Melamine cutting

Bill McQueen

Member
Messages
140
Location
Lincoln AR
I want to cut a grove in a piece of 3/4 Melamine covered board, I'll use either a table saw or router bit.

Is there a way beside scribing a line to keep from breaking little chips out of the edges of the cut?

There well be a aluminum track in the slot but I don't want little chips showing on either side of the cut.

Thanks
 
The key is very sharp cutters, either saw blade or router bits.

And wear gloves. Plan to soften the cut edges or you will be shedding blood over this project. I soften with a fresh mill file or 100 grit sanding block.

Been there - done that - too many times.
 
Using a knife is your best best and you could throw a bit of painter tape on for good measure.

I just did something somewhat similar in I was ripping a melamins board to width. I set the ts blade to about a 1/16 and ran it past as a scoring cut and then set the blade higher and ripped it. I got a very clean edge considering I'm using a 40t diablo.
 
I want to cut a grove in a piece of 3/4 Melamine covered board, I'll use either a table saw or router bit.

Is there a way beside scribing a line to keep from breaking little chips out of the edges of the cut?

There well be a aluminum track in the slot but I don't want little chips showing on either side of the cut.

Thanks

I recommend that you use a high quality stacked dado set with low or negative hook to virtually eliminate the chipping and make multiple shallow passes until you get to the final depth.
 
If you'll decide to use the router...

Regards
niki

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All great replies, but I think I try Niki router way. Great pictures that helps more than you know, thanks for them a lot. Every time I try score something with a utility knife it always wants to stray off the straight edge I know it's me but scoring with a router scored with me.

Thanks to all of you Bill:D
 
I just finished a 7 shelf small storage unit using melamine chip board. I cut stopped dados with a router and found that the edges came out very clean.
The only problem was that some of the shelves were a bit thicker and the melamine chipped when some of the shelves were installed.

An interesting problem that I solved was stretching a 5/8" bit to 16mm. The cause of the problem is incomplete "metrification" in Canada. The stock that I was using was labeled as being 5/8", but when I checked to see why the first shelf wouldn't fit i found that the stock was actually 16mm thick.
The common sheet stock is still 4 ft x 8 ft, but the thickness has been changed to the closest mm.

Previously I had found that when using the router freehand against a fence that the offset changed depending on the orientation of the router. By doing one pass and then rotating the router for another pass, I was able to increase the dado width by 0.02". I eventually found a 90 degree rotation that increased he width by 0.005" to get to the 16mm width.

My most used router is quite small and at least 35 years old. I don't know if it always had the plate slightly offset or if it happened when I removed and re-installed the plate.
 
Niki

Is that jig adjustable or is it for one size only?
It's not adjustable jig but I can make any size groove or dado from the smallest bit diameter up to whatever.

I've never posted it because nowadays there are those "Auto adjustable jigs" that are easier to adjust and work with...

Regards
niki
 
I'd still do it with a dado set, but I'm a bit biased as I pretty much hate doing anything with a router. Dado's being pretty high on the list too.

Sharp is important, but you can still score it with a dado stack, just run it shallow the first pass, then hit it again at full depth. Or, depending on how brave you are, as it does take some time to get comfortable doing it, dragging the piece backwards over the top of the dado head works well in plywood/veneered pieces. I don't know if it works in melamine, I've never tried it.
 
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