I’m new to cnc. Just got a 4’x9’ machine. I’ve never made any MDF routed doors. When it becomes available do I need a special kind of 3/4” MDF?

My local Home Depot has some 3/4” mdf. Is it good enough for doors or do I need a higher quality for doors?

Plum creek, HDF and sometimes called Door grade, you can even buy it white on one side and primed. not goona find it a t a HD or lowes it is also sometimes called double refined,, finer particulate and better binfer

The "Plum Creek" board still works, but its Weyerhaeuser now. Seems like it is not quite as good as it was, but it still works. Getting harder to buy now. I was limited on my last order. Supplier used to buy it by the rail car, now its a certain amount of truckloads. Not sure why. Heard a lot of stories, but don't know who to believe.

Another guy was telling me about mdf routed doors warping. Is this a problem, or is there a way to remedy this?

Are larger doors more prone to warp?

You must be a bit new at several things. Home Depot is a horrible place to buy sheet goods. Getting consistent quality plus from the same supplier all the time is problematic there. There aren't any wholesale sheet goods supplier that delivers in your region?

To pile on with Rich, your shopping at home depot?!?!? That will be the doggiest of dog poop, lowest quality, no option for even double refined, though it will likely be cheaper than a wholesale sheetoods supplier unless your buying multiple full units. Then after that your pushing a cart through the isle, hand loading, loading into your truck, then out of your truck at the shop... a sheet that costs $40 in the isle costs you twice that or more by the time its in your shop. Your time is the most valuable commodity in your shop bar none. Its the most expensive molecule in your shop over and above the most expensive tool, material, anything.

Home Depot?!

I’ve never bought a single sheet from Lowe’s or Home Depot. I also never use 3/4” mdf for anything.

My plywood supplier doesn’t have any mdf currently and since I just got a new cnc I thought I would try making a sample door.

None of my contractors would probably go for mdf doors but I do get request for built ins with shaker looking doors with the double arch in the middle. Or even the x pattern.

Looks like Mozaik has all these built in and I just wanted to try one out before telling customers I could do those.

Thanks for the help

Cutting MDF doors is a cinch. Painting them, that's something else. Make sure you've got that part dialed in.

I have tried this , with mixed results.
I have a big iron machine with tool changer and found that by the time I router, sanded and finished it just wasn't worth it .

I outsource all my doors to a door shop now and have my shaker paint grade stuff made five piece with paint grade maple frames mdf center panel.

I have had great results however with the mozaik made dovetail Baltic birch drawer boxes. These are a profit point for us where the MDF doors were not. We did use ranger board 1 or plum creek double refined whichever was available at the time.

We also outsource finishing now . We were not profitable at that either.

if you have a cnc and can't make money on mdf doors then I would say you really are not trying. A sheet of double refined mdf is now $60? Used to be $30 I know. Let say 10 -12 doors per sheet at $35 per door $350 per sheet, 15 minutes to run on the cnc, 2 guys 1 hour to sand and prime, 1/2 gallon primer ($30), of course charge $4 per door for hinge holes. You clear roughly $200 per sheet and most door orders are the 3-5 sheet range and take at most 1/2 day. Not a bad profit especially when you work it in your regular schedule.

Is the medium density fiberboard suitable for the production and processing of your cnc router.