Thread: Cutting plywood panels at Bunnings - or not

Have you only ever purchased up to 12mm thick pieces?

No, I normally only get 15 or 17mm sheets, but haven't needed to do so over the past 6 months, until now

Now that's interesting.

Refusing a customer request. Would be intersting to find out what others post on similar experience.

It may have more to do with the weight of the sheet

I recently purchased a 24mm thick ply from bunnings in NSW. It's the thickest they had in stock. They cut it to size with no questions asked. Took the guy about 1 minute to sort me out and i was off....... I admit the guy had a bad back and i helped him getting it onto the panel saw though.....

Id say it would be some OH&S issue, those panel saws they have can handle more then 12mm but with only one guy working the panel saw, those sheets can get pretty heavy!

One of my brothers lives a few kilometres from me, however he uses a different Bunnings store to the one I normally go to. I myself have found that with large sheets, or large lengths of thick timber, they will baulk at cutting them to size, sometimes I have been told they are not allowed to cut over such and such a size, which is invariably smaller than what I wish to get cut.

After talking with my brother about this he suggested I go there on weekday evenings, as in Mon, Tue or Wednesday evenings around 1900hrs, they close at 2000hrs. The idea is that there are very few customers around at this time and on these days, therefore staff are not being pushed.

He was partially correct, there isn’t a problem in getting 6m lengths of thick timber or thick panels cut, you just have to give them a hand in manhandling your stuff. This is what was suggested to him at the Bunnings that he normally shops at, works a treat.

Regarding the metrification of the sheets to 2400mm x 1200mm, I’m very happy that Bunnings are now, in some instances, making even metric measurements, instead of selling metric lengths, which are in fact, imperial.

I also get these same lengths and thicknesses from a genuine timber yard; they always get another staff member to help over certain size.

It’s probably a combination of work safe practice and individual staff adherence, to said practice.

Mick.

Was in Bunnings today and had a chat with the trade manager in charge of that Dept, quite by accident. He told me the limits of the 12mm thickness were solely due to the 7 1/4 inch saw they use with the panel saw setup. It won't take a larger saw.

With anything thicker than 12mm it has trouble cutting, not enough torque, and the blade tends to wander. Has requested a bigger saw and dust collection, but that new system is going to cost $100k. Don't like his chances

Originally Posted by JillB

Was in Bunnings today and had a chat with the trade manager in charge of that Dept, quite by accident. He told me the limits of the 12mm thickness were solely due to the 7 1/4 inch saw they use with the panel saw setup. It won't take a larger saw.

With anything thicker than 12mm it has trouble cutting, not enough torque, and the blade tends to wander. Has requested a bigger saw and dust collection, but that new system is going to cost $100k. Don't like his chances

He is talking rubbish. I often instal and maintain Bunnings machines and equipment and they all have SSC c-4 wall saws with Milwaukee motors, and they have a maximum depth of cut at 35mm. The saws depending on the size of the frames are around $4800 small to $6800 large and the larger top of the range automated dustless saw is 28k. The SSC c4`s are in all Bunnings stores in Australia and are also being installed in all Masters shops. They are just being lazy and telling fibs.