Special problem.. please help

[SAEngraver]

Hello I have a sparse workshop, but will buy such tools as I may need to do the following:-
I need to drop 8mm thick porcelain tiles of 600mm x 400mm into a recess made in 16mm novoboard
This is chipboard with a melamine face on both sides 16mm thick.

The problem is that a router gives me round corners, I need square corners to fit the tiles nice and comfy in the recess.

Have thought of using a drill with square mortising chissel to make corners and than routing the rest - depth of recess 8mm.
Seems a very long process - I

Any suggestions please

Thank you

 

[Racers]

A chisel it the cheapest thing to use to square the corners, A wide one will be better than a narrow one.

Pete

 

[SAEngraver]

A chisel it the cheapest thing to use to square the corners, A wide one will be better than a narrow one.

Pete

Have not tried it, but I know chip board is hard - I'll be doing some next week will let you know how I go.

thank you

 

[Racers]

Probably best to score the melamine to stop the edges chipping, do small nibbles with the chisel rather than try to remove the whole lot in one go.

Pete

 

[blackrodd]

How about this? http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Ash ... tml#SID=11
Or one of these? http://www.angliatoolcentre.co.uk/trend ... AtNx8P8HAQ
You would have to do a test and see which is best.
Regards Rodders

 

[beech1948]

Having identified the tools...I would prefer a 25mm chisel and a sharp knife...the real problem is the laminate ontop of the dire chip board.

Trying to cut these requires a VERY sharp tool or for the laminate to have been scored with a knife . The issues are to prevent the laminate chipping and to stop the chip board just crumbling under the pressure of the tool.

Try it an see, let us know what happens.

 

[bugbear]

Hello I have a sparse workshop, but will buy such tools as I may need to do the following:-
I need to drop 8mm thick porcelain tiles of 600mm x 400mm into a recess made in 16mm novoboard
This is chipboard with a melamine face on both sides 16mm thick.

The problem is that a router gives me round corners, I need square corners to fit the tiles nice and comfy in the recess.

Have thought of using a drill with square mortising chissel to make corners and than routing the rest - depth of recess 8mm.
Seems a very long process - I

Any suggestions please

Thank you

What is the radius of the corners of the tiles? I've never seen a truly square corner on a ceramic, so it might
introduce more scope for tool selection and process design if the corners of the recess can have some radius, albeit
a very small one (e.g. 1mm).

BugBear

 

[aideym]

Multicutter? Just plunge the end lines then sneak up on the body of the cut

 

[SAEngraver]

Hello I have a sparse workshop, but will buy such tools as I may need to do the following:-
I need to drop 8mm thick porcelain tiles of 600mm x 400mm into a recess made in 16mm novoboard
This is chipboard with a melamine face on both sides 16mm thick.

The problem is that a router gives me round corners, I need square corners to fit the tiles nice and comfy in the recess.

Have thought of using a drill with square mortising chissel to make corners and than routing the rest - depth of recess 8mm.
Seems a very long process - I

Any suggestions please

Thank you

What is the radius of the corners of the tiles? I've never seen a truly square corner on a ceramic, so it might
introduce more scope for tool selection and process design if the corners of the recess can have some radius, albeit
a very small one (e.g. 1mm).

BugBear

The tile is cut from a 600mm x 600mm to 600mm x 400mm - The corners are absolutely square.

I do photo realistic engraving on all hard materials, and feel that the ceramic countersunk into a well selected novo board will give the product a nice finish. This particular application is for a specific range of engravings which have to look "the part".
The client requested it and I said "Can do" so I'm stuck with using the melamine covered chip board.
Thank you for the interest.

 

[SAEngraver]

How about this? http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Ash ... tml#SID=11
Or one of these? http://www.angliatoolcentre.co.uk/trend ... AtNx8P8HAQ
You would have to do a test and see which is best.
Regards Rodders

Thank you - going to see if I can buy these tools in South Africa.

