Thread: Mortising in MDF

Kryn, maybe you could sandwich another piece of mdf or even perspex on top and cut through both with the router?
Cheers,

What Fuzzie said but as an extra precaution cut the leatherette away with an exacto knife first.

I have a mortising tool that fits nto a drill press with a decent a quality drill (Brobo Waldown), it would NOT be suitable for your needs. Mainly due to the force required to punch the chisel through MDF; drill presses just aren't designed to take that much stress. Additionally the auger will rip up the leatherette and make a even worse finish on the bottom than the forstner bit.

I agree with Fuzzie, clamp a sacrificial piece of MDF on top and use the router.

What I should have done, was to insert a pic of what I'm trying to achieve, so here it is.
DSCF0462.jpg
The section I'm working in, is 40 mm long and 20 mm wide and I'd like to get square corners. The corners need to be square as there is a piece that drops into the slot, unfortunately, I've about 120 to do like that. Paring off the corners, with a chisel, I find a bit daunting.
Thanks for the replies by the way.
Kryn

Hi Kyrn

Does the material have to be MDF -- is there any latitude to use "proper" wood?

How square do the corners need to be? Can the corners on the insert be rounded to match the corners of the slot? Even 2mm of rounding might save you a lot of grief.

My initial thoughts are two routers -- one with a 10 mm dia cutter guided by a template to make the slot. A second with as small a cutter as is feasible to "square" the corners. Carb-i-tool appear to make a 4 mm spiral bit that is just long enough "square" the corners to 2 mm radius. You may need to guide both bits with a bushing.

Use a square drill like below for the corners.

IMG_3956.JPG