jigsawing laminate

[beasty]

Hi,
I am all ready to cut my laminate worktop and have taken note that I need a down blade - but do I still put the worktop upside down aswell?
Cheers

 

[big-all]

with a downcut blade you cut from the top front to back
how accurate is your jigsaw!!!
have you tried it on worktop yet!!!!
i assume your just doing cutouts!!!

 

[beasty]

Big-All
I have the weekend to 'play' with the jigsaw and a router!. I will be using the router to smooth off the edges and the jigsaw to cut out a hole for the sink.
I am going to play on the existing worktops and some other laminated wood.

 

[big-all]

great
yes i remember now didnt want you ruining a good worktop

if your jigsaw is accurate and dosnt wander you can cut out to within about 6mm of your mitre then finnishing with your router
clearly mark the waste side with hatched lines so you know what side to cut

 

[joenineo]

Gonna add an update to this thread in case anybody else comes along to view it.

Just done this over the weekend. Almost turned into a DIY Disaster!

What I found was that the Jisaw wandered all over the place. Snapped 2 blades in the process. Luckily for me, all of the worst wanders happened into the "waste" section on the inside of the cut-outs. I had one that wandered over to the good edge but luckily enough (again) I had left a 6mm gap .. just in case! Shouldn't made it 10mm I guess, but no worries now.

What I ended up doing was drilling holes every 6 inches inside the cut line. Then using the jigsaw to cut hole to hole.

Having done that I then used the router to "clean" up the edge and then back it off to the actual cut line required.

In retrospect, I think I should've just bought a new router bit and then channelled down step fashion around the whole area - thereby replicating the jigsaw's action .. but having a cleaner cut in the first instance... and not having to worry about the fact that the jigsaw went where it liked.

A real potential "Oh My God" type activity this.

Advice: Put the jogsaw back on the shelf. Use a router!

Best of luck.

Joe

 

[big-all]

blimey joe how did you manage to have so many problems!!!

i assume it was a surface mounted sink!!

i assume it was freehand following the line!!

you know when a blade goes off line underneath because it tightens up and wont move

if your doing a surface mounted sink you use the jigsaw cut from the top with a normal up cut blade as the sink hides the chips follow the line with pendulum "on"for the strait and "off" for the curves

how did you break the blades where they cheap blades!!!

 

[^woody^]

If you wandered and broke two blades, then you were pushing the jigsaw too hard and not letting the blade do the cutting.

Dont forget to give the edge two good coats of varnish to seal the bare chipboard to prevent any water blowing the laminate surface

 

[joenineo]

If you wandered and broke two blades, then you were pushing the jigsaw too hard and not letting the blade do the cutting.

That's what I thought might be happening woody, but I was going real slow.... so I'm not sure what the issue was. I mean I just bought the Makita the other day so its brand new. I'm sure its probably a technique thing, being as this is my first run with a jigsaw .. but I was mightily disappointed. Mind you this was more than compensated for with the Makita router. Brill.

Dont forget to give the edge two good coats of varnish to seal the bare chipboard to prevent any water blowing the laminate surface

Yip, did that woody. Thanks. Spent some time on here reading around the mitred finish etc, so had an arsenal of good advice as to what to do already. That's why I like forums such as this one (a lot!). What I found was that once I'd varnished the two surfaces, I then had to tap home the biscuits as the fit was then quite tight.

I'd say that I'm probably 95% happy with the results. Made a couple of minor mistakes, learnt a lot, and will be a lot more confident with it the next time round ... which I'm sure at some point will happen

Thanks for the input though - much appreciated.

Joe

 

[^woody^]

Yes mistakes can be useful..... as long as you can hide them and if they don't cost too much!

Are you having a go at the worktop mitre joints too? lol

 

[joenineo]

Hi woody

Yip, done it. Doesn't look too bad either Not totally perfect perhaps but I'm happy enough with it as it is.

Joe

 

[big-all]

did you have the pendulum on!!!!!

 

[joenineo]

did you have the pendulum on!!!!! icon_redface.gif

errr...... dunno big-all ???

Its an Makita Orbital Action Jigsaw 4350FCT. Had it on setting 1 and the highest speed.

Is this wrong? I'm sure that's what the 'manual' suggested.

Joe

 

[big-all]

i assume orbital is pendulum if its marked 0-3 or 4 then it is

i personaly go for maximum pendulum[4] but that may depend on the saw!!!

i use a dewalt 18v

what blades did you use!!!!

 

[joenineo]

i assume orbital is pendulum if its marked 0-3 or 4 then it is

yes, there's a marking along the side that says 0-3 or 1-4 (can't be sure)

i personaly go for maximum pendulum[4] but that may depend on the saw!!!

Knew there'd be some 'minor' that I was missing. Guess I should've tried all 4 settings on a test piece first - just to get a feel for it. ... Guess what I'll be doing with some of my time at the weekend!

what blades did you use!!!!

Ah .. blades. I thought this might come up. Ok. Went to B&Q initially to get some but they were outta stock so popped into Wickes instead. They had some "performance" line ones for cutting laminate. Pack of 3 for £4.99 I think. Thought I'd only need one! .. so much for thought eh. They were the correct type as the cutting edges were pointing down - ie cutting into the laminate top on the downstroke. Other than that I don't know what the TPI works out to be. Hope that helps.

Looking forward (now) to cutting through the waste in a straight line to see if the settings make a huge difference. Nice point. Thanks.

Joe

 

[Gasguru]

See here .....with a blade clamp jigsaw and the Bosch T101 you get a perfect vertical cut.