece of high impact MDF.

The Seaford, East Sussex business has pioneered the groundbreaking technique by developing innovative software programs for use with the Winner. Among the many styles of one-piece doors being successfully produced with no joints are traditional looking raised and fielded panel versions.

It previously used traditional manufacturing techniques to produce five-piece MDF kitchen doors, using a mixture of jigs, spindle moulders and other hand tools. Since buying the Winner it has doubled production from 50 to 100 doors a shift and substantially reduced its labour requirements.

The Winner carries out all the routing operations on every size of door. This includes making a frame version; with door, drawer front and frame cut from one piece of MDF in one go, which always fits together perfectly.

The computer mastermind behind the one-piece manufacturing method is Craig Warren, whose father Chris set up the business in 1976.

Craig Warren with a one-piece raised and fielded panel door produced on the Masterwood Winner at The Cupboard Door Company.

He has created around 12 basic parametric programs for all the different styles and variations of bespoke doors produced. As well as raised and fielded panel doors the programs are for drawer fronts, bead and butt centre panel doors, Shaker-framed doors and inset frame systems.

The bead and butt program allows designers to specify any size of door knowing that the beads will always be in the right place. With the raised and fielded panel door program the corners are all perfectly square, in contrast to the traditional
methods used in which one corner was always slightly off centre.

The doors are supplied to upmarket kitchen makers and designers nationwide. They can specify them in any size and quantity from single doors to batches.

“We were never about mass production but concentrate on quality so as to minimise the risk of the product being returned to us,” said Chris Warren. “With the new one-piece method the doors are far stronger with no shrinking, warping or joints to
crack.”

He said that the Winner is the ideal machine for producing one-offs needed as replacements or extras to an existing order. “As all the data is stored in the computer’s memory it takes us less than 10 minutes to make a repeat door for a customer.”

As well as giving a more stable door, having the Winner allows the exact cost elements involved to be worked out. They can also calculate how many doors they can get out of each piece of MDF, resulting in less wastage. Tandem loading is possible with some of the smaller sized doors.

“Our customers have certainly noticed the improvement in product quality and several have commented favourably on the absolutely square doors,” said Chris Warren.

Program wizard Craig Warren (left) with Masterwood technical advisor Dave Kennard.

The Masterwood Winner 2.45S tubeless bed CNC router that achieves all this is a cantilever type panel machine with an X axis of 2450mm, Y axis of 1300mm and Z axis of 110mm, all with brushless motors. Standard features include a 10.5hp router with four-post automatic toolchanger and two working zones, and the Masterworks software program.

To make it even more productive it was supplied with an optional 14-post tool changer plus an additional, smaller five-post version at the box end, giving 19 possible positions. It also has C axis control with indexing heads and a 4hp rotating
saw.

The decision to buy the Winner was made after Masterwood was asked to carry out trials on MDF blanks and Mr Warren was satisfied it would do the job.

He said Masterwood was the only supplier he spoke to who thought the MDF door project was feasible. Its local technical advisor, Dave Kennard, has worked closely with the company to turn it into reality.

Craig Warren (left) shows Masterwood technical advisor Dave Kennard a perfectly square panel door produced on the Winner CNC machining centre.

Being able to offer one-piece MDF doors has enabled the Cupboard Door Company to attract several major new customers.

Said Masterwood’s Dave Kennard: “They have taken CNC operation far further than most people. Craig Warren has devised dedicated software programs for the Winner that has resulted in top quality, highly traditional looking doors being produced with the aid of the latest technology.”

The Cupboard Door Company can be contacted on tel 01323 899 944 or fax 01323 899 955.

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