newbie with a question

[joinerdan]

Hello all. i have been a long time lurker of the forum but ashamedly have never posted. as i have usually have been able to find the answers i have been looking for through my lurking skills. and i must say i find it to be a gold mine of information as well as inspiration. i am not a furniture maker/cabinet maker by trade but a joiner.and find the work displayed on the forum to be wonderfull.

my question today is kitchen fitting related and whilst im no stranger to installing kitchens of various brands. (sadly are my own bespoke builds or designs) the problem im having is trimming the melamine edge banding to the worktops. my usual method is to attach with contact adhesive then plane back to near finnish with a sharp block plane and finnaly finnish with a file. but to speed things up i bought a small makita laminate trimmer and a bearing guided cutter. so set up with a worktop offcut i fixed the edge banding and gave the trimmer a whirl. the results however were wholly unnaceptable. the cutter whilst not aparent to touch but visible to the eye had took a layer of the melamine off leaving a poor finnish. am i missing somthing?? are the bearing cutters not that acurate?? has anyone else encountered this?. in the end i tapped w/tp edge with masking tape and even a layer of masking tape around the bearing to try to offset the cutter with much better results but increasing time spent and possibly not as good a finish as i could achieve with a block plane and a file!.

i appriacate the question is not in relation to the usual high caliber work displayed on the forum but im a little dismayed having forked out for somthing that doesnt seem to doing what i want

thnks in advance, and my appologies if i have waffled on.

sorry mods if this is in the wrong section.

Dan

 

[Chrispy]

Hi Dan

I take it your using a straight flush trimmer, maybe a better cutter would be one that cuts a bevel 30d or even 45d, I prefer the former my self.
you can set the depth so that it just trims the overlap without cutting the surface.
hope that helps.

 

[promhandicam]

The biggest problem in this situation is that the bearing guided cutters are very small and the bearings and cutters quickly get clogged up with excess contact adhesive especially if you set it up so that the bearing is only just on the worktop which you need to do otherwise if you tilt the trimmer then you mark the worktop surface. A chamfered cutter might be a solution and I think that there are also straight cutters that have a solid end rather than a bearing which some say work better.

HTH,

Steve

 

[No skills]

What brand was the bearing guided bit? sounds like a duff bit or maybe the trimmers base is slightly out of square with the routers err.. shaft (whats the proper word?), any way to check?

As mentioned a 45 degree bearing guided bit might be better (assuming the trimmer itself is ok).

 

[joinerdan]

hi guys and many thanks for the reply's.
yes the cutter in question is indeed a straight flush cutter. a trend branded one. it came from screwfix! :evil: and was the best they had. so i assume that the cutter is ok.
it hadn't occured to me tu use a 30/45 deg cutter good idea thanks. in regards to the to the trimmers base being off square. i dont think it is, as when i tried trimming some 6mm ply against some hardwood stock i had lying arond there was no visible or tactile sign of the cutter cutting out of square to the base. i think it is just that the veneer on the walnut effect worktop is so micro thin it takes almost no contact to mar its surface. but to make a big difference in its appearance.

i will continue my test cuts with the 45deg bearing cutters. all this for a mates kitchen for which im earning nothing! (practicaly) a learning curve i guess!

many thanks for the replys.