Can I use my table saw to cut melamine? I'm talking about tileboard
like you'd get at the home center, which I want to use for a
whiteboard. I'd guess it's 1/4". I have a Forrest Woodworker II
blade (and a cheapo Delta that came with the saw).

If yes, good side down, correct?

In article . com,
wrote:
Can I use my table saw to cut melamine? I'm talking about tileboard
like you'd get at the home center, which I want to use for a
whiteboard. I'd guess it's 1/4". I have a Forrest Woodworker II
blade (and a cheapo Delta that came with the saw).

If yes, good side down, correct?


THIMK!!

Which way do the teeth go through the wood??

Are you going to get tear out from the teeth entering or exiting the stock?

If you're -really- good at positioning the fence, you can improve things
by soring a line on the surface at the edge of where the sawcut will be.

good side down, bad side down, doesn't matter. What *does* matter is that
you use a blade that's *made* for cutting melamine.

jc

wrote in message
ups.com...
Can I use my table saw to cut melamine? I'm talking about tileboard
like you'd get at the home center, which I want to use for a
whiteboard. I'd guess it's 1/4". I have a Forrest Woodworker II
blade (and a cheapo Delta that came with the saw).

If yes, good side down, correct?

"Joe" wrote in message
. net...
good side down, bad side down, doesn't matter. What *does* matter is that
you use a blade that's *made* for cutting melamine.

disagree with the above statement ... on a tablesaw the good side should
always be up. The bottom side will always
get more tearout than the top side even if you are using the best and
sharpest saw blade available.

Mike



jc

wrote in message
ups.com...
Can I use my table saw to cut melamine? I'm talking about tileboard
like you'd get at the home center, which I want to use for a
whiteboard. I'd guess it's 1/4". I have a Forrest Woodworker II
blade (and a cheapo Delta that came with the saw).

If yes, good side down, correct?

In article , "Joe" wrote:
good side down, bad side down, doesn't matter. What *does* matter is that
you use a blade that's *made* for cutting melamine.

It appears that you have little experience using table saws, and none whatever
using table saws to cut melamine, as this statement is incorrect in all
respects.

Always cut good side up on a table saw. Period.

When cutting melamine, there will be more tearout on the bottom surface of a
piece cut with a blade designed specifically for cutting melamine than there
will be on the top surface of a piece cut with a quality combination blade
such as a Forrest WW-II.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug,

I have loads of experience using table saws and enough exp cutting melamine.

You are right (duh), there will always be more tearout on the bottom of the
workpiece. My point (missed, maybe too subtle) was that if you put it
correct side up, it will still have more tearout than face side down with a
*brand new* melamine blade since the op obviously doesn't have one. Since
when do any of us need any more of an excuse to go out and buy a new shiny
than that???

Since I also own both a wwii and a decent melamine blade, i'm going to
disagree with your second statement. I base this on recent personal
experience, as I just walked out to the shop to try it. However, no need to
tell me i'm wrong, you already have. Let's just agree to disagree on that
point, ok?

jc


"Doug Miller" wrote in message
t...
In article , "Joe"
wrote:
good side down, bad side down, doesn't matter. What *does* matter is that
you use a blade that's *made* for cutting melamine.

It appears that you have little experience using table saws, and none
whatever
using table saws to cut melamine, as this statement is incorrect in all
respects.

Always cut good side up on a table saw. Period.

When cutting melamine, there will be more tearout on the bottom surface of
a
piece cut with a blade designed specifically for cutting melamine than
there
will be on the top surface of a piece cut with a quality combination blade
such as a Forrest WW-II.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Thanks to all for your responses. It sounds like face down with a
good melamine blade would be best. However, I'm probably only going
to do this once, so would hesitate to buy a new blade. JC, did you
try it with your WWII? Will I get a reasonable cut with it, and will
it damage my WWII at all?

Looking more closely at the product I want to cut, it's 1/8" thick
hardboard with one side coated with melamine.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks to all for your responses. It sounds like face down with a
good melamine blade would be best. However, I'm probably only going
to do this once, so would hesitate to buy a new blade. JC, did you
try it with your WWII? Will I get a reasonable cut with it, and will
it damage my WWII at all?

Looking more closely at the product I want to cut, it's 1/8" thick
hardboard with one side coated with melamine.



still think you should have good side up .. not down as you stated above

In article , "Joe" wrote:
Doug,

I have loads of experience using table saws and enough exp cutting melamine.

You are right (duh), there will always be more tearout on the bottom of the
workpiece.

Before, you said it doesn't matter which side you put up.

My point (missed, maybe too subtle) was that if you put it
correct side up, it will still have more tearout than face side down with a
*brand new* melamine blade since the op obviously doesn't have one.

But that's not correct.

