TS55 Chipping in Melamine

[Oldwood]

Before I bought a sliding panel saw with a scoring blade I used a 10" rockwell unisaw with a blade that is designed for melamine. It was a ATB blade with a very steep angle on the teeth towards the center of the blade & a 5 degree negative angle on the face. I would get between 15 or 20 sheets with this blade with virtually no chips before it would start to chip. The high angle makes for delicate tips that don't last long but it was the only style of blade I found that would cut melamine cleanly both sides. I have looked for a blade like this for the TS75 but have not found one.
I would suggest if you could find a blade of this style for the TS75 it may do what you want it to do. The triple chip blades last well in dirty materials but never give a good cut on the side the blade exits. Forest makes one of the better high top melamine blades maybe they would consider making one for the TS75? Here is a link to their blade.
http://www.forrestblades.com/hiat.htm
Here is a link to a 8-1/4" blade that would work (ML-21060H) but it would need a re-bore to fit the TS75.
http://justsawblades.com/ten/melamine_saw_blades.html
I would like to give this blade a try but they are not really set up to ship to Canada.

 

[phmade]

I have found when cutting melamine with my TS75 I get about 50% less chip-out if i use painters tape on the cut line. Most of the jobs where I use melamine get a glued edging anyhow. I found that doing this helps me in a number of ways and actually got in the habit of doing this when cutting plywood.

it is easier/faster cleaning up glue squeeze out.
it provides a surface for pencil marks other than the melamine. (melamine cleans up easy enough, but not with a pencil eraser  [scared] )
it helps me keep the edging only slightly proud of the melamine when i 'finger-flush' it to the tape
it provides a 'barrier' for when I do my sanding & finishing of the edging.

I realize of course that this is an extra step, but sometimes the long way is the quickest route.

I'll give this a try - I do love blue painter's tape...

 

[Phil P]

Curious, but has anyone bothered to try cutting melamine a little proud then dressing it back with a router?

Yes, but it just takes too long. Gotta earn a living, y'know!

 

[EcoFurniture]

Receipt a new ts55 at my workplace. After dialing it in with the brand new guiderails I did the first cut on melamine. Needless to say, everyone was impressed by a super clean cut   No chipping at all!

 

[u812]

when you make a scoring cut, like waynelang2001 suggested, the best way to do this is pushing your saw backwards, so the cut is made in the same direction as the sawblade is turning.  That's also the way a scoring blade on a sliding tablesaw works.

Yes this method also works on vinyl siding.

 

[CDM]

Another solution you might try would be to have a piece of relatively thick Lexan as a sacrificial cover on the off-cut side.  You'd just butt it against the guiderail's plastic edge after setting the melamine piece, clamp it, then saw through both.  Each time you'd be shaving of a blade's-width of it, leaving a perfectly flat edge suitable for the next sacrifice cut.  A thick enough piece would probably have enough strength to limit chip-out in ways that tape probably can't.