Panel (raised-panel) door drawing in Alphacam: one-piece routed and frame-and-panel

A panel door — tabla kapak in the Turkish trade — is the classic door of a surrounding frame (stiles and rails) and a central panel. Kitchens, bathrooms, hallway units and interior doors use the same logic. On the CNC there are two production routes and the Alphacam drawing differs accordingly. Comparison with other door types: Cabinet door drawing in Alphacam: membrane, panel, American, framed, glazed and louvred doors

Route A: routing a panel look into one MDF piece

The door is one piece of 18 mm MDF; the panel look is created by routing inner offset lines into the face, finished with membrane or lacquer. Geometry in Alphacam: outer contour (KESIM) + one or more inner rectangles (DESEN), each a fixed distance inside the previous. The number of offsets gives the sense of depth: 1 offset = simple frame, 2–3 offsets = stepped panel.

Panel Door Design in GMacros Tools does exactly this: enter the outer size and the number of offsets, the lines are generated inward in order; a dimension list serves series work. Membrane limits: Membrane door drawing in Alphacam: pattern, cutters, depth and holes

Route B: stile-and-rail assembly (solid or MDF)

A real frame: four members (two stiles, two rails) and a separate panel. A panel groove (usually 6–10 mm wide, 10–12 mm deep) is cut in the inner edge of the members; the panel sits in it and, in solid wood, floats so it can move (2–3 mm expansion gap). In Alphacam the parts are drawn separately:

• Stiles: length = door height; groove along the inner edge (KANAL), tenon/dowel holes at the ends (DELIK).
• Rails: length = door width − 2 × stile width + 2 × groove depth; groove and tenon.
• Panel: width/height = inner opening + 2 × groove depth − expansion gap; edges thinned with a profile cutter (the tongue that enters the groove).
• Profile (inner edge moulding) on the members on a separate layer (PROFIL).

The calculation chain is long here and the error most often shows in rail length (groove depth forgotten, door 2 × 10 mm too narrow). Panel Door Layout in GMacros Tools takes top/bottom/left/right stile sizes and the panel size, draws the door and duplicates it in any quantity; the same tool serves cabinet doors (scale does not matter).

Which route when?

Holes and edges

In route A, hinge and handle holes as on any door (DELIK, back face). In route B the hinge cup lands on the stile; the stile must be at least 60 mm so a Ø35 cup + 21 mm edge distance fits — the macro checks this rule. Route A has edgeband (MDF edge), route B solid/lacquered edges have none; the cut allowance is subtracted or not accordingly (Edgeband macro).

Series: same pattern, 30 different sizes

On a panel door only the outer size varies; stile allowance, offset count and groove size are fixed. The macro takes the constants once, processes the dimension list and draws every door with its label. Then nesting (Alphacam nesting guide: sheet layout, waste, grain direction and labels) and Auto Style (Alphacam Auto Style setup: automatic machining by layer name) give NC in one command. Tools: GMacros Tools (Panel Door Design, Panel Door Layout) · GMacros Cabinet Door (holes, edgeband, size calculation).