Building CNC Ready MDF Doors with Microvellum

Building CNC Ready MDF Doors with Microvellum

Accessing the LookUp Tables to Add a New Profile for MDF Doors

Tables can be edited through the Door Style Interface or the Spreadsheet.  

Access Profile by Door Style Interface

To access the Door Style Interface:
  1. Toolbox Setup > Project Specification Groups— Project Spec Groups will access the door styles in the current project, Library will access those in the template.
    2. Best Practice: Create a new project and work at the project level while doing setup and testing, then save back to the template.

  2. Select Open Door Wizard icon from the menu bar…

  3. Select View> Show LookUp Tables...

  4. Select the Table to be modified from the Table Name box at the bottom left.

Access profile by Spreadsheet

  1. Create a new project to ensure you have the most current version of the Door Wizard file.
  2. Add a new room, and add any product to the drawing or product list.
  3. Edit Design Data on the product to access the product spreadsheet.

  4. Select the Workbook Designer button to see all the referenced spreadsheets.

  5. Select the D Workbook.
  6. Select the LookUpTable to be modified from the dropdown.

Illustrated Profile Options




Adding a New Internal Profile

D!LookUpTableInternalProfile—Creating the Internal Profile with up to 15 tools.

Column 1— Internal Profile Name — Name for selection from list of Internal Profiles.

Column 2— Route Passes — Formula counts how many tool paths are required to create the profile.   The formula does not need to be modified.

Column 3— Route 1 Tool Name — Common Tool Name from the tool file.

Column 4— Route 1 Profile Name—Can be left blank if tool drawing exists in Router Bits folder with the tool name from the tool file.  If the drawing does not exist matching the Tool Name, you can enter the name for a drawing that does represent that tool which also resides in the Router Bits folder of Microvellum Data\Graphics.

Column 5— Route 1 Offset—Rail width is specified elsewhere.  Route Offset specifies the distance from the edge of the rail to the location on for the tool.  (Distance may be tool left, right, or center of tool based on comp value below.)  To Machine inside the rail width, enter a negative value.

Column 6— Route 1 Depth—Depth from the face of the panel to the end of the tool. 

Column 7— Route 1 Tool Comp (L,C,R) ‐ C places the center of the tool directly on the offset value.  L places it to the left, or towards the outside of the panel, R places it to the right, or towards the inside of the panel.

Column 8— Route 1 Perfect Corner– Specifies whether the tool needs to ramp out to make a perfect corner.  Used only with V bits of any angle.  Only applied to the outside edge of the inside profile such as the example below.

Column 9— Route 1 Tool Angle—Angle from the center of spindle to cutting edge—used to calculate ramp for a perfect corner.

Column 10—107— above columns 3‐9 are repeated to allow up to 15 tools to form the internal profile.  
NOTE: Tools are processed in the order entered, ie. Route 1 is priority 1, Route 15 is priority 15.

Panel Cutout and Rebate


Column 108‐114— Cutout settings specified in the same way as the internal profile.  This cutout will be active when using a glass panel or if separate center panel inserts are required instead of pocketing the face of the full thickness panel.

Column 115— Cutout Priority—Set the priority of the route to form the cutout. Generally this should be a high number so that this is machined as a last operation to ensure good holding on the machine to this point.

Column 116— Cutout Face—Enter 5 or 6 for which face the cutout is to be machined on. Entering 5 will make the cutout machine on the same face as all the other internal profile routes.

Column 117-123— Rebate settings specified in the same way as the internal profile.  This cut will be active when using a glass panel or if separate center panel inserts are required instead of pocketing the face of the full thickness panel.

Column 124— Rebate Priority—Set the priority of the route to form the rebate for the glass or panel. If this is to be machined on face 5 with a T shaped cutter, be sure it has a lower priority than the cutout so the material is cleared prior to running the cutter.

Column 125— Rebate Face—Enter 5 or 6 for which face the rebate is to be machined on. Entering 5 will make the cutout machine on the same face as all the other internal profile routes and will require a T‐shaped cutter. Entering 6 will require a flip operation to machine the rebate. This can be used in conjuction with Run Face 6 first on the machine to machine all face 6 operations on the full sheet prior to running the face 5 operations.

Rail Lines

Column 126— Activate Rail Lines—Enter a 1 to include lines to form “Join Lines” at stiles and rails.

Column 127— Rail Tool—Common Tool number for the tool used to form lines.

Column 128— Rail Tool Profile—As with Internal Tool profile, not required if the tool has a drawing assigned.

Column 129— Rail Tool Depth—Depth of cut from door face.

Column 130— Tool Offset—typically 0, but can be used to move the center of the tool off the width of rail.  ‐ to outside, + to inside of panel.

Column 131— Rail Line Priority—Set to match tool sequence (1‐15) to machine rail lines at the same time as part of the internal or external profile.

Panel Pocket

Set up to clean out the bulk of the material from the center panel of a shaker door, open with a larger diameter tool.  Works in conjunction with additional tools added as one or more of the 15 internal profile tools to get clean corners.  For example, you may have a 1/2” Tool in Route 1, a 1/8” tool in Route 2 of the internal profile, and a 1‐1/2” Tool used for this pocket.

Column 132— Enter 1 to activate Panel Pocket for flat shaker door pocket.   Enter 0 for no pocket.  (This will be ignored when using glass or separate insert panels.)

Column 133— Pocketing Tool—Common Tool number of the tool to be used for pocketing.

Column 134—  Pocket Depth—Depth to cut from the face of the panel.

Column 135—  Pocket Offset—Take into account any offset for additional tools being used to machine into the corners.

