Quote:
|
Originally Posted by tcwilliams From past projects, I am comfortable laminating plywood for countertops, and have the appropriate tools to do the work. Usually, when a big hole, such as one to accomodate a sink, is necessary, I will glue-up the entire countertop, and then cut the hole with my jigsaw. The problem is big pieces of laminated plywood cut-outs, too good to throw away, are accumulating in my shop. 
My current Overlander project is new countertops. Since the new sink countertop will be identical in size to the old one, I know exactly where & how big the sink, and 3-burner cooktop holes will be. With so much advance information, I am hoping to rough cut the laminate to accomodate the two holes before gluing the sheet down. Unglued laminate pieces should be more versitale than glued up cut-outs.
Cutting laminated plywood is no big deal. But cutting loose laminate is (to me). Normally, the only cuts I make on loose laminate are long straight ones, scoring the laminate in repeated passes with a box cutter.
Does anyone have any hints or tips for cutting sink-sized holes out of a big sheet of loose laminate?
Thanks,
Tom |
I just started doing laminate and the first tool to catch my eye was a laminate sheer. Its a hand operated cutter and it works very will without a lot of chipping. You can make a pretty tight cut and hten come back with the router to dress the edge. I thing it was $17 and was with the laminate top glue at either Lowes or Home Depot. I am pretty sure I picked it up at Lowes.
You can make a wide curved cut but not a tight one. Honestly what I might do if it was mee is clamp the laminate to the top. add some 1/4-1/2 inch strips into the sink opening to make a place for the collar on the router to ride on and use the router to cut out the whole before applying the adhesive. Then you can come back and do your clean up cut with the router to get the little bit of lip left.