I have heard of several solutions for preventing rattling of raised panel doors at assemblty time including “space balls,” “silly putty,” strips of cured RTV and strips of nylon rope. I am presently building 34 doors and would like to arrive at the best solution. Your input will be appreciated.
Rosewood
Replies
Rosewd,
I use spaceballs and like them fine. BTW, what's RTV? Thanks GP
RTV is room temperature vulcanizing or silicon sealant. Some builders squeeze out beads of RTV on waxpaper, let it cure, cut it into pieces and use it like space balls.
OK i'm clueless, what are space balls.
Spaceballs.
Spaceballs are 1/4" neoprene balls that fit into the groove of the rail/stiles to take up space between the rail/stile and the panel. I guess they are OK, they are flexable enough to compress when the panel expands and return to the original form when the panel contracts. I guess i prefer a tight fit between the sides of the groove of the rail/stile and the panel with an allowance for the expansion/contraction of the panel. I rarely have panels that rattle following this procedure. I guess that if the panel was too loose I would use spaceballs. :-) Joe
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thanx Joe and Splint, had never heard of them before now. have used a foam product that is meant for sealing around windows, it comes in various diameters and just nip off a bit and stick in the gap. I lined my hallway with wainscotting from oak recovered from pallets, used a raised panel design with minwax golden oak stain and about 5 coats of poly and then rubbed down with pumice and rottenstone. real slick. Here in Toronto the humidity changes in winter have pulled a few panels and now need to sand down the pulled edge. Always learning.
I use some 100-year-old doors as wainscot in my Victorian. Even thought they were that old and i sprayed them in place in wintertime when it was driest indoors and out (MT, cold and dry), i've seen the unsprayed edges appear...and disappear...and reappear...
When i make new work, i always spray the panels first before installing them. I mask them off and spray the surrounding framework later so i don't get a ridge of finish built up where the panel goes under the frame.
pallet oak rubbed out with rottenstone...i'm going away to think about that...
I follow the same procedure. I always finish the panel first, assemble the door, mask the panel and then finish the frame. Using lacquer is also a benefit as any finish that might get past the masking morphs into the previous layers and I complete each door with one coat of lacquer over the whole door without the masking. Of course I don't consider myself a master finisher but I have had problems with expansion/contraction and this works well for me.
Why not align them in the middle and put a spot of glue in the center of each panel's top and bottom. ( Assuming the grain is running vertically.) If the grain is running horzontally you would put it on the sides.
Dave
Chris Becksvoort does this, but with pegs instead of glue.
If the panel is too loose and you want to prevent rattling a simple solution is to tack a tiny brad to the top and bottom of the panel, nip off the top of the brad and assemble as usual.
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