Column 136— Pocket Priority—Enter a priority number for the pocket operation. Generally, this is a low number, or high priority as it often is one of the first operations to make room for other tools.

Grooves

Column 137—Groove Panel Face– Enter a 1 to activate Grooves on the panel.  Enter 0 for no grooves.

Column 138— Groove Tool—Common Tool number of tool to be used for grooving the face of the panel.

Column 139— Groove Profile—As with Internal Tool profile, not required if tool has drawing assigned.

Column 140— Groove Depth—Measured from the face of the door if no pocket is ac tive, from the face of pocket when in use.

Column 141— Groove Offset (Top and Bottom) ‐ Distance from rail width to stop groove.  Be sure to take tool diameter into account to avoid damage to the edge of the rail.

Column 142— Groove Offset Sides—Minimum value from rail to center of the first groove.  Actual spacing will vary.

Colum 143— Groove Spacing—Spacing between grooves.  This number will be the actual spacing used.  The variance will be on the sides of the panel.

Column 144— Groove Priority—As with Rail Lines, set to a value to match a tool from the internal profile.

Insert Panel 

Column 145— Enter 1 to use an additional thinner MDF panel instead of pocketing face of door.

Drawing Profile 

Column 146— Enter the name of a drawing to be used as a single image for internal profile. Instead of drawing each tool individually, this will draw one pass. Machining will not be affected, only drawing time will be reduced. Insert point of drawing profile must match depth and offset for Route Tool 1. 

Adding a New Edge Profile

D!LookUpTableExternalProfile

Column 1— External Profile Name—Name for selection from the list of Edge Profiles.

Column 2— Route Passes—Formula counts how many tool paths are required to create the profile.   The formula does not need to be modified.

Column 3—Route 1 Tool Name—Common Tool Name from the Toolfile.

Column 4— Route 1 Profile Name—Can be le blank if tool drawing exists in Router Bits folder with the tool name from the Toolfile.  If the drawing does not exist matching Tool Name, you can enter the name for a drawing that does represent that tool which also resides in the Router Bits folder of Microvellum Data > Graphics.

Column 5— Route 1 Offset—Route Offset specifies the distance from the edge of the panel to the location for the tool.  (Distance may be to left, right, or center of tool based on comp value below.)  To Machine inside the door, enter a negative value.

Column 6— Route 1 Depth—Depth from the face of the panel to the end of the tool. 

Column 7— Route 1 Tool Comp (L,C,R) ‐ C places the center of the tool directly on the offset value.  L places it to the left, or towards the inside of the panel, R places it to the right, or towards the outside of the panel.

Column 10—37— The above columns 3‐9 are repeated to allow up to 5 tools to form the edge profile.  

Drawing Profile

Column 38—Enter the name of a drawing to be used as a single image for the edge profile.   Instead of drawing each tool individually, this will draw one pass.  Machining will not be affected, only drawing me will be reduced.  The insertion point of the drawing profile must match the depth and offset for Route Tool 1.

Creating Tool Profile .dwg Files

Browse to the Graphics Folder inside the Factory Data.

If there is no Graphics folder or no Router Bits folder inside the Graphics Folder, you can create them. You can begin with an existing tool and modify it, or begin with a new blank drawing and save it to this location. The units of the drawing file must match the units of your Microvellum configuration, inches or millimeters. The drawing must be a Closed Polyline that can be extruded.

CAD Tip —If you don’t have a closed polyline, one of the easiest ways to create one is with the Boundary Command.

Be sure to erase all other lines and items so you only have 1 polyline in the drawing. If you start the AutoCAD erase command, and type all, it should show 1 Found. If not, remove the polyline you wish to keep and continue with the command to erase all the rest. To double-check the drawing is ready for drawing in 3D, switch to a SW view and select the extrude command. Select your polyline, and move your cursor up. The profile should follow your cursor.  

If not, you need to review your polyline and make sure there are no crossed lines or other incorrect geometry.  If it does, hit escape to cancel the extrude command.  Move the p of the tool to be at the 0,0 of the drawing.  If UCSICON is turned on, it should look like this.

Clean the drawing by selecting the Purge command and hitting Purge All.  This will minimize the file size and optimize performance.

Assign the Drawing to the Tool

To assign the new tool drawing to the tool, access the Toolfile.  Toolbox Setup > Options > Toolfiles tab.  Select the toolfile from the list and Double-click to open.

Select the Routers Tool List, Select the tool to update, and hit the Browse button.  Find the new drawing you just created.

MDF Door Construction Options

Separate and Glass Panels

Gaps are set for separate inset panels with D!Flat_Panel_Gap, and for glass panels with D!Glass_Panel_Gap. There is an option D!Use_Single_Glass_Panel that will create a single glass panel, regardless of lite qty, and pocket the back of the mullion frames to allow the panel to be the full size of the opening.  Alternatively, a glass panel will be calculated for each lite.

Drawing Options

As noted in the lookuptables, there are options to simplify the multiple tool drawing to a single profile drawing for faster representation. There is also an option to turn off profiles altogether for inside and outside profiles in the D! file. These may be turned off for speed of initial design, then reactivated for final presentation drawings.

Thermofoil Options

D!MDF Wrap Deduction is a value to deduct from the size of the door to allow for thermofoil or gloss wrapping after MDF doors are machined. D!MDF_Corner_Radius is a dimension to radius outside corners of doors for thermofoil wrap or simply to ease corners.

Microvellum Live Video

The Building CNC Ready Doors process is also demonstrated in the Microvellum Live video below...


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