Cutting Melamine

[stinggray@adelphia.net]

This question gose out to people who use melamine on a regular basis. What are the best bits to use on melamine with out it chipping. Also the feed rate and RPM's to get the best results. If there are any other technic that would be helpful in getting clean cuts. Thanks

[eurocab]

Craig,

We cut a lot of melamine. We started out cutting with 7/16" two fluted spiral down bits at 1.5 ips and only 100hz or 6000 rpm. Unfortunately, the bits wore out too fast due to the fact that the chips are pushed down and aren't removed from the cut.

After we found out that we could adjust the speed on our Colombo spindle, we cranked it up and experimented with different feed rates.

So far the fastest feed rate that we can run without impacting the quality of the cut is 2IPS with a cutter speed of 200 hz or 12000 RPM. The bit is actually cool to the touch after cutting a panel, so I am sure we could increase the RPM's a little more. We cut the 3/4" melamine in two passes -- the first pass at about 1/2" the final pass at just under 13/16".

I visited the Onsrud rep in our area who also happens to rep Multicam CNC machines and he suggested using single flute straight bits which are much cheaper (around $15)

We opted to test the 3/8" mortise compression spiral bit and have cut about 30 sheets of melamine so far with it, but the bit is beginning to show signs of wear and will probably need to be replaced before we make it to 50 sheets.

Here is a link to a web site about melamine:

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/CNC_feed_rates_for_melamine.html

The feed rates that these guys use are incredible. Wish I had a need to cut that fast