Cutting plastic coated MDF

[Jimk]

OOI where's my post that you replied to gone? I see it on Google gropes but not in this thread on Plusnet (giganews I believe)?

[Jimk]

Many others are available....

[Jimk]

If cut upside down...

He said he doesn't want to buy any more gear...

[pete]

I?m trying to cut some plastic coated MDF (Melamine?) using a powered jig saw and it?s chipping the plastic like mad. A friend told me there is a special blade for doing this. Can anyone advise me? I?m a rank amateur with only a jig saw and a planer to my my name. I don?t want to buy any further power tools as I?d not have any real use for them. Peter

[whisky-dave]

I would say the finer the teeth the better and use something to cover the Melamine stuff like a strong tape or even a metal ruler to protect and help stop any Melamine rising and hence breaking off.

[Brian Gaff]

Yes its not adhered very well, indeed one wardrobe now history, had thermoformed ridges in the coating with just air beneath, It seemed to rely mainly on some kind of tape to stay on the doors, Not good to try to saw it as its very brittle. Brian

[alan_m]

Blade has too few teeth - find a laminate blade with finer teeth. Turning off the orbital action on the jig saw may help. Tape up the cutting line with masking tape before cutting.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Do remember a jigsaw cuts on the upstroke, so for best results cut from the underside. But it's simply not the best tool for the job. A decent circular saw will give a near perfect cut.

[Steve Walker]

He could go mad and cut it with a hand-saw.

SteveW

[alan_m]

You can get blades that cut on the down-stroke (reversed teeth)

(possibly not the jigsaw blade fitting the OP requires)

It's these type of blades that will require any orbital/pendulum action to be disabled on the saw.

However the OP may/will have the plastic coating on both top and bottom surfaces so such a blade may produce one surface without chips and the other with more chipping.

What may also help on the lower surface is to clamp a thin sacrificial piece of wood to the board and to cut through both at the same time. The sacrificial wood will support the plastic laminate and prevent chipping. I would still also use tape along the cut line.

[tabbypurr]

That's the gold standard. Another good plan which you can't do is to set your circular saw blade shallow. All other approaches help but not so much as clamping wood on.

Jigsaws are seldom a good tool for the job. Circulars are way more useful.

NT

[alan_m]

Blades that often come with even decent circular saws are often more suited to fast ripping rather than cutting laminate. An additional purchase of a 60 or 80 tooth blade may be necessary.

[invalid]

Score it with a knife first.

If only one side matter put that on the bottom as most jigsaw blades cut on the up stroke. You can get down cut blades if its difficult to cut from the other side.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd have thought 'decent' would cover both saw and blade. ;-) Although many these days come with tipped blades that are a reasonable compromise.

[alan_m]

Go to a site such as Screwfix and you will find that many circular saws, irrespective of the brand or price, are sold with 24 tooth blades (some as low as 10 or 12 teeth and a few up at 30). As I suspect with the OPs jig saw blades, these have too few teeth for a quality cut in laminate and a blade with 60+ teeth would be more suited.

[Steve Walker]

Still seems to be there for me - on Eternal September.

SteveW

[Ray Barnes]

If you must use a jigsaw I would advise that, as the jigsaw cuts on the upward stroke you saw from the back surface as well as applying the tape to the back surface. Also use a fine metal cutting blade.

[Tim+]

Now this *must* be a record. ;-)

Tim

[nothanks]

Errm, 'tis rather unlikely to be 52 years ago given the age of USENET.

[John Rumm]

Indeed, 9 years before the creation of usenet...