Trimming Laminate Help

[Mark Duksta]

Hello Everyone,

I'm making a set of new table saw fence faces. They're going to be MDF covered with laminate.

What is an easy way to trim the laminate off of the narrow ends and sides?

Mark

[Bob Wingard]

Bearing guided router bit. The one for edges cuts flush & straight ... the one for tops & larger surfaces cuts on a slight bevel to soften the edge, although you can do that with a file or sandpaper.

[Rick Fisher]

+1 .. Flush trim router bit .

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes, a laminate trimming bit in a small router is great, it's the only electric router I own............Rod.

[Jimmy Horrocks]

If your going to apply a face laminate you'll need to belt sand the edges flush after you trim with the flush cut bit. This will leave the surfacee dead flat. Apply face laminate, trim back to the edge with the flush cut bit, clean up with a laminate bevel bit, file off the sharp edges and your done...

[Mark Duksta]

Thanks for the quick replies. My problem was my laminate router would not balance on the narrow edge of the MDF so the flush trim bit could do it's job.

This is how I solved it. I put a spacer board under my router table fence. This allowed the laminate to ride under the fence so the fence could provide adequate support. I still used a flush trim bit with a bearing. The bearing helped to line the edge of the fence with the bit.

Mark


205624

[Jimmy Horrocks]

You have to lay the workpiece on its side, then run then rout...just like you did with the router table, but holding the router...hope that makes sense, jho

[Paul Girouard]

P.Lam tips .

For ripping P.Lam a piece of ply with a nail in it that indexes the ply so it can't kick back , and it supports the P.Lam at the blade and more importantly elevates the P.Lam so it can't slide under the fence.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17007.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17008.jpg


The nail indexes / catches on the fence bar at the front of the saw.

I like a bullet style bit and use the Vaseline to lub the bit when running it against P.Lam surfaces.


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17009.jpg

If you wrap your file with a couple of loops of tape it prevents stray scrapes on the P.lam

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17011-1.jpg


The old style metal blinds work great for placing the between glued up P.lam and glued substrate.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17012.jpg


Just the right camber and the metal blinds can be cleaned when they get a bit of glue on them, these are 15 years old or so and laid miles of P.Lam.


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17013-1.jpg

When I can I rather lay P.Lam in the shop than on site , per-planning how you'll attach the top and how you'll fit the edges that engage the walls is key to doing it this way.

This top only engaged the wall along the back , the simplest type of top to fit, one engaged edge.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17015.jpg

Pre-cut the self edge that indexes the other pieces and just stick them on so they fit nicely. Lub with Vaseline, rout off.



http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17016-2.jpg


But leave the corners un-routed , we can clip and file these in the next step .

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17017.jpg


End nippers clip these off all most flush , making the filing process easier and less likely to break the bits off to far back .


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17018.jpg


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17019-2.jpg


File the whole top edge or use a belt sander to "file" the top and bottom flush, then pre-glue the top and substrate.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17020.jpg


Normally on a top like this I just stick the P.Lam without the blinds but for this series I used the blinds to spot the top ,


http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17021-1.jpg

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17022-1.jpg

A slight angle on the file gives that nice soft edge you want , not that knife edge that cuts the hand or gets chipped easier if some thing gets dropped on it , or chipped if something catches it on up lift.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b299/PEG688/sept17025.jpg


I may not have addressed the OP situation , but I think he had it worked all ready.