Tips and advice needed for cutting veneered panels.

[JC1]

Hi,

Are there any suggestions or tips for getting the very cleanest, splinter free cuts when cutting 19mm oak veneered MDF using the Festool TS55. I have the 48 tooth fine cut blade and I have the green sliding splinter guard installed?
I usually set the blade to cut about 2mm thicker than the material. Is this the optimum depth?
I was advised that when cutting MDF with the 48 tooth blade it's better to set a speed of 3 or 4 to prevent the resins or whatever else MDF contains sticking to the blade over time and accelerating dulling of the blade. Would others agree with this and do you find the speed setting has any bearing on cut quality of veneered panels?
Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

Justin

 

[Michael Kellough]

Some veneer just isn't well adhered to the substrate. In that case, since you're using a guide rail, try making an initial scoring cut (a millimeter into the surface) then back up and make the full depth cut.

I always run the saw at full speed when cutting wood and when the results have to be the best I push forward just hard enough to keep the speed control from throttling back.

 

[ear3]

2mm extra depth is fine -- generally what's most important to achieve a splinterfree cut on the bottom is to be cutting on a substrate.

Speed is not an issue when doing veneered ply, so keep it at 6.  Most crucial thing is to make sure the clear splinterguard strip on the rail is intact.  If it has been eaten away at any point this will immediately produce tearout on veneered materials, especially when doing cross cuts against the grain.  If the integrity of the strip has been compromised at all, you can easily lift it up, move it over a couple of mm, reapply it, then give it a fresh cut.

Hi,

Are there any suggestions or tips for getting the very cleanest, splinter free cuts when cutting 19mm oak veneered MDF using the Festool TS55. I have the 48 tooth fine cut blade and I have the green sliding splinter guard installed?
I usually set the blade to cut about 2mm thicker than the material. Is this the optimum depth?
I was advised that when cutting MDF with the 48 tooth blade it's better to set a speed of 3 or 4 to prevent the resins or whatever else MDF contains sticking to the blade over time and accelerating dulling of the blade. Would others agree with this and do you find the speed setting has any bearing on cut quality of veneered panels?
Any help would be much appreciated, thanks.

Justin

 

[ear3]

[member=297]Michael Kellough[/member]  By your tag I take it that you're in Staten Island?

Some veneer just isn't well adhered to the substrate. In that case, since you're using a guide rail, try making an initial scoring cut (a millimeter into the surface) then back up and make the full depth cut.

I always run the saw at full speed when cutting wood and when the results have to be the best I push forward just hard enough to keep the speed control from throttling back.

 

[Michael Kellough]

[member=297]Michael Kellough[/member]  By your tag I take it that you're in Staten Island?

"I can see Russia Brooklyn from my house"

 

[ear3]

[thumbs up]  Cheapest date in the city remains the Staten Island Ferry.

[member=297]Michael Kellough[/member]  By your tag I take it that you're in Staten Island?

"I can see Russia Brooklyn from my house"

 

[Doug S]

Some people recommend that the saw blade only projects 2mm below what you are cutting but others say it is better to have at least the depth of the blades teeth below,  I would say run saw at full speed whichever.

Doug

 

[Holmz]

One can also climb cut the scoring cut.
That does not help the bottom side though.

 

[bertv]

Do some light presanding where the cut will be, tape the cutline with painters tape that has the lightest tack. Precut as mentioned before, cut. Take off the tape from the side (don’t pull up one end!). Give the cut edge a very light sanding at once.

 

[danrush]

I cut prefinished veneered cabinet panels almost every day. Most of the veneered panels I encounter are very fragile.

I will set the depth stop on the saw just a bit deeper than the veneer (couple of mm, or so) and pull the saw back to make a reverse scoring cut. Then set the proper depth for a full cut.

Works for me.

 

[Michael Kellough]

The scoring cut should solve the problem of the top veneer but if the bottom veneer is tearing out then try plunging the saw deeper so the the teeth push the bottom veneer against the substrate instead of shearing laterally.

 

[JC1]

Thank you all very much for all the great advice and suggestions. I did my cutting today and it came out perfectly. I ended up doing an initial cut 1mm deep, then the main cut. I also taped the bottom of the work piece and that worked superbly. I also lay the veneered board on top of the MFT surface to give a little support to the cut on the bottom of the panel.

Just out of interest. When doing a scoring cut. Why do it in reverse instead of forwards?

 

[Michael Kellough]

Thank you all very much for all the great advice and suggestions. I did my cutting today and it came out perfectly. I ended up doing an initial cut 1mm deep, then the main cut. I also taped the bottom of the work piece and that worked superbly. I also lay the veneered board on top of the MFT surface to give a little support to the cut on the bottom of the panel.

Just out of interest. When doing a scoring cut. Why do it in reverse instead of forwards?

In reverse, the tooth pushes the veneer down against the substrate instead of lifting the veneer.