Hi What type of saw would be the best and most accurate to cut sheets of 8 x 4 MDF, Plywood and any laminate type board of 18 mm thickness. I'm thinking table saw. any suggestions ? I'll be doing this at home so looking for best, cheapest method. thanks.
Hello, A table/bench saw capable of cutting 8x4 sheets accurately will be very expensive - how much are you thinking of spending? How often are you planning to do this type of work? You might find that some horses (or milk crates), a circular saw and a straight edge will be all that you need.
Hi I would suggest that you get a good circular saw, some horses and a 50" straightedge so you can get straight across the boards in one go. (Trend/Axminster) Forget the tablesaw approach, it'll cost the earth and take up loads of room. Cheers Neil
for a strait edge you could cut a six inch wide strip from 12mm ply [needs to be about 6inch for rigidity and for clearance when clamping] big all
Normal table saws are too small to cut sheets & trying to do so is dangerous. I use a new piece of 6" contiboard as the straight edge & set the ply on saw horses & use a circular saw. Make a piece of ply or hardboard the exact distance of the offset from saw base to blade & use this to offset the straight edge. Mark the board & set this offset piece to the line & clamp the straight edge against it. Now you can saw accurately.
Following on from what Dewy says..... This straightedge malarky with a circular saw is the way to go. If you intend using this approach frequently then it will pay you to manufacture a piece of wood which will be of width the distance from the sawblade to the edge of the circular saw plate which will run along the straightedge. This will be your template piece. Then you don't have to measure the distance between the line where you want to cut and the edge of the straightedge. You just plonk the template piece on the line you want to cut, clamp it temporarily, then put the straightedge against this and clamp it down. Remove the template and start sawing. Works a treat, and much more productive than having to keep measuring the distance. Gotcher
As a DIYer, I found plywood at half the price of a plywood supplier at Wickes. It serves my purpose. Trouble was that Wickes have no wall saws to cut sheet material so I had to get full sheets which wont fit in an estate car. My solution was to buy a cordless circular saw, make a pair of folding saw horses & buy an 8' length of their cheap 6" plas panels as a straight edge. All I have to do is make a cut list before going & cut the ply in their car park. Problem solved. the saving on just 3 sheets of 18mm ply paid for the cordless saw.
As an afterthought. Cut any MDF outside & wear a mask. The dust is too fine for many masks to keep out but, at least, cutting outside the wind should take most dust away.
Circular saw and guides from Festool. Yes its expensive but it works a treat, is dead easy to use and 100% accurate. Its the best tool i've ever bought.
My local B&Q took the panel saw out some years ago. I used to always use their cutting service when they had a panel saw. They were able to use the cutting space for piling up more items. Now all sheet material has to be delivered if you dont have a lorry yourself.
On the matter of cutting large boards or any sheet material, one thing needs to be borne in mind: allowance for the width of the saw cut. Refering to the sheet from which we want to cut as the parent material, we need to be aware of the width of the saw cut as part of the measurement. Using a spacing jig to represent the distance from the cutting line to the straight edge, this needs to be narrower by width of the saw cut. This is assuming we are clamping the straight edge on the parent side of the cut. As an example, say we want to cut an 8inch wide length from a board, we would normally mark it 8inches in from the edge both ends. Then using the spacer method we would be cutting from that line onto the material we want, thus our finished measurement will be 8inches minus the blade width. It is advisable to make two sets of spacers to accomodate this feature of blade width.
Rocker, I have made a spacer which I use with my Jig saw (Bosch gst80pbe the best). I have only sawn halve way through the spacer so I have the left side or the right side of the kerf on the one spacer.
a method i use for accurate marking is an old bit of flexible ruler you accurately mark each side of the base plate and the blade with a sharp pencil when your completely sure its accurate you cover it with clear sellotape now all you have to do place the saw blade marks on the line you want to cut allong[which ever side is appropriate]then draw the mark for the baton to sit on extremely quick and easy works for circular and jig saws big all
Have just completed a job that involved cutting up 60 8' x 4' sheets of double sided 18mm oak veneered MDF. As my Skill saw was not cutting parallel I invested in a festool plunge (circular) saw with 1400mm guide rail £370 from Rutlands. What a bit of kit. The guide rail system takes away the need for measuring jigs as you set the guide rail to the cut line. the depth adjustment is so precise you can set it to just break the underside of the cut piece so i was able to just lay the boards out on horses and cut . The guide rail system also gives you a cut that has minimal breakout I reckon that this saw has already paid for itself even given the comparitively high price tag. Trust the Germans to come up with such high quality tool
Guys, here's my tuppence worth.... Using a skil saw and straight edge is probs best approach.. Get a nice straight bit of conti-board or whatever, just has to be straight... Now, screw on the underside a bit of ply/mdf as a base then run your saw against the straight edge and Voila! you end up with a totally accurate cutting guide offset to the straight edge... Obviously make sure that the base is a bit bigger than the distance from guide to saw blade for the initial cut and I'd recommend you make the base extend a fair bit further than the non-cutting side so you can use clamps to hold the jig down without fouling the saw. Clear as muck I know but it's accurate... Mike.
Evs, As you say, this is the King of cutting. A lot of the kitchen fitters I know use one of these for cutting worktops for fit and for sink holes by removing the rear blade guide and simply plunge down "mid board". They all cut the sink holes in situ because of the depth setting and there is not a bad veneer edge in sight. If you can afford one, buy one. If not then save up quick!
get a cheap circ saw from £20 by the time you burn it out youll know what to look for use a guide as mentioned above but do invest in a couple of clamps the ones that look like fat mastic guns to clamp your guide use em one handed easy to adjust