Cutting laminate strips

[Jim Bailey]

I remember seeing somewhere, a technique for cutting strips of laminate on a table saw. It involved some sort of aluminum molding piece that was slipped under the edge of the fence, 'U' shaped, laying on it's side, that held the laminate sort of captive inside it. Anyone remember seeing this ? Maybe in a magazine ?

I saw some pictures in one of the counter top making 'how to' books, of a wood edge around the top, with a shallow rabbitt on the face, then a strip of the same laminate that was used on the top, in the rabbit. Really nice effect. I was was thinking of trying this, but you'd need a really clean, exact cut on these laminate strips, probably around 3/8 or so. It wasn't mentioned how they cut it.

I'd even consider a special tool for it if I didn't need a bank loan to buy it. I can't imagine something that specialized could be bought for pocket change.

jim

[Robert Allison]

What you are looking for is a laminate slitter. They make very accurate strips of laminate of varying widths (the tool is adjustable for different widths).

Here is one such animal:

[Andy Dingley]

Make (yet another) MDF false fence that bolts to your fence. Put a sawcut into the bottom of the face, as low as you can go without it breaking out. Use that as a sliding guide for your laminate.

For a better version, rebate the bottom edge of the fence and fit some suitable aluminium extrusion. Finding it's the hard part.

[Robatoy]

The way I solved it for myself, was by using two thin-wall aluminum angle extrusions. 1". I bought them at at the Borg. I adapted a birch ply strip to my fence, via the t-slots. Then I screwed one of the angles to the plywood while it was pressed against the fence and tablesaw top.. That bottom one will stop the laminate from trying to slip under the fence. Then I put a 1/8" strip of hardboard on top the bottom aluminum angle and put the second one on top the hardboard. I then screwed the both of them , spaced 1/8' apart to the plywood fence. Presto... a channel. One angle stops the laminate from sliding under the fence..and one to stop the laminate from bulging away from the blade. The end of the top one, facing the operator, was bent upward a bit. Careful when you do that, because the stuff likes to buckle. Next time I would hacksaw a 3" section away from the vertical part and bend that upward.

It works great... I might make it a little tighter next time...like

1/16...and I'd line the bottom of the top-angle with some laminate to make it scratch less. (I can see some lines on glossy black laminate after it has gone through the fence.

Total cost... 8 bucks. If you want to cut strips less that 1"...buy smaller angle. ( I just ran an old blade up through the aluminum.)

0¿0

Rob