Cutting formica

[Greybarn]

I have to cut about 30 sheets of formica. Our tests have shown that we get the best cut with the formica surface down, and use a double flute 1/4" compression bit, running at 4IPS and 12000 RPM. Anyone have better results using something else?

[jerry_stanek]

I used a 1/8 inch laminate seaming bit that worked very well. I only had to cut 10 sheets but they were kind of an s shape. About 2 inches wide and 6 feet long.

[nat_wheatley]

RPM's sound a little high, you may want to try 10K and see what that does.

I've had good luck cutting laminate with straight flute bits, which are also less likely to lift the material from the table.

[bleeth]

I have never cut laminate face down so can't comment on that. We do cut laminate all the time though and the method we use is to lightly spray the lam only with light contact cement so it's just a bit tacky and put it on a sacrificial sheet of "garbage" mdf. We use a down cutter (usually 1/4") and typically use 12-17k at 3ips (which is a safe limit for my bot although for this light a resistance I could probably step the speed up considerably). The mdf is held down with the table vac-it's kind of a secondary spoilboard so I don't get the primary one sticky. We'll then just peel the pieces up easily. I have done this for curved pieces that are as narrow as 1/2" regularly with perfect results.

[Greybarn]

Thanks for the replies. I will let you know how it works out.