Dear experts,

Recently, I had some boards for shelves cut at Home Depot.
They used their plywood cutter. A great invention.

They say that they are not supposed to cut melamine.

One place said that I won't get a smooth edge.
Which was fine for my purposes. Go ahead.

Another place said that melamine ruins the blades.

Does melamine ruin saw blades, or not?


Thanks a lot

Shouldn't a hacksaw go through that stuff? If not, a Dremel Mototool
with the clay cutoff wheel will make easy work of it.

wrote:
Dear experts,

Recently, I had some boards for shelves cut at Home Depot.
They used their plywood cutter. A great invention.

They say that they are not supposed to cut melamine.

One place said that I won't get a smooth edge.
Which was fine for my purposes. Go ahead.

Another place said that melamine ruins the blades.

Does melamine ruin saw blades, or not?


Thanks a lot

No, Melamine does not ruin saw blades. Some blades will not leave a
clean cut in it though.

wrote:
Dear experts,

Recently, I had some boards for shelves cut at Home Depot.
They used their plywood cutter. A great invention.

They say that they are not supposed to cut melamine.

One place said that I won't get a smooth edge.
Which was fine for my purposes. Go ahead.

Another place said that melamine ruins the blades.

Does melamine ruin saw blades, or not?

Long answer - which is harder, melamine (plastic) or steel/carbide?
Steel/carbide.

Short answer - no

Saw blades will ultimately dull when cutting *anything*. They'll dull a
bit faster when cutting particle board (on which is the melamine).

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Melamine itself won't hurt the saw blade, but the particle board
behind it is very rough on them. It's loaded with glue.

wrote:
Dear experts,

Recently, I had some boards for shelves cut at Home Depot.
They used their plywood cutter. A great invention.

They say that they are not supposed to cut melamine.

One place said that I won't get a smooth edge.
Which was fine for my purposes. Go ahead.

Another place said that melamine ruins the blades.

Does melamine ruin saw blades, or not?

What follows is may sound different than some of the other opinions
given above. The truth is that cutting is a very complex matter. I
drove up to Langley BC last week to Cal Saw Canada to do some research.
I met with a scientist from Forintek. The whole purpose was to see
how science works in the real world. The answer is that it is not a
perfect fit.

Having said that I would assume that melamine would rapidly wear out a
plywood bade which doesn't mean that others haven't seen the
opposite happen.

There are roughly five reasons why saw blades wear out; abrasion,
adhesion, diffusion, fatigue and tribological considerations.
Tungsten carbide is tungsten carbide grains in a cobalt matrix like
rocks in cement make concrete. In addition tungsten carbide can have
different additives to handle different chemical conditions. It can
also have additives to make really tough grains to prevent wear.
Really big grains are generally tougher and really small grains
generally give better wear.

The shape of the fibers in the material being cut can change
performance results. A saw tip that cuts particleboard really well
may not cut fiberboard (MDF) nearly as well. Materials that are glued
cut differently than solid wood. It also depends on what glue is used.
In addition to glue and particles of wood there is typically a filler
and that can make a huge difference as to how long a blade stays sharp.


The edge of a saw tip in wood can reach 1100 F very briefly. How the
material being cut handles that heat greatly affects the life of the
saw tip. The amount of acid in the wood tends to leach out the cobalt
binder that holds carbide together. Dry wood is tougher but greenwood
is more corrosive.

Saw blades are made differently for good reason. The hook angle or how
the tip enters the material can greatly affect the quality of the cut
and the life of the blade.

There is a great deal more and there are still a lot more questions
than answers. If anyone is really interested I can forward some
papers.

Tom

In article . com,
" wrote:

The truth is that cutting is a very complex matter.

[the rest of the excellent post snipped for brevity]

Complex indeed. In my quest for a 'perfect' blade for cutting solid surface
products, I have gathered a lot of info over the years. All that info agrees on
one thing only---- a complex matter indeed.

