My side job is building 5 piece flat panel doors for fellow workers who have side jobs.

I tried working with customers but I hate them. So i have been building doors for other employees who do side jobs. A busy month could be 200 doors, an average month about 50 doors.

I'm trying to increase my speed.

I use a SLR to size sticks,
widebelt front and back once @120g,
cut to size on upcut saw,
cope cut,
pattern cut,
hand sand profile (shaper leaves chatter marks)
assemble with parallel clamps,
micro-pin joint, fill holes,
wide belt full door,
bump sand top and bottom,
break face edges with 1mm radius pneumatic trim router,
hand orbital sand back and then face.

Would a door clamp like the jlt help increase production time or is that money better spent elsewhere?

What equipment has helped you increase your production?

You're bottleneck is hand sanding profiles get a shape and sand.

I've looked into them, They need quite a bit of space and with my current situation (being an employee of the shop) it's too big of an ask so i can make doors on the side.

Now if i could get clean cuts off the sharper that may be acceptable. I may dive back into fixing the chatter problem.

The hand sanding is a big time suck, if a shape and sand is out, maybe look at a flop flap sander. Like slash wheels backed by a bristle broom. 2 other things, get away from hand clamps and don't bother with filling the micro pin holes on the back of the doors unless requested and then charge a little more for it.

I don't see anything about power feeding on the shaper. Climb cutting with a shaper could eliminate almost all of that chatter.
I see no need to pin the joint. If the fit you get off your tooling is snug, 5 minutes in clamps is enough to remove the clamps and gently set them down.
No idea what bump sanding is.
I'd add an additional charge for the 1mm radius on the edges. Inset doors have to be fitted anyway. Same goes for the final sanding. These side hack shops may just want to do that themselves.

dustin, will a flap sander affect the tightness of the joint. if not hand clamps what?

Rich C, Sorry i didnt specify but i do climb cut using a steff powerfeeder but i still get chatter, not sure if the wheels are bad or the stand has too much flex but i have tried every postion of the feeder, sanding the wheels, using acetone on the rubber, speed up, slow down, regular cut. No matter what i try i always get chatter that looks like this,

https://ibb.co/P1xsWyP

Bump sanding for me is bumping the edge of the door on an edge sander to sand end grain and flush up rail/stiles

Final sanding is needed. The guys i sell doors to work in the same shop as me, they do side jobs for their own customers and expect doors ready to paint. I find that the radius router bit is faster (or the same) as hand breaking the edges with a pad or sponge and gives a more consistent look

You need to upgrade your shapers and tooling if you are still getting chatter, should be able to come off the shaper with no additional work needed. One shaper should be used to run the rails and the other only for coping.
I also agree that the pins are a waste of time, either get more clamps or a clamping table.
Are you making your doors oversized and then squaring them up? or are you making to exact size?

I use freeborn tooling, even with new cutters i get the chatter. I dont get chatter on the cope cuts. I bought a used SCM t120C but broke the brake pin trying to change the spindle which was frozen, It's at a machine shop getting repaired hopefully that machine runs better.

What glue do you guys recommend? i read dorus express on this site but have been unable to source it. I use titebond 1 and am not sure no pins and 5 min in clamps is enough.

I have made doors oversized and squared them up. I currently do exact size and rarely have problems with out of square doors. I prefer this method because squaring them up on the slider takes time and creates more saw marks for sanding.

I agree you should not get chatter. That is your number one priority.

Why do you sand with 120 prior to profiling?

I would not use Micro pins, I would use a standard pin. Filling the hole is no different and a pin adds strength, a micro pin does not. With a standard pin the glue is less important.

Good Luck
Bill

I'd say good heads and a good powerfed shapers.

It's one of those deals though, where I feel everything is important. I wouldn't want to be making doors the way I was five years ago, and I REALLY wouldn't want to make doors the way I did ten years ago. Good shapers, tooling I'm really happy with, automatic coper, good feeders, good widebelt, and a rotary door clamp. I wouldn't want to get lose any of it.

Hen Bob is 100% correct, you shouldn't have to touch the profile after machining.

THanks for the tips guys,

hey bill i sand with 120 because i start with raw lumber and like to ensure an even thickness.

Karl what shapers and tooling do you use? our widebelt is a kundig which is solid, i would settle for a single jtl clamp. ive seen the auto coper videos online, those look sweet, but is it that much of a time saver compared to doing it on the shaper?

Look for some used Weaver brand shapers. They look small and simple but work very well. Their cope and stick setups are simple and again work very well.

Might the fact that you are putting unplanned wood through the shaper be the source of your chatter problem? You are using a sander as a planer?

An SCM T160 does most of the sticking and sizing work. I'm content with that shaper, but I wouldn't go with any less of a machine. I've got 3 SAC shapers, I love those things, but the electronics are garbage.

I've got a PMK coper with hsk spindles. Changing profiles takes less than a minute. That productivity of that machine is unreal. I'd say it's 3-4 times more efficient than doing it on a shaper with an air clamp. Reason being, you're doing two parts at a time. When it is cycling, your hands are free to juggle other parts. Put them away, get the next set ready, etcetera.
I haven't used it much, but every time I do I tell the guys they are f-ing spoiled.

It's s big chunk of change for a one trick pony, but it saves mountains of effort if you can justify it.

Get you some better shapers and/or cutters. Then get a used door clamp. Hope this helps.

Andy, I am definitely considering this.

What glue do you guys use? i use titebond 1 but am looking for something faster.

I wouldn't climb cut unless the grain of the wood required that without chipping. If you are getting chatter from your feeder you need new wheels. I use blue ones from Western Roller. They are the softest, wear the fasted but grab the best. I use an outboard fence for stick cuts and think you get better finish because the part is supported along it's length without a gap at the spindle.

JLT door clamp & panel clamp system has cleared my biggest bottleneck. Paid for itself in the first year of labor savings.

Door clamp panel clamp