On 2006-08-31 14:30:06 +0100, Cyberdog said:

Hi,
I am making some units with the melamine covered chip board you get
from B&Q. My
question is, how do you cut it without splintering the edges???

Thanks.

There are a few ways.

The best is to use a table saw with an additional scoring blade in
front of the main blade.
The scoring blade has a kerf slightly wider than the main blade and
rotates in the opposite direction.
It doesn't cut all of the way through the sheet - just the veneer plus
a bit more and on the underside.
The main blade cuts with the teeth entering from the top side.
This has the effect that there is no chip-out of the veneer on either side.

You may be able to find a cabinet or joinery shop with a saw with this
facility.

Some DIY stores have a panel saw and will cut to size for you.
However, these saws typically don't
have scoring blades and are often not set up very accurately. Since
making of cabinets depends
on very accurate cutting of material, you might be disappointed unless
you carefully design the sheet layouts so that the sizes can be
achieved without the saw being reset between certain cuts. This
might involve use of more material.

If you are happy to cut yourself, you can reduce chipping by using a
new and good quality fine toothed circular saw blade together with
taping on the line of the cut. However, it won't be as good as the
table saw/scoring blade method.