Cutting plastic laminate-How do you?

[Mike Wilkins]

Working on a counter top project for a customer, using laminate the customer chose and purchased.
My question is how do you guys cut these sheets of laminate. I built a jig to hold down the laminate to the saw table, but wrestling these large sheets is no picnic for a one-person operation. How do you do it?
Thanks

[Roy Harding]

I use a piece of angle iron clamped to my fence. The laminate rides in the angle iron and can't slip under the fence.

[Andrew Hughes]

Here's what I use for Formica,im thinking it will work for the plastic stuff.They sell them at the Borg.In or around the floor tile stuff.

[Mike Ontko]

First off--see if you can find recommendations from the manufacturer. The advice you get from them is probably the best place to start.

Based on my limited experiences, you can use a utility knife to score a line on the underside of your laminate material (Formica, Wilsonart, and the like) and then snap off a rough edge that's just a little longer/wider than your final dimension. Then after you've glued the laminate to the counter top's plywood substrate, trim that overhanging amount using a router with a laminate trimming bit (a straight bit with a guide bearing). As another option I believe you can also use a circular handsaw with the blade installed backwards (I've done this for clear polycarbonate sheeting but not for laminate).

[Mike Ontko]

Here's what I use for Formica,im thinking it will work for the plastic stuff.They sell them at the Borg.In or around the floor tile stuff.

Right! This scoring tool is a little awkward to use at first, but it won't wander away from the straightedge the way a razor knife can.

[Bud Millis]

You score it and snap it oversize. Once glued down use a trim router to flush it up then add the edging. Depending on the edging used - lam, wood and lam or just wood depends on how you finish the final edge.

In all my years I don't think I've ever seen someone try to run lam thru a ts. But hey, That was 20 yrs ago when I was an installer for that stuff.

[Robert Engel]

I use both score/snap and TS.

Shop I worked in only used TS with a hold down.
Bend sheet upward for xcuts (good side down).
If worred about scratching, use a piece of hardboard turned upside down as a cover/ZCI.

[Roy Harding]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cuJP-FxpOc

Some ideas here.

[Peter Quinn]

Track saw or a sliding panel saw. I've done it on the table saw with a fence jig but it's not a joy.

[Peter Kelly]

Table or sliding saw is the best method. Barring that, the Klenk shears work pretty well for rough sizing. http://www.amazon.com/MA72500-Klenk-.../dp/B000QFPD4W

[Larry Copas]

I agree. I've cut hundreds of sheets by myself on the table saw. There is a bit of a trick to it as you have to hold the sheet so it stiffens on the infeed. Not worth learning for a project or two.

[Mark Wooden]

A laminate router with a 1/4" straight bit and a straight edge works well to break it down to sizes you can run on the saw

[Gerry Grzadzinski]

With a table saw, here's how we typically do it in a cabinet shop.
When ripping, you hold your right arm out straight and "drape" the sheet over your right arm. You hold and feed the sheet with your left hand, holding it on the left edge towards the front. You raise and lower your reight arm as required to keep the sheet feeding into the blade somewhat parallel to the table.
When crosscutting, you bend the sheet into a 90° angle, and hold the left side vertical with your left hand, while feeding the flat part with your right hand. Depending on the size of the sheet, and the size of the piece your cutting, it's sometimes easier to partially roll the sheet and hold the rolled up portion with your left hand while feeding. This is usually used for vertical grade laminate.
Anything larger than 4x8 gets much more difficult, especially crosscutting.

[Martin Wasner]

For the cores, lay the laminate on the top, leave some overhang on the back edge. Use a router bit with an over sized bearing and just follow the shape of the top. Do that for the main top and cut the rest up with the tablesaw. Everything will be cut oversized, so the cut just has to be in the ballpark unless you're really tight on material. In which case, get more laminate. It likely won't end well if you're really tight.

The rest is just narrow pieces needed for edging, backsplash, and scribe so just rip those to the required size.

[Ken Combs]

I used to do a lot of laminate. never used a saw, just score and snap. I used a carbide tipped scribe bought at the local lumber yard. It's scored miles of material and still sharp! they are much easier to guide along a straight edge than a knife type scriber.