Since
when do any of us need any more of an excuse to go out and buy a new shiny
than that???

Since I also own both a wwii and a decent melamine blade, i'm going to
disagree with your second statement. I base this on recent personal
experience, as I just walked out to the shop to try it. However, no need to
tell me i'm wrong, you already have. Let's just agree to disagree on that
point, ok?

My experience has been the complete opposite of yours; I get essentially no
tearout on the top surface, either with a WWII or a Freud melamine blade. The
big difference I see is on the bottom side. Perhaps you need to check the
alignment of your saw.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

In article . com, wrote:
Thanks to all for your responses. It sounds like face down with a
good melamine blade would be best.

NO. Face UP with a good melamine blade would be best. Face UP with a good
combination blade is next best. Face down with any kind of blade is worst.

You always position the stock so that the teeth enter the good face, and exit
the "bad" face. This means good side up on stationary saws such as table saws,
radial arm saws, and compound miter saws (which cut with the teeth moving
downward), and good side down with portable saws such as circular saws or
saber saws (which cut with the teeth moving up).

However, I'm probably only going
to do this once, so would hesitate to buy a new blade. JC, did you
try it with your WWII? Will I get a reasonable cut with it, and will
it damage my WWII at all?

The stuff's pretty hard -- I wouldn't make a lot of cuts in it using a WWII.
If you have only a small number of cuts to make, go ahead and don't worry.

Looking more closely at the product I want to cut, it's 1/8" thick
hardboard with one side coated with melamine.

You *definitely* want to cut that with the melamine side UP. Don't believe me?
Make a test cut in scrap, and see what kind of edge you get on the melamine.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks to all for your responses. It sounds like face down with a
good melamine blade would be best. However, I'm probably only going
to do this once, so would hesitate to buy a new blade. JC, did you
try it with your WWII? Will I get a reasonable cut with it, and will
it damage my WWII at all?

Looking more closely at the product I want to cut, it's 1/8" thick
hardboard with one side coated with melamine.

Ben,

No, face up no matter what blade you use. I would recommend buying a
melamine blade. You will immediately be able to gain an appreciation for
how much tooth geometry makes a difference in different materials. For
example, the points on your wwII are most likely very sharp to the touch.
On a tc melamine blade however, the individual teeth will actually feel
quite dull, but they cut melamine beautifully.

Since your product is only faced on one side, you can get away with a
non-melamine blade. BUT, if you have any amount of it to cut at all, I
would save the wear and tear on your WWII and go ahead and buy one anyway.

jc

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 08:24:13 -0700, wrote:

Thanks to all for your responses. It sounds like face down with a
good melamine blade would be best.

Read again, face UP. You are thinking of circular saws where
everything is upside-down from a table saw. It sounds like it doesn't
even matter what the back side looks like for your application, so
just cut it face up with any blade you like.


-Leuf

In article , "Joe" wrote:
On a tc melamine blade however, the individual teeth will actually feel
quite dull, but they cut melamine beautifully.

If the teeth on your melamine blade feel dull, it's time to have it
resharpened.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

wrote:
Can I use my table saw to cut melamine? I'm talking about tileboard
like you'd get at the home center

Tileboard ain't 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

wrote:
Thanks to all for your responses. It sounds like face down with a
good melamine blade would be best. However, I'm probably only going
to do this once, so would hesitate to buy a new blade. JC, did you
try it with your WWII? Will I get a reasonable cut with it, and
will it damage my WWII at all?

Looking more closely at the product I want to cut, it's 1/8" thick
hardboard with one side coated with melamine.

In case you don't see my other post, tileboard isn't melamine.
Neither it nor real mel board is going to screw up your blade. Unless
you cut lots and lots and lots...

I don't recall if the coating on tileboard chips or not (doubt it) but
you can always cut a bit over size and trim down with a plane. Or
router. Heck, just cut the damn thing with a router


--

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

Joe wrote:

For
example, the points on your wwII are most likely very sharp to the touch.
On a tc melamine blade however, the individual teeth will actually feel
quite dull, but they cut melamine beautifully.

You can also use a high-angle ATB blade for melamine. These often have
a hook of 0 degrees, or even a negative hook.

Forrest calls theirs the"HI A/T" but other manufacturers have an equivalent.

Chris

On Sep 5, 12:48 am, wrote:
Can I use my table saw to cut melamine? I'm talking about tileboard
like you'd get at the home center, which I want to use for a
whiteboard. I'd guess it's 1/4". I have a Forrest Woodworker II
blade (and a cheapo Delta that came with the saw).

If yes, good side down, correct?

Make sure your blade tracks it's own kerf freely so that the teeth
don't hit the material on the ^up motion at the back of the blade.
When that is working well, ALWAYS cut with the good side ^UP.
Always...even with a scoring blade.