Cutting Formica

[waynec]

I'm getting ready to do some cabinets that will have formica laminate countertops, and formica drawer faces over MDF.

I'd like to use the shopbot to cut the laminate and the MDF together for the drawer faces. Can I do this successfully? I plan to run a last pass to clean up the edge- will this chip the laminate? Since I use a conventional router to do this work normally, I can't see how the CNC router would be much different.

Also, I'd like to do a simple inlay of one color formica next to another. Can I get the shopbot to cut the inlay in formica, both part and recess? Does this work OK in laminates?

I dont hear much about using the shopbot for this purpose, but I assume it can do this. I just thought I'd ask before I waste material with experiments.

Thanks as always.

[paco]

Doesn't sound like mission impossible... mostly since you have success with the hand held router! What bit type do you use right now for the Formica?

Inlay is feasible too but require some planning ahead...

There nothing more "interesting" than wasting some material to be just 99.9999% sure! Anyway learning and experimenting is no waste I believe...

[sawkerf]

Wayne, I just cut some Formica last Friday.The only size I could only get was a 4x8 to get two funky angled tops out of. I was able to "nest" them closely enough to get them both. No way I could have done that conventionally. I used an 1/8" carbide fluting bit to cut it. No chips
Good luck.

[elcruisr]

I cut prelaminated ply and MDF quite a bit. I use a single flute compression spiral, single full pass and no clean up for my parts. No problemo....

Eric