How to do Square Cut-Outs for Wood Grilles – 9Wood Field Guides

Square Cut-Outs for Wood Grilles

In this video, we’ll be processing in-panel linear cut-outs for 1100 series Cross Piece Grilles. Grilles can be adapted to work with a lot of different mechanical penetrations, such as slot diffusers or linear lighting.

What tools do I need?

Regarding the tools you’re going to need, we’ve shown everything you’re going to need here. In particular, make sure you have the variable-speed jig saw with a reverse-cut blade like this Bosch BR 101. We know that job sites can be tricky when it comes to finding a location to do your cutting, but make sure you have found a safe location where you can do fine detail work.

First steps – verifying the cut

The first step would be verifying with the installing subcontractor exactly what the mechanical penetration will be and how big it is. Once that’s been verified, you will need to measure where it’s going to fit inside your panel and mark that location off inside it. Once the location has been set, you’re going to prep the area with painter’s tape, razor knife it and cover those areas like we’ve shown you before.

Once your primary taping is completed, you’re going to take your measurement again and mark on the tape exactly where you’re going to be making your cut, finalizing it with your square. Shown here, we razor knife at each member and fold down on the exit side of each piece. That ensures that as the blade leaves, you’re not going to have any tear-out.

Perform the cut

Keeping the panel face up, you’re going to want to cut cleanly through all of the members that need to be removed. As you begin your cut, it’s important you stay consistent in speed from member to member and that you don’t stop or slow down. This ensures you don’t have tear-out or any problems with the next piece as you cut through one entirely.

What about backers?

Once the face is done, you’re going to flip the panel over to take care of the backers that are still holding those parts in place. We recommend setting a circular saw to the depth of the backers and then cutting them from the back side to ensure that you’re not damaging any of the faces or the secondary surfaces.

Final steps

Once that’s complete, you’re going to verify the size of your opening, remove the tape, and sand off any fibers that might be remaining. Then you can use the 9Wood-supplied touch-up finish to seal the area and match the color, and install the panel around the mechanical penetration.

If you have any questions about your field cutting or need to go over your project’s specifics, please contact 9Wood and we’ll get in touch with you. Thanks again for watching and we’ll see you next time.