One thing I experimented with was blade speed. By using a power feeder so I
could control one variable, and changing pulleys on the saw, I could make the
same blade cut, grind and melt its way through acrylic.

I have often wondered why we don't insist on variable speed table saws, like we
do on routers, shapers, sanders and drill presses.

Robatoy wrote:

One thing I experimented with was blade speed. By using a power feeder so I
could control one variable, and changing pulleys on the saw, I could make the
same blade cut, grind and melt its way through acrylic.

Acrylic is a bit of an exception in that it doesn't take well to hot
blades. I find that using a bandsaw on acrylic allows the blade to
cool before returning to the work. What I find odd is that more tools
are not like scrollsaws, with blowers that remove the chips and
perform at least some limited cooling of the blade and work.
Similarly, hammer drills designed for drilling masonry and concrete
would benefit from a small cooling water spray that would save the bit
and also limit dust.

"dadiOH" wrote in message
newsTO_f.5675$Q92.5527@trnddc04...
wrote:
Dear experts,

Recently, I had some boards for shelves cut at Home Depot.
They used their plywood cutter. A great invention.

They say that they are not supposed to cut melamine.

One place said that I won't get a smooth edge.
Which was fine for my purposes. Go ahead.

Another place said that melamine ruins the blades.

Does melamine ruin saw blades, or not?

Long answer - which is harder, melamine (plastic) or steel/carbide?
Steel/carbide.

Short answer - no

Saw blades will ultimately dull when cutting *anything*. They'll dull a
bit faster when cutting particle board (on which is the melamine).

--

dadiOH



Any suggestions for a blade to cut MDF and plywood? It sounds like I should
not be using my WWII on that stuff.

-Steve

"Steve W" wrote in message
. com...

"dadiOH" wrote in message
newsTO_f.5675$Q92.5527@trnddc04...
wrote:
Dear experts,

Recently, I had some boards for shelves cut at Home Depot.
They used their plywood cutter. A great invention.

They say that they are not supposed to cut melamine.

One place said that I won't get a smooth edge.
Which was fine for my purposes. Go ahead.

Another place said that melamine ruins the blades.

Does melamine ruin saw blades, or not?

Long answer - which is harder, melamine (plastic) or steel/carbide?
Steel/carbide.

Short answer - no

Saw blades will ultimately dull when cutting *anything*. They'll dull a
bit faster when cutting particle board (on which is the melamine).

--

dadiOH



Any suggestions for a blade to cut MDF and plywood? It sounds like I
should not be using my WWII on that stuff.

-Steve



And plastic materials, same blade?

-Steve

"Steve W" wrote in message

Any suggestions for a blade to cut MDF and plywood? It sounds like I
should not be using my WWII on that stuff.


I use a Freud Diablo 80T blade. Good finish, cuts both easily.

Yep... how about blades that designed for that material.

http://www.freudtools.com/woodworker...aminate_1.html

Steve W wrote:



Any suggestions for a blade to cut MDF and plywood? It sounds like I should
not be using my WWII on that stuff.

"Robatoy" wrote in message
...
In article . com,
" wrote:

The truth is that cutting is a very complex matter.

[the rest of the excellent post snipped for brevity]

Complex indeed. In my quest for a 'perfect' blade for cutting solid
surface
products, I have gathered a lot of info over the years. All that info
agrees on
one thing only---- a complex matter indeed.

One thing I experimented with was blade speed. By using a power feeder so
I
could control one variable, and changing pulleys on the saw, I could make
the
same blade cut, grind and melt its way through acrylic.

I have often wondered why we don't insist on variable speed table saws,
like we
do on routers, shapers, sanders and drill presses.

'Cause then someone would invent a Variable Speed Saw Stop and start the
debate all over again.

V

"Robatoy" wrote

One thing I experimented with was blade speed. By using a power feeder so
I
could control one variable, and changing pulleys on the saw, I could make
the
same blade cut, grind and melt its way through acrylic.