 

[SAEngraver]

Multicutter? Just plunge the end lines then sneak up on the body of the cut

Don't know what a multicutter is, but going to google it and see if I can trace it.
Thank you

 

[Mr T]

I don't think corner chisels will work as they require you to cut the laminate in one go, which will not help with the issues you originally outlined. I would suggest cutting the outline initially with a very small inlay cutter 1 or 1.5mm then changing to a larger cutter for waste removal then final light trimming with a very sharp chisel to remove the minute rounding in the corners.

Melamine on chipboard will wear the cutters very quickly, so you will have to replace them regularly if you are doing a number of boards.

Chris

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Of course, if you used a cutter that small you'd only need to cut the actual corners with it - the bulk of the perimeter could still be done with a much larger cutter. It would be tedious and potentially expensive in cutters to do the whole border in chipboard with a cutter so small.

 

[beech1948]

rereading your posts it seems as though the choice of Novo board was yours. Chip board is a poor product to try to do any woodwork on. It crumbles, breaks out etc.

You could get white laminate on MDF or even plywood both of which would be better to work with than chip board. In fact the laminated ply would probably give you the best material to work with.

Your process sounds dusty from the engraving of the ceramics so the dust from ply or mdf would not be a problem even though ply would not produce much dust. Ply has the advantage that the cut edges would not need sealing against moisture ingress.

 

[bugbear]

The tile is cut from a 600mm x 600mm to 600mm x 400mm - The corners are absolutely square.

I'd assumed it was just a tile.

BugBear

 

[SAEngraver]

Multicutter? Just plunge the end lines then sneak up on the body of the cut

Thank you for the good advice... I'm sure this is the right tool.

Appended is a pic of a typical photo set in porcelain - not granite this time.

thank you

 

[custard]

Could you use a totally different approach? Instead of routing out a recess to accommodate the tile, why not lay the tile on a larger piece of MDF with say a 25mm overlap on all four edges, then "frame" it in place with long strips of 25mm wide Novoboard with the corners mitred (cut at 45 degrees).

 

[SAEngraver]

Could you use a totally different approach? Instead of routing out a recess to accommodate the tile, why not lay the tile on a larger piece of MDF with say a 25mm overlap on all four edges, then "frame" it in place with long strips of 25mm wide Novo board with the corners mitred (cut at 45 degrees).

Thank you for the interest - This method has a few imponderables
1. No matter how carefully and with which tool you cut the 45 angle, the chip board is rough and always leaves a visible line at the angle joint.
2. The outer edges of the the strips used in this way will show the raw chip board - as it is now I have the outer edges of the board professionally edged with high impact edging in a colour to compliment my choice of melamine chip board.

One can buy edging that is "sort of ironed on", but this is paper thin and looks cheap. I operate at the top end of the market.
If you saw the pic I posted you will notice that it is a pretty classic possession for the buyer. So I am very particular in my choice of finish.

However having said this, I am a Master Engraver and don't come close to calling my self a wood working expert. So I remain open to any suggestions which would make my task easier and better.

I want to do this myself for the very reason that out sourced work is not always up to standard.

It is a bit like producing a bit of realistic art featuring real life people - they are fussy as to how they look on the engraving,
and how this engraving is shown.

I continue my search for the best solution.
Thank you

 

[Hitch]

Id think that a router and jig with a couple of guide bushes would be simple enough.

Rout the majority out with a large cutter, then change the bush and cutter for a much smaller 2/3mm cutter, to do the corner just through the laminate then the actual chipboard with a sharp chisel.
Matching the cutters and bushes would be quite important to avoid any steps.

The tiny radius left, could you file off the corner of the tile to match the radius?

 

[toolsntat]

If it was feasible you could plunge all the way through on the 4 corners and square out the radius with a file.

Or do the board in 2 layers (using the file on the top layer corners ) if the through holes are undesirable.
Edges could then be done as normal.

Using 2 layers would save you having to rout out all of the recessed area meaning less dust and less cutter wear :idea:

Andy