Cutting MDF

Yep, outdoors with a mask. MDF dust is horrible stuff at best and at worst poisoness. I use a router with a straight bit although a good hand saw is often just as good. A circular saw may break the edge depending on the blade.

Yes, get it cut to size where you buy it. For what they charge it really isn't worth faffing about and clearing up afterwards. I have a sawbench but I'd still rather pay them to cut mdf.

I use an electric jigsaw, outdoors if possible. If sawn indoors it is easier to ask someone to hold a vacuum cleaner nozzle near the area to catch the MDF dust. A batten can be fixed as a guide to get dead straight cutting lines. Personally, I would not attempt to cut MDF with a circular saw.

Why? As with all wood type materials you'll get a better edge with a decent circular saw than a jigsaw.

Exactly. And make up one of these

Homebase don't charge do they?

Apart from everything being over the odds anyway, not for cutting (when the saw is working and there is someone to work it.

Officially I think you get one free cut per board. In practice I've never been charged anything for cutting at Homebase. Sure beats the hell out of doing it yourself.

Except that they only seem to be able to cut to a tolerance of +/-

Too bloody right mate. No good having a £5K machine able to cut to +/- 1mm with a complete numpty using it who doesn't understand the meaning of 'kerf'.

It's a bit hit and miss with Homebase but they seem to be the only shed that cuts to size round here. You need to tell them which cuts to do in which order but, as you say, there is really no excuse for inaccuracy on those machines. Fortunately most timber merchants have them as well.

Unfortunately, most machines seem not to be calibrated properly or have drifted and are not checked, so absolute measurements are seldom correct IME. Moreover, as TMH suggests, they tend to be operated by the hard of thinking who can't count either and don't know what the kerf of the blade is anyway.

In that respect, I have had boards cut by one of these setups where the result was 6mm under size. I asked them to do it again with a new sheet. IN any case, I always check the result and have the cut made

Then there is the issue of consistency. Let's say one wants to make a carcase for a cupboard. At the least, one would like all four pieces to be the same width. One would hope that this would be possible by making four cuts one after another, but these monkies can't even manage that. On the same occasion as the incorrect sizing, four such pieces were cut without adjusting the machine. They differed over a range of

I checked the make and model of the panel saw they were using. It had a magnified scale and was easily capable of working to 0.2mm or so which is rather more reasonable. I think the issue here was that they didn't know how to set the stop properly and avoid parallax on the scale and then didn't make sure the material was hard against the stop. Either that or the stop moved.

I can achieve these sorts of accuracy with a guide rail and circular saw, never mind my table saw, so why these stores think that they can get away with providing rubbish, I don't know. I would have thought that most people would be able to notice 0.5 to 1mm error on material dimensions when pieces are compared. Perhaps not.

Sounds like you've been unlucky, but the stop is the weak point on these machines when they're used by operatives with 2 hours training. Constantly ramming 8x4s and worktops against it causes it to creep, and then wear so that it can't be tightened properly. Also, I think dust accumulates next to the stop giving the impression you're still not quite up to it, so you shove it a bit harder. I've always had spot on cuts but I usually do a bit of finger wagging before they start.

I've had exactly the same thing happen to me. I asked for a 2440 x 1220 sheet of MDF to be cut into 4 x 290 x 2440 strips. At first the guy told me he couldn't do it because of the saw blade width. I told him he could, that was why I asked for 290mm not 305mm.

I read somewher that you can feel a difference of a few thou with your fingers.

IOW the operatives are not trained and competent. Seems to be the same story business after business these days. Typically theyre not trained becuase the management dont know anything about it either, no-one onsite does, and they think they can just flannel the customers. What kind of wally thinks they can pass off undersized wood and have customers return for the service I dont know.

NT

Blade kerf should not be more than about 4mm on these - 3.2 and 3.6 are common numbers, perhaps more on larger blades

Yes you can. Certainly if you are trying to make a cabinet, 1mm is pretty hopeless

You can buy them for a lot less than that - £2k max

I think we have to remember that they're not offering a cut to size service for cabinet makers (although they could easily). Half the time they're only making it easier to get in your car. I dread to think what happens if they undercut a worktop. Could get expensive for them

Exactly what happened with my sister in laws worktop. Cut it wrong way round & blade chipped the top surface badly.

She made them cut a new one.