Thread: Cutting Melamine

I have a 60 tooth Triton Combination blade (not the Triple Chip). On melamine coated particleboard it gives one very good side (top face) and one with some chipping (bottom face). The chipping is noticeable but acceptable depending on the project (I'm a bit picky). When I built some kitchen cabinets I paid to have the board cut (scribing panel saw) and edged.

On melamine coated MDF I find the result is a bit better.

Not sure how much better the triple chip blade would be. CMT also make a blade specifically for melamine that they claim gives excellent results.

Cheers

George

Hi George,

I have cut Malemine using the standard blade that comes with the triton saw and the Triton Triple Cut Blade.

Both blades will chip the bottom of the work piece, the triple cut does a better job though and chips about half as much.

I am pretty sure if you played with your feed rates you could probably get even better cuts.

The top of the sheet is perfect with either blade.

I should have some off cuts floating around at home, I could probably scan in a piece if you want to see the chipping with a triple cut blade.


Joe

I find that when cutting melamine the chipout at the bottom is greatly reduced if you clamp a sacrificial piece of 12 mm chipboard under the melamine.
I use the sliding extension table for this as it is easy to clamp the two to the table. If you calculate correctly one sheet will do a lot of cuts.


Peter.

Donald,

I too use a 60 tooth Triton Combination blade but, but I use good quality masking tape to protect both sides of the sheet. Just wrap it around where u r going to cut a few times and then slice down the middle. I've almost always had chip free cuts using this technique.

Regards,
Mike.

Being an ex wood machinist, I am almost certain that it is impossible to eliminate chipping when cutting melamine using a single sawblade. This after all is the reason for the design of a scribing table saw.

As we Triton users have to make compromises, the only two ways I can think of is to either use a planer or a router to take enough off to eliminate the chips. (a sharp blade/cutter is essential of course) Obviously, the Triton accessories for each of these tools should make this a lot easier and practical.

Ray.

Hi All

I recently purchased a triple cut blade and have been very satisfied with the quality of the cut on both sides with only some very slight chipping (one or two chips maximum on a 400mm cut).

I've tried the process of cutting with the standard 40 tooth blade slightly oversize and then aaking a 1 - 2mm planing cut on the router table, but found this far to labour intensive.

What I've found works best for me using melamine to fit out two wardrobes and build a set of units in the laundry is to have the boards cut and edged (.4mm, 1mm or 2mm as required) down to the widths I want - then use the workbench to cut to length. I've found this to give me the best mix of quality/time/cost.

Regards

like Smiffy said in his reply
I'm pretty sure the Triton video has something about this and he cuts the sheets slightly oversize and then does a smll planing cut on the router using a straight cutter.