We have been cutting 24x24 L-shaped shelves for inside closet and kitchen corners for years and have never found a quick,efficient way to do them. do not have CNC.
We are presently setting the rip and cross cut fence to 12" each and making the cut meeting shy of corner and then cutting rest of way with jig saw. not a safe way to make cuts and leaves chips in melamine.
WE have tried cutting 1/4" backed off and then using a template and router to make the final chip free cut, which works, but takes time. I have been looking for a small overhead pin router, but the desktop models are not available any longer and i dont have room for a big old pin router. Any advise? Harold.

About that CNC, you would love it. Fast, accurate, many steps completed at one time. 6-8 minutes for a complete sheet of parts.

I know, but it's not an option.

Cut one and keep it as a pattern. Clamp to the plywood sheet and work off a top bearing pattern bit in a hand held router. Should be able to do it in a single pass. You will have a small radius in the corner, but it's fast.

You just got excellent advice from Larry and Rich.

CNC has to be an option. You will not be able to compete without one. And, you can start out with an inexpensive model.

Once you get one and you learn how to use it, it will open up more possibilities.

Thanks guys . The pattern idea is what we are doing now. I have a local shop that can do it on CNC fairly cheaply if quantities get too big. Just invested in a large premill Bander to replace our smaller one and we have two excellent sliders with tiger stop rip fences and skilled guys to do the cutting who have no computer experience. No more space for a CNC machine or the inclination to start making the time investment as I am 66 and have been in business for 36 years and have a growing list of developers that keep us extremely busy all year round. Will probably continue with pattern template, but perhaps with my routertable and a vacuum jig to speed up process. Harold

why not get them cut from the CNC shop. Work out the maximum size that would work for you and get a good material yield.

Order a lot at a time. On a quiet day edge them all at once and put them into stock.

You could then cut them down and use them when you need them. If they are always the same size just order them exactly the size you need, even better!!!

Don't let your age or your workers limitations stop you from buying a CNC. You could get a second hand CNC, train one of your guys to use it and easily lose a worker or alternatively boost production. CNC much cheaper than 1 x skilled worker, never takes sick days, does what you ask, no backchat or getting a different result from what you asked for. Let's you control how things are being cut and put together and saves issues down the line.

When I bought our CNC I bought brand new, because even thought I'm switched on with computers I had never run a CNC more than press the go button and unload the parts. I'm thankful that I did, but now that I know how it all works I wouldn't hesitate buying a second hand unit for the great saving you would get.

When everyone has gone home for the day I give mine a pat on the back and thank it for a good days work. I couldn't be bothered getting out of bed in the morning if it wasn't in the shop!

set up a plunge router with a permanent jig for this one operation. if your part is a standard size (depth) it would be very quick to devise a simple jig referencing the back slightly more difficult but equally effective would be referencing the front for varying depths, after-all a cnc is just a replacement for that process

I ended up using my router table with a 3 blade bit with top bearing. Made an L-shaped jig with flanges on back and side of L shape that locks in the shelf to be routed. We cut them on the slider using the rip fence and flip stop as guides to cut 1/4" oversize in front. Flexible hose from dust collector is suspended over the bit for perfect dust collection. Goes pretty fast.
The finished shelves are stacked and sprayed with contact cement and matching banded is sprayed as well and applied by hand.
It is labour intensive, but i am charging accordingly for my time.
Thanks for all the advise, Harold.