Small shop tips for working with Melamine

[mbcabinetmaker]

What do the Loch Ness Monster, Abominable Snowman , Bigfoot and a saw blade that cuts melamine chip free on 2 sides have in common?

Yep they do not exist.





In the next few days I will revel some tips for better success working this material in a small and/or home shop.




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This is a very expensive blade advertised to cut 2 sided melamine. Now don't get me wrong you do need a very good blade but large commercial shops have saws with blades that under cuts or scores the material before it goes into the larger blade. Scoring is the only way to achieve chip free cuts.






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Good infeed and out feed support are also critical.






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A lot of chipping is caused if the material is not supported well and is allowed to ride up and down as it goes through the saw.






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Even a good blade will chip badly if not used correctly. Here I have the blade set about 1/4 inch higher that the thickness of the melamine. You can see for yourself the amount of chipping taking place on the good side of the cut.






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When set about 1 1/4 inches higher than the melamine the chipping disappears.

[mbcabinetmaker]

This is the project we will build.




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[terrydowning]

Looking forward to the tips. I have a Melamine project in the near future.

[ddvann79]

I'm giddy with anticipation.

Does this method have anything to do with scoringor running the blade backward, like when cutting plexiglass? My bet is both.

[dusty]

It is a real pain in the petutty but when I must work with melamine I just make up my mind that it is going to take a long, long time to do a simple job.

I make each cut with the table adjusted so the blade barely cuts the surface (I guess this is a score). Then I repeat the cut at the required depth.

Like I said, a real pain. Solution - avoid melamine and fine veneer.

It will be interesting though to see how a pro does it.

[charlese]

Sorry guys! You must have been hexed by the bad melamine Gnomes!

I've had excellent cuts using my Shopsmith cross cut blade and also the small Piranha blade in my Black and Decker saw. Here's some photos showing edges resulting from those cuts.

The cut from the B&D saw is obvious. The photo was intended to show the use of a cutting guide.

The table in the sewing room was cut entirely using the Mark V. Although the table edges are edged with wood, the melamine edges are chip free. Also there is a better look at the edges of the flip-up end table. They're also chip free. (the round corners were sanded)

Admission: The lower edges (the edge that was flush with the saw table) do have some small chips. These probably could have been avoided by scoring. However there were absolutely no chips from the hand held saw that I bought from a pawn shop for $25.
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[mbcabinetmaker]

Actually Dusty you nailed it. I will later demonstrate my process on the Shopsmith but first look at our drawing to determine just where we actually need a clean cut on 2 sides of the board or if a clean cut on just one side will work. Getting clean cuts on one side only requires a sharp blade, a well aligned saw and a little slower feed rate.


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All of the exposed edges will have edgebanding applied. This unit goes against a wall on the left side and has a finished end on the right. I backs up to an existing cabinet so it will have no back.

Looking back we only have 2 areas that are critical for clean 2 side cuts.

We have a right hand end that is finished. It will need to be scored.




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Also the front of the adjustable shelves will need to be clean 2 sides. The rest of the shelf will have raw edges and a little chipping on the bottom side can be cleaned up by breaking (easing) the edge with a little sanding which I prefer to do anyway because this stuff is very sharp.



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The left side that goes against the wall can be clean one side as it will never be seen. Note the 1 inch scribe strip between the wall and the cabinet. I have checked and the wall is not plumb. This piece will be left loose and cut at a taper after the cabinet is installed.

[mbcabinetmaker]

We have a advantage with the Shopsmith over stationary saws in both scoring and cutting Melamine thanks to the ability of dialing up the speed. I run at top speed on my 520 which is also top speed rated on my blade. Caution here to the Power Pro users. DO NOT EXCEED BLADE RPM RATINGS



Below is my system


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I have a block that is cut to set on the carriage to set the depth of the saw blade. I cut just through the melamine coating when scoring.







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Block in place







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Blade depth looks like this









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This is a test cut in a piece of scrap. Notice how clean it is with no chip outs.

[mbcabinetmaker]

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Now I switch blocks to adjust the height of the blade




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Block in place




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I have stopped in the middle of the test piece for demonstration purposes. Notice the chip free cuts on the top side of the board.




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Now you can see where the cut stopped and how the bottom of the board remains chip free as well.


When I need to make a chip free cut top and bottom I simply cut my stock 1/2 inch oversize when blocking out and this allows for me to go back ,score and trim the excess off to achieve the results just demonstrated.


We will continue the build of this piece over the next few days.

[charlese]

Beautiful edges, Mark! Very good technique!!!!

Ever try that with a Shopsmith blade? If not, try it on a piece of scrap. Think you will be surprised. It is still my thought that some more expensive blades are over rated (or over advertised).