Making modular framed panels with Polyboard

The idea in this project is to set up some modular separating units made of standard 1200mm wide elements for separating spaces within a larger area.

The basic units must be adaptable to a variety of situations.

They will be made of 95x45mm beech frame assembled with mortise and tenon joints with panels in 5mm beech ply and an upper panel in 8mm glass.

The idea is to build a library of basic elements that can be assembled easily into different projects.

To build the frames from 95x45mm beech, so the first thing to do is to set up the materials library for the frames.

Use the Libraries>Bar Materials dialog box to setup the right section.

For the panels we will be needing some 19mm beech paneling and some 8mm glass so these will have to be set up in the Panel Materials library.

To be able to add separations with doors we will also need some virtual material.

A virtual material is an invisible material where the transparency has been set at 100%.

I use virtual materials to set parts to their right position in space.

In this case we will be using a 90mm thick panel to simulate a virtual cabinet casing so that our doors will appear in the right place.

You see in detail how I use this material later in the video tutorial.

These materials show with their specific names in the cutting lists and can simply be ignored.

To separate them from the other materials in the library I always name them zz-nil.

“Nil” because they are used like “nil” panels and zz to make them show up grouped at the end of the materials list.

Start a new project and set up the existing walls where the separations will have to fit.

In real life you will enter the exact sizes taken onsite, but for this exercise you can just place a rectangular floor with walls using the grid snap.

Put the mouse in the “Models List ” area and click right.
Choose “New” model in the mouse menu.

When the cabinet appears in the list double click it’s name to activate the cabinet editing mode.

We are going to use Polyboard to build a simple wooden frame with panels.
To do this we will only be using the back of the cabinet that we will set up as a framed panel.

To prepare the back as a single panel make sur that it there are no over lapping panels.

The easiest way to do this is to modify the Manufacturing Sub-Method.
Click the Libraries>Sub Methods>Boxfull menu to open the Cabinet Boxfull sub-Method dialog box.

In my example we can see that in the Recesses and overlaps Rules section (1) the default style has the top and side over lapping the back by 15mm with a 8mm groove.

We have to erase this rule so that the back is flush with the back of the cabinet and just butted up against the other panels.

Select rule by clicking on the line (2) and click the Erase button (3).

Use the Propertises window to give the cabinet the size of the finished panel 2500mmx1200mm.

For the cabinet depth set the total cabinet depth the same as the thichness of the separating panels, in our case 45mm.

For our wall separations we only want to keep the back panel so use the “Panels” section to elimiate the Top, Bottom and Sides, just keeping the Back.

We are going to create a back with a framed and panel structure.

Select the back, open the “Structure >Edit” menu and select Assembly.

We want to create a frame with mortised styles and tenoned rails.

In the Assembly Method (1) roll down menu choose “Overpasssing Uprights”.

As we will be using mortise and tenon joints set the Mortise and Tenon depth (2) to 60mm, tick the Thickness option and set it to 10mm and add a 10mm shoulder.

In the same way set the following parameters:

Central Panels material to “19mm Beech”,

Set the Cross Bar Material Types to “Bar”, Material to “90×45 Beech”

To place the middle rail at a precise height, in the Intermediate Cross Bar section, in the mode drop down menu, choose “Distance from Bottom” and type in 800 as the distance.

Click “OK” to validate all the parameters.

Your cabinet back should look like (1) in the edit window.

In 3d textured mode (2) we can see the frame with 2 full panels.

The transparent view (3) shows the mortise and tenon joints.

Don’t forget that in Polyboard the panel is realy a cabinet and it can be modified using the cabinet editing commands.

So to add a plinth just click outside the model, add an lower elevation and add the plinth as if you were working on a cabinet.

To add this new model to the project click the “Save” button (1) or the exit “X” (2).

In the dialog box tick “Create a new model” (3) and give a name.

To insert the panel into the project, click the new panel in the list (1) and drag it into the project window and snap it to the wall (2).

To use the new full panel to make a glass panelled wall just make a new model and change the upper panel material to glass.

In the project mode you can easily assemble le different panels that snap neatly together to make your project.

Note that each panel remains parametric so it’s easy to change its dimensions.