How should I approach cabinet making?

[dubliner]

I've been approached by 2 cab shops to do their cutting, and I'm wondering which path to take. First job was to cut Shaker style mdf doors, no big deal , but all I got was the number of doors and sizes in fractions. It wasnt too difficult to manually enter them in decimal, and then nest them, but I'm used to getting customer provided drawings, putting the onus on them to be accurate. If I was a cabinet maker it probably would be ok to take their fractional dimensions, plug them into my cabinet software, and it would do it for me, I dont have Cab SW so that was just a guess & probably far from correct. I'm wondering if and what SW I might buy, or should I get drawings from the shops in whatever format, extract them and set up to cut. As you can see I'm a little blurry on whats expected/normal of me & the customer. If I want to keep the machine busy, cutting cab parts seems like a good way to go, but where do I draw a line. Let me say I have absolutely no intention of being a cabinet shop, but should I be thinking Ecabs or Cab Parts Pro or?. Thanks for listening to me ramble and thanks for your responses - Neville

[dmidkiff]

Neville,

If you have a lot of MDF doors, you might look into "Free Doors" by Bruce Clark and Mike Richardson. All you have to do is plug in those fractions and pick a few other specs and it nests too. I don't have any of the screen to machine software and draw my parts with Aspire. It takes time to do this but if you think about it, the sides should not change. It's the bottoms, backs and tops that change with the size of cabinet. I tried ecab and think that is the way to go but being "technically challenged" I could not figure out the software. Maybe someday.

[ken_rychlik]

Neville,

The doors and cabinet parts are two different animals.

For mdf doors there is a program mentioned here before that is called free doors. You could use it for making mdf doors.

For cabinet parts (sheet goods) it depends on who is responsible for everything fitting. If they send you dxf drawings, then as long as you cut what they sent, you are clear.

If you design and nest the parts, you need to be sure everything works.

I think you are on the slippery slope of being at least 1/2 cabinet maker. lol

Next you will need an edge bander to band parts for them.

If you want to see the ecab link run, just drive over one day.

Kenneth

[dubliner]

Might take you up on that Ken, and thanks to both of you for reminding me about Bruce & Mike's Door SW. Yes its a slippery slope alright. I suppose I'd have to design the cabinets as if they had their own design program I would need to translate it for the Bot anyway, wouldnt I. This is not as simple as I thought it might be. I'll have to have a chat with you about ecabs.

[bob_s]

If it is "just Boxes" they want cut, maybe take a good look at Ryan Patterson's Cabinet Parts Pro. It excels at this and will output files right to the Shopbot. I think there is a free trial version on his website. The fact that he is a part of the Shopbot tech support team as well as a prior cabinet maker sure doesn't hurt any. I have used this software to build a number of closets and large entertainment centers with a fairly short learning curve. It will not do 3d or things as complex as the "high end" systems, but it is easy to learn and inexpensive with a good nesting system.

[kevin]

Ihave a custom shop its fantastic Cabinet parts pro I ,ve made 10 kitchens so far.
The beauty of his program is you can one cabinet at a time

I do my design in Kitchen Draw punch in the sizes in cabinet parts pro away i go

I've used free doors for three kitchens its good

[waynelocke]

Neville,
Whether yours or theirs you should have drawings that everybody signs off on as well as a very specific parts list. If there are problems later with fit you should be covered as long as the dimensions and details are covered. Ryan Patterson's program should work.

[gene]

This is kind of like asking what kind of car should i buy. If you need a lot of bells and whistles buy e cabinets, if you just want to get there buy cabinet parts pro , and use free doors . both will get you there

[Gary Campbell]

Nev...
I think you have 2 choices.

One, you are just a cutter. Customer provides drawings. You charge by the unit. Per each, per hour, per sheet etc.

Two, you provide them a product. Customer provides specs. Materials, design time, etc. Price is usually greater for this option, even if the product ends up being the same.

I have done it both ways and there are pros and cons for each.

For the door sizes, make a spreadsheet that you enter fractional sizes into that outputs decimal to the tolerance you want.

Software is a tougher call. A lot depends on exactly what output you get from your customers. I think that both eCabs and CPPro can accept properly formatted Excel data. In each, and assuming that you have all your specs set in the software, you just need to enter cabinets in a sheet and export to the SW.

Will you have to send back shop drawings for approval? What types of joinery or hardware do you need to setup for? Do they require edgebanding? Labels? Assembly?

Lots of questions, but most you will need to answer in the near future.

[bleeth]

Hey guys-Don't make it too complicated for him. After all, they are just boxes, right?
Neville: They don't need you to do their cutting unless they want full machining of all shelf, hinge, and slide holes. They will also at least want a dado for the back and may want stop mortises and rabbets for construction or pre drilled screw locating holes. You may find (and probably will) that one of them has a top drawer face height one size and the other another. Toe kicks may vary. Lot's of variables including pull outs, pantry cabinets, different size uppers, etc.
If these guys are truly serious and it could turn into a good long term deal until they finally wake up and buy their own CNC I would at least get e-cab. Much tougher to learn but also more robust for cabinet design. You can handle more custom designs better in it (like corners) and can also do dovetail drawers as a value added feature.
If they're cab design is fairly basic though, you can do fine with CPP.
Remember that if you go the single bit route then you are doing everything with a 5mm bit and therefore cutting your parts out pretty slow or you are doing a bit change for every sheet.