Chipping on Melamine Particle Board using TS-55

[edanielvijay]

Hi,
I bought my TS-55 few months back and using currently to build my garage cabinets. I m using Melamine Particle Board and while cutting the material, the top portion is getting a clean cut however there is chipping on the bottom portion. Please see the picture attached. Do any of you experience the same issue I have. If not, am I doing something wrong here. BTW, I am using the blade that come with the saw.

I am cutting with the speed of 5-6 on the saw and cutting it on MFT3 table. I have put 2 boards I cut side by side - one with the top side on (Clean Cut) and the other with the bottom side cut (pls see the chipping).

I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
Danny

 

[andyman]

it can be the board as some of the cheap ones are CHEAP!

 

[ccarrolladams]

Danny, clearly chipping and tear-out cutting Melamine and similar producuts is a common enough problem we have discussed it here on The FOG many, many times.

My own preference is to use my CNC pressure beam saw to cut that kind of material. It has an automatic scoring unit running ahead of the main saw. Without pressure beam saws firms like IKEA would not be in business.

To be serious, until I had my own new large shop and the beam saw, I cut a lot of Melamine of various qualities using a TS55. There are some tricks, starting with using the appropriate blade, which Festool calls "Solid Surface/Laminate Saw Blade" cat 496 309 shown on page 62 of the 2011-2012 NA catalog. Please note that page has several typos. By 2011 all Festool blades currently being manufactured had 2.2mm kerfs and the cat for the Panther Saw Blade used for ripping is 496 305. Oh yes, the old Standard Saw Blade had long been discontinued when this catalog was distributed.

Another important trick when cutting Melamine and the like is to support the underside with a solid sacrificial surface. In my experience the best sacrificial surface for this purpose is a sheet of 3/4" plywood, which can be as inexpensive as sheathing, but shop birch costs only slightly more and works even better. Let the blade extend through the Melamine 5-6mm, so you have nearly a full tooth under the Melamine.

Use the plastic "presser foot" on the outside of the TS55 and exert more than usual downward pressure on the saw as you move it along the rail. The idea is to ensure the bottom of the Melamine is in solid contact with the sacrificial surface.

A pressure beam saw has 4 beams similar in concept to guide rails. They nearly touch the blade on both sides top and bottom, which really reduces chipping. Combine that saw with the appropriate blade and the scoring unit and the work is cut as cleanly as it is possible to saw particle board.

Remember Melamine, even the better grades, is not cabinet grade maple prefinished plywood. So, expectations as to "Glue Ready" with respect to Melamine need to be realistic. With some care those edges will be better than "good enough."

 

[fortrout]

Did you plunge through the material? If you are getting chipping the full length of the cut, try having more of the blade below the bottom of the cut, or try the backer sheet of ply. I cut melamine  in the field with out backers with good results. Good Luck

 

[edanielvijay]

Carrol,
Thanks a lot for your tips/techniques. I figured out the issue with the help of Don from Anderson Plywood, Culver City. Like you mentioned too, I was not cutting deep enough and as Don advised, I started cutting 7-8 mm deep and the cuts now come clean.
Ofcourse, I also agree with you that the Melamine are not cabinet grade but atleast I m now able to get a clean cut by making the cut little deeper.

Thanks once again and special thanks to Don at Anderson Plywood. Hes really helpful and one of my go-to guy all time next to FOG.

 

[edanielvijay]

Thanks fortrout! Yep, you are absolutely right. I could now resolve the issue by cutting it deeper.

 

[edanielvijay]

Did you plunge through the material? If you are getting chipping the full length of the cut, try having more of the blade below the bottom of the cut, or try the backer sheet of ply. I cut melamine  in the field with out backers with good results. Good Lu

Hi Fortrout,
BTW, did you use the festool TS-55 blade that come with the saw or Solid Surface/Laminate blade?

-Danny

 

[fshanno]

You can run a scoring pass and you will get much better cuts.  Set the plunge depth so that it just cuts the top 1/16th or 3/32, something like that.  Then come back with the full depth cut on the second pass.  After a bit of practice you will be able to do it by feel and you won't have to reset the depth.  I'm really not sure about the perfect depth for the scoring cut.  I have noticed that a sometimes butt joint may not be quite as tight.  Maybe this is because the scoring pass makes the top a little wider.  The depth of the scoring cut may be a factor.  But it's always far better than nasty chip out. 

I always get good cuts when ripping ply but sometimes it's a bit jagged when crosscutting the same sheet that yielded perfect rips.  The scoring technique solves it.  So it's not just for melamine.

