Keeping Paint Out of Door Cracks

How do you paint five-piece doors so that paint doesn't bridge the panel-to-stile joints? February 2, 2011

Question
I was wondering what techniques are used to spray (pigmented lacquer) a five piece cabinet door without getting any paint in between the panel and the rails/stiles? I've seen cabinet doors that look like the panel and frame were sprayed separately, looks great. The only way I can think of doing it would be to, first, spray the panel. Then assemble the door and mask off the panel and be careful not to get too much paint in the joint.

Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor F:
Spray lighter coats so there is no pooling of wet lacquer at the joint. The space between the panel and frame has to be even for this to work, if the joint is tight at one spot and loose at others you will never get the look you are after.

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From contributor G:
Your milling of the door needs one of two things to make this easy for you. Either you need to make the panel tongue and groove joint a bit sloppy so there is no chance of bridging, or you need to have cutters that round the edges over so the joint is slightly rounded and doesn't have hard contact with the wood to wood area. You need to spray light coats or thinned out coats so no bridging occurs.