SetBuilder Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Has anyone tried the square bearing router bits for laminate work? http://woodworker.com/34-diameter-14-shank-euro-trimmer-mssu-102-845.asp I definitely would like to order one to see how they work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickyMcGrath Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 Hmmmm.... not sure how well they would work out. Seems that both square and round have their pros and cons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SetBuilder Posted February 11, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2017 I ordered one of these and had work pay for it. My boss used it the other day when I was off and he said it was Fantastic. Once you set the taper there was no filing and the large triangle allowed it to cleanly run over depressions or staples in the wood, where a normal bearing would have fell in the depression marring the laminate. We will definitely be ordering more. http://www.cmtutensili.com/show_items.asp?pars=RB~7/8/907~2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrmccabe Posted February 11, 2017 Report Share Posted February 11, 2017 8 minutes ago, SetBuilder said: I ordered one of these and had work pay for it. My boss used it the other day when I was off and he said it was Fantastic. Once you set the taper there was no filing and the large triangle allowed it to cleanly run over depressions or staples in the wood, where a normal bearing would have fell in the depression marring the laminate. We will definitely be ordering more. http://www.cmtutensili.com/show_items.asp?pars=RB~7/8/907~2 Thats cool. Never have seen those. I always hate that as the smallest imperfection bump can ruing what you are routing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnarlyCarl Posted February 11, 2017 Report Share Posted February 11, 2017 Awesome, i had heard of these before, just never would need to use one often enough. However, i have plans for something this spring and may look into it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SetBuilder Posted February 12, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 5 hours ago, rrmccabe said: Thats cool. Never have seen those. I always hate that as the smallest imperfection bump can ruing what you are routing. I never did laminate laminate work till I started at the set shop. I always look at things and say there has to be a better way. So I searched around online and found this style of bits. Too many people copy what they are taught and never look further. I try and understand what I'm being shown and then find a way that works best for me. I guess I just hate dogma... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theultimatehic Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 Those look interesting. Don't think i have a use for them though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrmccabe Posted February 12, 2017 Report Share Posted February 12, 2017 9 hours ago, SetBuilder said: I never did laminate laminate work till I started at the set shop. I always look at things and say there has to be a better way. So I searched around online and found this style of bits. Too many people copy what they are taught and never look further. I try and understand what I'm being shown and then find a way that works best for me. I guess I just hate dogma... You know its often hard to get out of our own little box on how we do things. I am guilty as well. Working around other groups of people and getting new ideas is always good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conductor562 Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 I've done 2 laminate jobs in my life, so I'll never have enough use to justify it, but it's a pretty cool concept. I may never use one, but I am glad to know such a creature exists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMG Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 Looks like they would be a good replacement for having to wax the edge before trimming every time. Would be curious to know how long one lasts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SetBuilder Posted March 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 7 hours ago, JMG said: Looks like they would be a good replacement for having to wax the edge before trimming every time. Would be curious to know how long one lasts. Can you explain what you mean by "wax" the edge? I have not seen that before. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMG Posted March 4, 2017 Report Share Posted March 4, 2017 18 hours ago, SetBuilder said: Can you explain what you mean by "wax" the edge? I have not seen that before. Thanks In order to keep trimmer bits from scoring the face edge lamination, wax is applied to the area that the bit rubs against. Laminate suppliers sometimes sell wax sticks designed for this purpose, but paste wax can be used as well if they are not available. It is a defensive measure that I used when trimming mostly on expensive laminations, such as high gloss finishes or aluminum sheet products. Also using wax with solid carbide trim bits is a good idea as well, no matter the grade of material. Some of the laminate products that I was tasked with applying ran in excess of $300 a sheet at times, and nothing is worse than having to purchase an extra sheet of material just to rip a single strip off to fix a screw up that could have been avoided with a little extra effort. Contact cement can build up quickly between bit and bearing, causing a seize mid cut, turning a metal bearing into the perfect tool for trashing an edge, so the flat plastic bearing surface makes sense to me for more than one reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SetBuilder Posted March 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2017 On March 4, 2017 at 11:47 AM, JMG said: In order to keep trimmer bits from scoring the face edge lamination, wax is applied to the area that the bit rubs against. Laminate suppliers sometimes sell wax sticks designed for this purpose, but paste wax can be used as well if they are not available. It is a defensive measure that I used when trimming mostly on expensive laminations, such as high gloss finishes or aluminum sheet products. Also using wax with solid carbide trim bits is a good idea as well, no matter the grade of material. Some of the laminate products that I was tasked with applying ran in excess of $300 a sheet at times, and nothing is worse than having to purchase an extra sheet of material just to rip a single strip off to fix a screw up that could have been avoided with a little extra effort. Contact cement can build up quickly between bit and bearing, causing a seize mid cut, turning a metal bearing into the perfect tool for trashing an edge, so the flat plastic bearing surface makes sense to me for more than one reason. Interesting I'll have to look into the wax. Thank you When I was trimming the chem metal on this two of the pieces was redone 3x. We kept scratching it when the filings would get trapped under the router plate. We even had tape over the protective film. We did not get it right until I used a Festool router with a Vacuum and had another person following the router with a blower trying to keep all the debris away. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMG Posted March 6, 2017 Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 @SetBuilder Metal filings under the base plate is a slightly different issue than the bearings rubbing or scoring the face edge, and your vacuum/air dusting process is a good response, along with the tape. Not certain if wax on the surface in that situation would help, or trap the filings making the issue worse. One thing that I have noticed, is that the black phenolic base plates that usually come with the routers score easily when working on metals and can cause scratching themselves in some cases from the scratches on them. A majority of the base plates on my routers have been replaced, using quarter inch thick Corian. I even added some Corian to the bottom of my Milwaukee circular saw for working on acrylics. The Corian wears better along with better glide properties, and fewer holes for tiny bits to get trapped in and scratch the surfaces. A drawer full of unused original plates and new Corian blanks yet to be applied when others might wear out. The only time I find myself using the original base plates is when I need to use a fixed guide bushing. I use half inch material for difficult plate designs where strength or flex might be an issue. Also as insert plates for my router table setup. A side note: Keeping the center hole close to the size of the bit being used can also limit the amount of material getting under the plate to cause scratching, but will also limit visibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SetBuilder Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 Do you cut the blanks yourself or have them done on CNC? Our CNC guys cut replacement router plates out of acrylic. We have acrylic, lexan, styrene on hand but not corian. Thank you for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMG Posted March 6, 2017 Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 Made all of those myself. At the time CNC machines were not readily available. Any acrylic should do the trick, it's just that I have found that Corian wears better than most blends available. Good tensile strength and not too soft. It also helped that I had lots of left over material to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SetBuilder Posted April 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2017 I recently made this piece, its a bench / light box. I used the CMT triangle bit for all the routing. It was so nice, no filing the edges, just a light sanding with 400 sand paper. The black tape is on the corners because the formica is not glued to the Milkplex so its removable, we were just trying to hold the corners together for shipping. I trashed the bearing the next day trimming laminate that had a heavy protective plastic coating on it. The triangle did not like it and kept getting hung up, before I realized it the plastic triangle popped off and I screwed up about 6ins of the edge. Live and learn My lead man just ordered 10 more of the CMTs with triangle bearing and I ordered some with a square bearing from a Amana and Whiteside to see how they compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.