Trend Kitchen W/Top Video Offer .Free.

[anony]

having a clear out and have found a Trend Video .It is No 3...Joining Kitchen Worktops . First person to reply here with a working e-mail that I can reply to will have it posted to them .

Stuart

[mrcheerful]

I'd like that , please. I am soon to re-do my kitchen, on the old tops I used those horrible ally joining strips, never again (shudder)

Mrcheerful

[Andy Hall]

Some additional recommendations:

- Either buy or rent a reasonable worktop jig

- Same for a decent 12.7mm router (e.g. Trend, DW, Freud, Makita, Bosch)

- Same for router bits (e.g. CMT or Freud)

Some or all of this may be Ebayable afterwards but a decent router is always worth having.

- It is very helpful and effective to use either beech or plastic joining biscuits in order to get and maintain exact vertical alignment of the two sections of worktop. about 4 across a 600mm joint is reasonable If you don't have a biscuit joiner, this may be a good reason to buy one (it will be otherwise useful); or failing that, for this application, you could use a specific type of slotting bit in the router.

- Use the old lengths of worktop for practicing.

- When you come to do the actual cuts, check the template positioning and orientation many times.

[Brian Sharrock]

_Before_ you actually spin-up the router; walk your way through the set-up several times - checking ,but not limiting yourself to; - does the cable remain free, does the 'hoover' tube get caught; will my clothing catch on a corner; can I see where the cutter bit is; where will the off-cut go; are the clamps sufficient; are the clamps tightened (don't ask!) ....

[mrcheerful]

Thank you for those tips, I look forward to the actual job !!

Mrcheerful

[Andy Hall]

All very good (actually essential) points.

- One related one that I did which helped with the above was to place the worktop being cut onto a flat surface (in my case a bench, but it could be any flat surface - potentially even the floor). I laid the worktop on several strips of supporting timber about 25mm thick - enough to be sure that the bottom of the router bit always remains clear of the flat surface. The important point is to locate strips all the way out to the ends of the worktop, running across the width. This will avoid the ends away from the cut tipping up or down as the cut is completed and avoids surprises and damage to the underside of the worktop if it were to try to move.

- Most (perhaps all) of the jigs have a slot which is fractionally wider than the projecting part of the guide bush used on the router. For the first passes, which result in the worktop being cut through, the router is held against the side of the slot in the jig away from the final edge of the worktop. There are finally trimming passes where the router is pushed against the side of the slot in the jig towards the cut edge. The idea is to produce a neatly trimmed edge by removing about another 2mm or so of material. For both sets of cuts, it is better to make a number of passes with the router depth incremented a little each time, than to take deep cuts with the router moving slowly. There is much less risk of burning of the material. I reckon on no more than about 8-10mm additional depth per pass.