Thread: Laminex HD3 anybody used it?

I’ve worked with similar on a hobby scale. Had some cupboard doors made from it, really good but exceptionally tough to saw. Does sand up and polish nicely after cutting. Going slow seems to work.

one guy I know tried cutting it on a cnc machine, ended up a big nope when he broke and dulled several carbide bits so there is that.

Yeah I've heard that it's brutal. One of the reason I got the stuff is that the factory doesn't have the capacity to crush HD3 when they want to get rid of it.

I imagine I'll have to pre-score the melamine top to stop it chipping?

Cut it with a diamond blade.

I hadn't thought of that, I'll have a crack at that tomorrow. I have tried one edge with a TCT grinder blade. It did cut, but it was slow and I didn't really check for heat build up, although it was a fairly small cut. To be honest I am a little concerned about being able to cut the router plate hole.

Originally Posted by Feckit

I hadn't thought of that, I'll have a crack at that tomorrow. I have tried one edge with a TCT grinder blade. It did cut, but it was slow and I didn't really check for heat build up, although it was a fairly small cut. To be honest I am a little concerned about being able to cut the router plate hole.

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Diamond Holesaw, same as for cutting tiles. Don’t run it too fast

At work we have cut it on the CNC as well as on the saw table. Hard on the tools ( I presume the CNC was running slower than normal to allow for this.) Sawing was a standard triple chip carbide blade, sanding is slow but can be brought to a good finish eventually. If screwing into it allow for a larger pilot hole to prevent screws breaking. Oh if cutting by hand a hacksaw is good for small cuts, also good for soft marble as well.

This stuff is commonly referred to as compact laminate in commercial construction and there are a number of different brands but all essentially the same. Best results are with diamond TCT blades and bits.

You just have to go very easy and take light passes. Most shopfitters etc almost refuse to cut this stuff on site and prefer to site measure everything and have it cut on a CNC.

I didn’t know this stuff was still available.
I used it to make bucks for metal spinners and also made a few foundry patterns with it.
I had no probs cutting it into squares on the Martin panel saw with a triple chip blade.
Bandsawed into discs on a 30” Barker and glued up with Nightingale UF glue.
Turned ok on the Wadkin RS lathe by hand from memory as these were dome shapes.
Still have a few small offcuts but would love some more as I’ve been doing some sheet metal panel forming and it would be ok for this and easy to shape.
I found this easy to work with but I did have a Patternshop with industrial sized machinery.
I also made a point of wearing my Airstream helmet as this stuff has 5 times the UF glue as MDF.
H.
After rereading the original post the stuff I used was called HD3, but was raw with no laminated surface covering.
It was an even density thru unlike MDF which has a harder skin than interior.
You notice this when turning, especially big diameter dome shapes of laminated MDF.
The tool wants to cut more of the soft interior rather than the two surface skins plus hard UF glue.

You just have to go very easy and take light passes.

Will do.

I also made a point of wearing my Airstream helmet as this stuff has 5 times the UF glue as MDF.

I picked up on this yesterday. It's well on the nose when it gets cut. Extreme precautions required me thinks.

Originally Posted by samo

This stuff is commonly referred to as compact laminate in commercial construction and there are a number of different brands but all essentially the same. Best results are with diamond TCT blades and bits.

It's either diamond or TCT (tungsten carbide tipped), you can't have it both ways...

yes, I have clearly missed a well placed or ​in that sentence.

So I had a shot at routing this HD3 material. All I can say is, do not try this at home.

This was the setup;

Setup.jpg

And this was the router bit;

Router bit.jpg

I used the inside kerf line as a guide to cut the central piece out with a TCT grinder blade, that part at least was fairly straight forward.

I turned the router speed down just short of it's slowest speed to eliminate smoking the material, that worked pretty well.

Travel speeds are brutal, the following are my observations on attempted cutting depths

0.25mm - No worries, relatively resistance free
0.50mm - Still fine
0.75mm - Not too bad, although at this depth it definitely gets your attention
1.00mm - Still manageable but you can hear the router working a bit if you travel too fast.
1.25mm - Getting a fair bit slower now and some effort required.
1.50mm - Significant effort required. Travel speed very slow.
1.75mm - Didn't go this far. Went back to 0.75mm

Also, this stuff stinks. Do not underestimate the PPE and ventilation this stuff needs. To be honest, I cannot imagine trying to cut this in an enclosed room. I'm lucky in that I have a 3.5mm high, open sided (if I choose to) workshop.

I'm very happy with the outcome though. I did have to shim the right and near side edges with some folded tin foil as a result of pressing too hard into the template, but that's OK it does lock in absolutely rock solid.

A full width cut in that material is going to be a killer, especially with a straight bit. That stuff is very much the domain of CNC machines

My machinist calculator app recommends about 8500 RPM with that bit for future reference

how does it go with water jet cutting?