I have often wondered why we don't insist on variable speed table saws,
like we
do on routers, shapers, sanders and drill presses.

Rob ... you just dug out my particular axe I like to grind upon occasion.

The cost of a VFD (variable frequency drive) that will allow you to use a
three-phase motor on single phase 220 has dropped down to where it's almost
silly to mess around with static converters. Even IF you have three-phase
power, a VFD is helpful. Slow starting speed will reduce your belt wear
beyond shelf-life (dry rot gets them before they wear out), no more dimming
the lights on startup, the ability to use a 24 volt DC control circuit, and
best of all, a braking system that will stop the blade quickly without
causing the saw to jump (actually, let's just call it a very intense
deacceleration ramp). It won't be saw-stop (tm) quick, but it sure will be
close. Since YOU mentioned speed control, I don't need bother. PLUS, if you
do have a power feeder, and IF it accepts an external speed signal (yep,
another VFD!), you can slave the two together so that you keep your saw
speed constant (as well as keeping the current constant) by controlling the
feeder speed ... thus REALLY controlling the variables caused by density
gradients.


Yep, you dug out my axe again. Thanks!


Regards,


Rick


BTW ... what IS it about those hammers, anyway?

"Beloved Leader" wrote in message
oups.com...
Shouldn't a hacksaw go through that stuff? If not, a Dremel Mototool
with the clay cutoff wheel will make easy work of it.
You're kidding, right? This is a joke, right?

Mike

According to :

For a 10" saw I rarely reccomend going beyond 60tooth, but for a blade
dedicated to melamine you might like an 80t

Tradesmaster (a smallish offbrand, HQ'd in Canada I think) sells
a quite economical 100t blade.

Works very well on composites. Awesome crosscutting blade.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

"Steve W" wrote:


"dadiOH" wrote in message
newsTO_f.5675$Q92.5527@trnddc04...
wrote:
Dear experts,

Recently, I had some boards for shelves cut at Home Depot.
They used their plywood cutter. A great invention.

They say that they are not supposed to cut melamine.

One place said that I won't get a smooth edge.
Which was fine for my purposes. Go ahead.

Another place said that melamine ruins the blades.

Does melamine ruin saw blades, or not?

Long answer - which is harder, melamine (plastic) or steel/carbide?
Steel/carbide.

Short answer - no

Saw blades will ultimately dull when cutting *anything*. They'll dull a
bit faster when cutting particle board (on which is the melamine).

--

dadiOH



Any suggestions for a blade to cut MDF and plywood? It sounds like I should
not be using my WWII on that stuff.

Forrest makes blades to cut just about everything. If you have enough,
buy a blade that is meant for it.

http://www.forrestsawblades.com/online_catalog.htm

I have a WWII and I love it.
--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

The problem with going much beyond 60t on a 10" circular saw with
carbide tips is it leaves little room for both a gullet and steel
behind the carbide tooth.
You can have 80 and 100 teeth but you had better be gentle with them.
Usually when they fail the steel is ripped away along with the tooth.
A little less of an occurance now with salt quenching and laser cut
plates but still a factor worth consideration.
Good practice is using as few teeth as produce an acceptable cut.
This means fence and blade must be parallel.

Daily Grind Sharpening Service

According to :
The problem with going much beyond 60t on a 10" circular saw with
carbide tips is it leaves little room for both a gullet and steel
behind the carbide tooth.
You can have 80 and 100 teeth but you had better be gentle with them.
Usually when they fail the steel is ripped away along with the tooth.
A little less of an occurance now with salt quenching and laser cut
plates but still a factor worth consideration.
Good practice is using as few teeth as produce an acceptable cut.
This means fence and blade must be parallel.

This may be true sometimes, but considering that blade is about 14 years
old by now, and has had lots of abuse heaped on it, it's certainly not a
factor with this one.

Not so with the Stanley wobble dado I bought. Lost three teeth in
almost the first use. Mind you, that was probably only 24T.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.