Using melamine need tips

[Nissim Avrahami]

Ooooops

You are soooo correct Mike...somehow the directions of turning were messed-up in my head...and I even attached a picture....

That's what happens when I'm thinking at 4:00 AM...Yep, it's a bad idea to "flip" the blade...

Sorry for that
niki

[John Scane]

Thanks everyone,

My table saw has a large outfeed table attached so feeding it backwards isn't really an option for me. I did do some test cuts today with the blade raised to about 1/16 that worked pretty well....I also bought a better melamine blade... the freud and I'm going to try that tomorrow.
I think the 2 pass technique will work good enough and all the peices are the same width so it should go pretty fast even with 2 passes.

[Tim Martin]

Hi John, I have cut up heaps of Melamine (chip-free)on my standard 12" TS with out a scribing blade.

I use the 2 pass method. First pass with the blade sitting roughly 2mm above the table to make the scribe. For the second pass I move the fence out a papers thickness (a bee's diaphragm ) and raise the blade to complete the cut. It leaves a fine scribe mark on the edge of the board, but this ensures no chips and is barely noticed when covered with iron-on edging etc. It ends up exactly the same as an edge cut by a slider with a scribing blade.

This method also works brilliantly for veneer board and laminates. Gee I'd love a slider though.

[Byron Trantham]

I have built far too many projects with melamine and I have found that by raising the blade just enough to score the melamine I can get virtually chip free cuts. I use a Forrest veneer/melamine blade. I tried the tape method but found that the tape wants to curl off making the material very difficult to move through the blade because it wants to stick to the TS top.

As for hanging, as has already been mentioned, French cleat is the only way to go. For one thing you can level and attach the wall side of the cleat all by yourself. You aren't trying to hold a 2 ton cabinet in place while drilling holes and hoping your are in the right place. Another good reason is if you cut the cleat a couple inches short of the total width of the cabinet you can move it left or right to center or make sure its flush against the adjacent cabinet.

[frank shic]

john, i work almost entirely in melamine. the hi-atb blade/zci insert combo will work but recently i've purchased a modulus 2000 which gives absolutely the cleanest cut i've ever seen although it's not cheap at $482.

[John Scane]

It's been a while...i forgot i posted this.
Thanks everyone for your help.

Will the 2 pass method work for cutting dado's also? I'm assuming it will but want to make sure.

Thanks

[Dave Falkenstein]

I get chip-free cuts in melamine using an Amana melamine blade. I have used some blades that were supposed to be designed for melamine that did not cut melamine well at all. The Amana and the Forrest Duraline are two that actually work well.

When building black melamine shelving for a client a number of years ago, I used a black Magic Marker along the edges, after applying black edging tape, to hide any imperfections. Worked pretty well.

[frank shic]

john, you could use the two pass method to dado the melamine but why? butt joints with screws work well enough and if you use dados you will introduce another potential for a mistake to occur. personally, i stay away from dado blades.

[Scott Loven]

Don't mix the melamine dust into your pet food to "up" the protein content, like the Chinese company did!

Ya know; I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they were caught using dog food as a filler in their melamine laminate!
Scott

[Jim Becker]

Ya know; I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they were caught using dog food as a filler in their melamine laminate!

Wouldn't that be ironic...