Table Saw for Kitchen Cabinets

G'day Folks,

I'm about to reno the kitchen plus numerous other parts of the house. I looked into getting the carcases made up and realised I could do it a lot cheaper myself. However, I'm not sure if I'm being realistic. Is it possible to cut melamine particleboard board (for the carcases) and MDF (cabinet doors) with a table saw (budget about $1000 for saw)? Also considering some of these will be large cupboards or oven cabinets (2350mm x 700mm).

Is a table saw the right tool for the job?

Cheers

Matt

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Originally Posted by HigherPlane

G'day Folks,

I'm about to reno the kitchen plus numerous other parts of the house. I looked into getting the carcases made up and realised I could do it a lot cheaper myself. However, I'm not sure if I'm being realistic. Is it possible to cut melamine particleboard board (for the carcases) and MDF (cabinet doors) with a table saw (budget about $1000 for saw)? Also considering some of these will be large cupboards or oven cabinets (2350mm x 700mm).

Is a table saw the right tool for the job?

Cheers

Matt

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Before you splash out $1000.00 plus :Clet me pass on my experience recently in making some laundry cupboards .
In my case I had only a couple of cupboards involved to be constructed from white melamine board( texture finish), there was about 4 full sheets of board 2.4x1.2x18mm,
I initially thought of cutting up the board on my Triton saw bench set up with sliding table but realised that handling the sheets would be a problem as well as there would be problems with chipping even though using a saw blade recommended for cutting melamine. The board was to be cut up into 16 pieces of varying sizes.
I made a few inquiries on getting the sheets cut up on by someone or firm who may have had a panel saw with a scribing blade ( to eliminate chipping), the going rate was $ 77.00 /hr
I then recalled a firm that was in the kitchen cabinet trade who had a large Italian beam saw ( computerized) who did job cutting of board for the trade. His rate was $77.00 / hr but with my past experience with the cutting capacity of beam saws it was my consideration that the time in cutting would be diminished to the extent that the cost would be minimal. This proved to be right as follows-.
On contacted the firm in question and on the basic of me supplying the board arranged a time to have them do the cutting. It took them exactly 20mm for one man to do the cutting with me helping in lifting the sheets on to a mobile trolley, the cost $ 33.00, that is $2.00 per piece :U. "No chipping" , "exact size", ready to do the edging and or drill holes etc for assembling.
At that price it was just not worth trying to cut up a quantity of board on my set up, as well because of the likely of chipping I would have had to cut oversize and then trim back with a router or plane the edges all by hand, infact it would have taken me a minimum of a day of cutting and trimming.
If you are interested the firm in question was
-Statewide Cabinet Works
unit 12, no 43 Edward St Osborne Park phone 94441011
Contact " Gino"
In my case I supplied the board with diagrams as to how I wanted the sheets cut to get the best output out of the sheets.
The company do have stock of standard white board and can supply the board if need be but in my case I wanted texture finish and I was able to buy at a very good price.
Another point that is worth while considering is they also do edgebanding if should need it ( not sure the charge rate) and also make postform laminate tops, vacuum forming of doors etc.
Best of luck
Mac:D

Hi Matt

I have had similar experience as Mac with a slight variation.

Local cabinet shop can buy melamine (by the pallet) much cheaper than you can, and they can supply and cut for little more than you would pay for the sheet material. You just supply a cutting list.

Cutting is very clean and accurate, and they cut to the right length! Unlike me.

But if the table saw is step one on building a proper workshop then disregard the above.

Cheers

Graeme

When I installed a new kitchen about 9 years ago, I spent some time working out what size the carcasses needed to be and what size pieces were needed to produce them. I took this list along to a local timber supplier (also a kitchen installer) and had the pieces cut to size and delivered.
The accuracy of the cut was more than I could have achieved with the tools I had. No chipping on the cuts either which is near impossible without a scribing saw.

I used camlock connectors to join everything together.

Doors are just MDF that I also had cut to size and which I then routed a bullnose edge on.

A bit of a jigsaw puzzle to start with when there were about 50 unmarked pieces to sort out and label.

I just bought an Infinity 010-080 80 tooth fine cut blade and it cuts melamine like a dream. With one of these blades there is no need for a scribing blade.

http://www.onlinetoolreviews.com/rev...nityblades.htm

Bunnings here in sunny Queensland sells moisture resistant melamine coated particle board for $33. Edging is cheap if you by a 150m roll. elraco.com.au

I just finished rebuilding a kitchen using my triton and an 80 tooth blade. I cut the sheets with a saw guide before cutting into parts on the Triton.

Perth Wood School in Welshpool have a huge panel saw with scribing blade. I have not used it but they about $40/ hour. So you could be taught how to use the beast and then cut the board for about 40 bucks. And, then you can say you cut up all the wood and made all the cabinets!!

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Getting it cut up at a shop is sounding like the go. However as GraemeCook mentioned I was kind of using this as an excuse to buy a table saw. I think my eyes are nearly bleeding from reading all the threads on this site about the various table saws, and the worst bit is I'm now 10 times more confused about which saw to buy. The Jet JWTS-10 was looking good then I read that the motor hangs of the back and makes an almighty mess.

Please excuse my ignorance but where do the inaccuracies come into play with a table saws? To me it would seem that so long as you kept the sheet hard up against the fence the cut should be good.