Glass in cabinet door

[Kingsley]

Hi

I am a newbie woodworker and I'm about to start construction, in MDF,on a cabinet for my kitchen. Nothing special, but I want the door to be part glazed. What is the correct way to cut the holes for the glass and what is the correct method for inserting the glass itself. How is the glass supposed to fit into the gaps securely?
Any help/guidance much appreciated.

Cheers
Kingsley

 

[Thermo]

how bigs the aperture/s for the glass and what type of glass and thickness of mdf are you using?

Thermo

 

[big-all]

other points to consider are you going to mould the outside face edges

if you using 12mm mdf and your running a router round the apeture for a moulded effect you will probably finnish up with with a rebate in the back 1mm deeper than the thickness of the glass with a moulded strip holding the glass in place across the back of the door

 

[Kingsley]

Thanks for your replies.
The mdf is 12mm. I wasn't planning on moulding the aperture but I can see that it would probably look at lot better if I did that. Where does the router come into it? I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew here. I probably need to read up on this somewhere.

 

[Jasonb]

I usually just lay them flat, run a bead of silicon into the rebate, lay the glass in and run a second bead of silicon to seal the cut edges.

Have you thought what type of hinges to use, standard kitchen type hinges need a 35mm hole about 13mm deep, which will come through your 12mm doors. 12mm will also be too thin for screwing into the edge and unless they are very small doors, too thin to screw into from the back. Go for 18mm MDF.

Jason

 

[Kingsley]

Actually, it's 15mm mdf. Is that ok? Also, is it easy to get a neat finish with the silicon?
Thanks
Kingsley

 

[big-all]

you can quite easily get a good finnish with practice better if you apply the mastic back from the edge
if your going to paint them do it before you mastic the glass in
also if yo plan on fitting leaded lights to the glass make shure your rebate is deep enough to accomidate them

 

[big-all]

other things to keep in mind what hinges are you going to use the required clearence between doors and size of the uprights [width/thickness]depends on hinges used
are you trying to get a standard kitchen finnish or an individual look
are you planning on using standard carcasses or making your own units

 

[masona]

Also, is it easy to get a neat finish with the silicon?

If you don't want to do it this way you can use glazing tape and not many people know about this including the glazier !

I don't use putty or silicon any more and use glazing tape instead. They are waterproof, available in whatever width & thickness you need. They are double sided sticky tape with a peel back. I have use this in my summerhouse door & window, looks neater than putty and doesn't dried out or cracks as you see in putty sometime. 5m tape approx' £6.50. The down side with the company was their minimum delivery charge of £10 so may not pay you unless you're fussy like me !
[url]www.adhere.co.uk [/url] They are base in Colchester, Essex.

 

[Kingsley]

big-all:
Standard kitchen finish and I'm making my own carcass. I'm only having to make one cabinet to replace a shelving unit that I took out and I will be painting it. I was planning on using standard kitchen hinges as well. Should the rebate be just fractionally wider than the glass? Thanks.

Masona:
Thanks for the tip about the glazing tape, I'll look into it.

 

[Jasonb]

If your carcases are also 15mm you will need 3mm spacing hinge mounting plates or have to drill the holes very close to the door edge.

Have a look here for hinge details http://www.woodfit.com/index.php?cPath=114_221&Name=Concealed+Hinge+Technical+Information+-+4+Pages

It is possible to use these hinges in 15mm doors but be prepared to muck one up as its easy to drill right through unless you are using a drill press with depth stop.

Make the rebate about 10mm deep and 10mm wide, get the glass cut 3mm smaller in each direction.

Jason