Preventing laminate (glued to wood) tearout?

[Malek]

@AlanDavis

I wasn’t pay attention before. Floor laminate MDF is a Worst MDF you can find. Looser than naked MDF. You can prevent a little by going slower and raising RPM to 4.5. Or do one more pass with .01" deeper.Best idea is never use floor laminated MDF base material for anything. I was failing like this at the beginning, because Home Depot having free samples I was trying to do fridge door signs ETC.Solid wood Laminated floor material is good choice.

I’m not sure what floor laminate MDF is. I’m just using regular MDF and on top of that I’m sticking a sheet of something sticky. I have no idea if it’s laminate or not. There was just a pile of them at one of those cheap overstock places and they had no name. It’s very flexible and about 0.5mm thick and I stick it onto regular MDF. It’s not veneer. It feels like laminate but very thin.

@AlanDavis

Solid wood Laminated floor material is good choice.

Really? Have you tried carving through this stuff with a CNC and got good results?

@RyanPowell

maybe experimenting with applying a film-forming finish like a polyurethane, varnish or tung oil and let it cure before cutting

It might work but unfortunately defeats the purpose of using the laminate, which was solely to save time and give it the look of finished wood. And I don’t think it would actually soak into it as it’s not really wood and has no pores. But thanks for the suggestion. I may try it just to see if it works!

@PhilJohnson

Yes. I’ll try and get you links for them. Alright here are the links to the bits I use. Not all of them are from China. In fact a lot of them are from Amazon Prime.

Thanks for that. I have a Dewalt 611 so I can only use 1/4". Although I tried a couple 1/4" to 1/8" couplers but they didn’t seem to work! I think the bits I bought from China were probably too small. I have like 10 brand new ones just sitting there collecting sawdust.

@RickPeterson

Yes. I am wondering if you cut the laminate before sticking the adhesive to anything if it will make an improvement.

I might give it a try, but the laminate is still sticking to the paper film that it came with so it’s always going to be stuck to something. But it might be better than sticking it directly onto the mdf and the thin paper film will act as a barrier, who knows… I might use a spray adhesive to stick it onto something (keeping the paper film in place).

@AaronMatthews

Run the carve twice. I know this works for cleaning up the "fuzzes’ on regular wood carves.

Maybe reduce the max depth of cut on the bit so it does it in a couple of passes. Shallower cuts might mean less tear out.

I’ll give this a try. I know Phil also proposed this idea… Thanks.

[AlanDavis]

Yes I used hardwood flooring for under mailbox signs, wall decorations, children room toys and toy chests etc. looks fantastic.

[Malek]

@PhilJohnson

I’ll add the links to the Elaire collet 1/8" up above. Do not use an adapter. They’re crap. Spend $20 and get the Elaire one.

I am SO going to buy this it’s not even funny. Thank you.

@AlanDavis

Yes I used hardwood flooring for under mailbox signs, wall decorations, children room toys and toy chests etc. looks fantastic.

Awesome! Maybe I’ll give this a try. Would you be so kind as to perhaps provide a link to this stuff, maybe in a big box store or something? Just so I can get an idea.

[AlanDavis]

Search Results for Hardwood flooring at The Home Depot

Also you can check engineered hardwood flooring section.

[PaulLawn]

I think the problem is that the “laminate” material is a self adhesive vinyl that will only cut successfully with a knife as normally used on a vinyl sign machine. I think that almost any rotary cutter will cause "pickup"and furry edges.

[Malek]

You’re absolutely right. I’m sure that’s the problem as well. I’ve noticed that the tip of the bit gets all gummed with the glue.