Chip-Free Melamine Cuts

[Mark Hockenberg]

First things first - Happy New Year to the forum members! Also, apologies if this has been covered before...

My current MO for achieving chip free cuts on my melamine panels is as follows:
- Buy good quality melamine from the lumber yard (avoid box store junk)
- Break down sheets with Festool track saw and leave slightly oversize. I get them dead square this way.
- Score the panels on the table saw with a sharp laminate/veneer blade, then flip over and make through cut

I get very good results with the above, but it involves a lot of steps.

I've tried:
- Taping the cut line - This is almost worthless...
- Using a Festool 496309 Solid Surface/Laminate Blade.

Due to the nature of melamine and cutting it, it's just not feasible to get a clean cut in one pass.

One thing I haven't yet tried is to use the track saw with my TSO Parallel Guide System, score one side, then flip the sheet and make the through cut. I don't do this, because I don't want to move a whole sheet more then once.

Short of buying the slider with a scoring blade that I really want (thanks in advance for this recommendation, Jim :)) what advise do you have?

Cheers,
Mark

[Edwin Santos]

The best solution I have found for a chip free single pass melamine cut is Forrest's Duraline Hi-AT blade at the table saw. You have to keep the blade height low, and so long as the blade is sharp, I have gotten totally chip free cuts in one pass.

This said, chipping can still enter the picture if:

1. the melamine is a lower grade i.e. cold rolled or home center grade as opposed to higher quality thermofused. I also find the particle board core of the higher quality melamine is denser, which surely helps
2. the blade is not sharp, and unfortunately melamine is hard on blades and will dull them faster than wood
3. the stars are just not lined up that day for reasons beyond words

Hope this helps,

Edwin

[Mark Daily]

I’ve gotten good results with the Freud “double-sided laminate/ melamine blade. Not always perfect but about as close as you are likely to get using a single blade.

Melamine is just tough to cut chip-free so I stopped using it.

[johnny means]

Way back when, I would drive a sharp screw up through my zci ahead of the blade. I would sharpen the point to make a scratch right on the cutline.

[Brian Tymchak]

As long as you are not trying to get chip free cuts on 2-sided melamine, then my experience is that most of the plywood/melamine tablesaw blades do a decent job as they score the edges as they cut. We use Freud and Forrest blades where I volunteer and we cut literally a ton of melamine a day with nice clean (and sharp) edges. I do not have any experience with the Festool laminate blade, but I look forward to trying it out soon.

[Rod Sheridan]

A high angle ATB blade will give decent results, however it will dull rapidly.

I went to a slider with scoring however you don’t want that.

How do you edge band?

If you have an edge bander with pre-milling a regular saw blade is fine unless your chips are enormous......Rod

[Mark Hockenberg]

Hi Rod,

For banding, my go-to was Formica water-based contact adhesive. I used this on everything up to 3mm PVC. I recently picked up a Conturo and am now changing over to that machine. I gave up my stationary Holz-her when I sold my commercial shop. I just do hobbyist work now.

Actually I DO want to go to a slider with scoring - I just need to build a new shop building first...

Cheers,
Mark

[Mike Kees]

Hi Mark. Back in the day I purchased a Modulus scoring attachment for my Unisaw. It is a bit finicky to set up ,but it worked pretty good. Other than that the best 10'' melamine blade I found was an FS tool blade. Lots of different blades will cut the top side clean until the blade dulls ,it is the bottom side that is the issue. A sliding saw with scoring is the only sure way I know of that works consistently. Hope this helps.

[Erik Loza]

It's the blade. Are you able to do this on a regular table saw?

Erik

[Mark Hockenberg]

I'm using a Unisaw with a laminate/veneer blade as mentioned above.

[Erik Loza]

I'm using a Unisaw with a laminate/veneer blade as mentioned above.

Ah, I saw festool and assumed track saw. I'd go for one of the blades the others mentioned. Pretty sure that branded blade is a budget one. Good luck.

Erik

[Don Stephan]

Very high quality ATB blade on a good tablesaw, with the blade parallel to miter slots and fence. If you plan to cut a lot, get two so you can get one sharpened while using the other.

[Bruce Wrenn]

When doing melamine, I always do a scoring cut on back side first. It's only about 1/8" deep. When I have scored ALL the pieces that are similar in size, then I raise the blade and make thru cuts. I have two styles of melamine blades, the high ATB, and some with triple chip teeth. Cuts turn out the same when using scoring cut first

[Richard Coers]

You can also get a pretty good quality cut by lowering the blade to cut about 1/8" on the first pass through the blade, then raise it and cut through the stock on a second cut. Certainly not a method to cut 5 sheets of melamine, but 1 is a possible solution.

[Curt Harms]

You can also get a pretty good quality cut by lowering the blade to cut about 1/8" on the first pass through the blade, then raise it and cut through the stock on a second cut. Certainly not a method to cut 5 sheets of melamine, but 1 is a possible solution.

That's what I've done when I had to cut melamine, two passes. I was concerned about 'steps' but nope, made a clean cut. Not much of an option for high volume operations though.

[jack duren]

Without a scoring blade on a slider I just oversize an 1/8 and recut with a router for two good sides.

[Lee Schierer]

I've tried:
- Taping the cut line - This is almost worthless...


Regular masking tape, not painters tape does a good job of chip prevention on melamine and wood.

The Freud LU92M blades are designed for cutting laminates chip free. The modified Triple Chip Grind (MTCG) Tooth Design for long life and chip free cuts in thick stock manmade materials. Negative Hook Angle minimizes chipping in laminates and melamine

[Peter Kelly]

This said, chipping can still enter the picture if:

1. the melamine is a lower grade i.e. cold rolled or home center grade as opposed to higher quality thermofused. I also find the particle board core of the higher quality melamine is denser, which surely helpsTotally agree, melamine clad panels aren't all created equally. I'd look name brand panels by Tafisa, Panolam, Uniboard, Arauco, etc. The better stuff almost always has a mat-formed hardwood flake core and thick top and bottom sheet.

One way to ensure a chip free cut with a table saw w/o scoring is to raise the blade just higher than 1/2 way through the panel (eg: 5/8" blade height for a 3/4" board) cut and flip each time. You should be able to get chip-free cuts with a sharp blade using the track saw though. Might try replacing the strip on the guide.

[Myk Rian]

Way back when, I would drive a sharp screw up through my zci ahead of the blade. I would sharpen the point to make a scratch right on the cutline.
That's a good idea.

[jack duren]

Regular masking tape, not painters tape does a good job of chip prevention on melamine and wood.

The Freud LU92M blades are designed for cutting laminates chip free. The modified Triple Chip Grind (MTCG) Tooth Design for long life and chip free cuts in thick stock manmade materials. Negative Hook Angle minimizes chipping in laminates and melamine

I've cut melamine for 30 years. Never seen tape nor a regular table Saw work worth it's time to set up...if you can make it work, you should sell it...

[Mark Daily]

Yesterday I cut some 3/4 melamine I had left over from a previous job using a Freud “ultimate plywood & melamine” blade I recently bought. (Different from the “double-sided laminate/ melamine blade I’ve had for a long time).

Set the blade about 1/4” above the wood and ended up with no chip-out on top and very little on the bottom- the best I’ve ever seen.

I think if I had placed something like 1/4” MDF underneath to act like a zero-clearance insert, there would have been no chip-out on the bottom.

Sorry, but I wasn’t able to get any pics before it left the shop.

Its also an excellent blade for plywood.