Scott, I've done a bit of laminent work and have used one of those trimming bits. They work great, but do have a learning curve.
To set it up, I leave just enough of the cutter exposed to match the thickness of the laminent. Then just run the bit along the edge to be trimmed, using the bearing as a guide. One thing to note, though. The bearing will follow the surface immediately below the laminent you are trimming. This means that, if that surface is not smooth and even, neither will be your trimmed edge. I was building a countertop one time and was trimming the front edge with my trimmer and discovered, too late, that my bearing was going in and out of countersunk holes where I had put screws. It made little "dints" in my edge that wer not at all attractive! Just something to note. You also need to hold the router very straight and not let it chatter. Sometimes that's hard to do. An actual laminent trimmer, which is basically a miniature router, makes that much easier since it is so much lighter. Finally, to finish off the edge, you will need to use a file or some sandpaper. The router bit will usually leave a feather edge along the cut surface which you need to remove to make the edge smooth. Hope this helps. Darrin Darrin Porter Senior Technical Engineer United Ocean Services, L.L.C. 601 South Harbour Island Boulevard, Suite 230 Tampa, Florida 33602 (813) 209-4247 (office) (813) 744-0011 (cellular phone) (813) 242-4849 (fax) [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Scott Howell Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2009 5:30 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Using a laminate router bit Folks, I have a question. I got a laminate router bit to trim some thin laminate material, which will go on the unfinished end of a counter top. Now I tried using a utility knife and all that, but this is a case where the router might work a little better. Since the bit was pretty inexpensive, I'm more interested in just trying this out since I could with a lot of patience work at cutting and smoothing. In any case, there is a baring at the bottom of the bit and then the cutting edge. How does one effectively use this bit and at what speed would I want to trim the material? tnx, ________________________________ Attention: This email and any accompanying attachments constitute confidential and/or legally privileged information. If you have received this email communication in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete the message and any attachments from your system. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