This works pretty well even with poor quality melamine.

By the way, you can do this with your Kapex or other SCMS too when crosscutting any type of sheet goods.

 

[Sean7a]

Danny, clearly chipping and tear-out cutting Melamine and similar producuts is a common enough problem we have discussed it here on The FOG many, many times.

My own preference is to use my CNC pressure beam saw to cut that kind of material. It has an automatic scoring unit running ahead of the main saw. Without pressure beam saws firms like IKEA would not be in business.

To be serious, until I had my own new large shop and the beam saw, I cut a lot of Melamine of various qualities using a TS55. There are some tricks, starting with using the appropriate blade, which Festool calls "Solid Surface/Laminate Saw Blade" cat 496 309 shown on page 62 of the 2011-2012 NA catalog. Please note that page has several typos. By 2011 all Festool blades currently being manufactured had 2.2mm kerfs and the cat for the Panther Saw Blade used for ripping is 496 305. Oh yes, the old Standard Saw Blade had long been discontinued when this catalog was distributed.

Another important trick when cutting Melamine and the like is to support the underside with a solid sacrificial surface. In my experience the best sacrificial surface for this purpose is a sheet of 3/4" plywood, which can be as inexpensive as sheathing, but shop birch costs only slightly more and works even better. Let the blade extend through the Melamine 5-6mm, so you have nearly a full tooth under the Melamine.

Use the plastic "presser foot" on the outside of the TS55 and exert more than usual downward pressure on the saw as you move it along the rail. The idea is to ensure the bottom of the Melamine is in solid contact with the sacrificial surface.

A pressure beam saw has 4 beams similar in concept to guide rails. They nearly touch the blade on both sides top and bottom, which really reduces chipping. Combine that saw with the appropriate blade and the scoring unit and the work is cut as cleanly as it is possible to saw particle board.

Remember Melamine, even the better grades, is not cabinet grade maple prefinished plywood. So, expectations as to "Glue Ready" with respect to Melamine need to be realistic. With some care those edges will be better than "good enough."

Great post Carol.  Wonderful insight.  Learned a lot there.  Do you have a link to the beam saw you're using?  Would be interested.

 

[hhh]

a lot of pros that i know score the surface with a utility knife prior to using the TS55.

 

[ccarrolladams]

Everyone, I am away from my shop for the next few days, although I have the 2011-2012 Festool catalog with me.

My pressure beam saw is a Holzma 5'x12' 3 stack. Those are sold in the USA by Stiles, which is the USA sales arm of the parent corporation. I am sure if you Google you will find that URL. My CNC routers and auto edgebander are also sold by Stiles, but made by different sister companies than Holzma. Stiles also supplied my wide belt sander, automatic case assembly clamp units and engineered my plant dust collection system, to which I added the spark detection and suppression system.

Many, many other firms make CNC routers, some sell for less and a few sell for more money. My CNC router works at least 2 shifts a day 6+ days a week and has done so for over 2 years without an hour of unscheduled maintenance. I did not quibble about the price and am very pleased with the earning of that machine.

Far fewer firms manufacture CNC beam saws. Like my CNC router, my beam saw has only required scheduled maintenance, which takes hardly any time. It can precisely cut sheet material so fast if I had room or need for 20+ assemblers I could still keep ahead of them with one operator. On our busy days we have 4 cabinet makers assembling, each with an auto clamp system. I can easily produce enough parts to stay ahead of the assemblers in 90 minutes at the start of the shift and another 90 minutes after the lunch break. My policy is to not cut more parts than can be assembled in the next 4 hours.

Only on the now fairly rare days we are assembling Melamine cabinets do I put on the laminate blade, which takes less than 5 minutes. Punch in the s/n of the blade and the CNC knows all it needs to.

 

[itsmehc]

Hi

I usually make a 3-5mm cut into the melamine first than go all the way trough on the next pass. I also use the melamine blade, not sure if
if helps on the quality of the cut but it sure prevents my other blades going dull..

 

 

[DavidW]

I would suggest that you try a new blade and see if the chipping goes away on the bottom side. I have a Holz Her vertical panel saw that when the blade starts to get dull the panel chips out on the back side (the face side with scoring is good). I think this happens due to the size of blade (8.5") and that the blade only projects out the back side of panel 1/8", which is similar to using to using the Festool saw with a rail. As you found out. lowering the blade deeper will help with chip out.
David Werkheiser