cutting Laminex.

I've been helping my brother in-law renovate his new home.
He has this kitchen with wooden doors which looks quite nice but inbetween the doors he has mission brown Laminex. He wants me to apply some new lighter colored laminex to the old. I intend on glueing directly over the old laminex unless someone can see a problem with this.
But what I want to ask is what is the best way to cut laminex to size??.

Should I cut slightly over size so I can trim back??

if the above is correct can I just use a file to clean up the excess??.

any other advice you can give me will be appreaciated.
'
thanks

regards

Gino.

Gino, I personally would not be keen on glueing new laminex over old, HOWEVER if you were to do it, make sure you sand the old stuff fairly well, making sure that the glue has a good surface to bond to.

Have you thought about painting over the old stuff? it could be a lot easier. I believe that a product call "ESP" may be of some use here.

Kev

Thanks for that fella's.

Doorstop the bits that need laminexing are inbetween cupboard door.
I have a 1/2 inch router and I can't access with the trimmer some of the laminex due to restrictions. While I can partly trim this with a trimmer (which I'm assuming fits onto my router) can I just file the rest down??
if not How would I do this?.

Brudda.
I'll put forward what you have proposed to my brother inlaw.
Do you know who makes that product?

thanks

Gino.

Just letting you all know what Brudda suggested worked a treat.
my brother inlaw is very happy and more importantly the government (it's what he calls his wife) is happy too.

thanks

Kevin.

Just out of interest, which of Brudda's sugestions did you use - gluening old over new, or using the ESP paint ?

Cheers,


Justin.

Hi Justin.

I used the ESP which is applied to the laminex which allows the paint to stick.

It is made by the "flood" company in sydney incase you want technical info on it.
I called them up to check its characteristics and all seemed like it should so we trialed it and it worked.

regards

Gino

I was about to start a new thread on cutting laminate, but did a search and here I am.
Either I missed it or the original question was not answered!
The question was how do you cut laminex to size.
I personally use a straight edge and stanley knife, and keep scoring till I slice right through, very labourous and rough, I have read about simply scoring the top and snapping but found it to be a poor alternative, How about a laminate trimmer knife? have used one but not happy with the result(cheap one).

Sooo what is the most accurate and easiest method any ideas??

The easiest way to cut it is to place a piece of 4mm ply on your table saw next to the fence (this stops the laminate getting under the fence). Then run the laminate through the saw. Mind you, you need to have plenty of in & outfeed table to support the laminate, it's a lot easier if you have a large sliding table saw. Otherwise use the score and snap method with a SHARP tungsten scoring tool. The scoring tool for laminate is different to that for fibro, the tips are sharpened to a longer, sharper point. If you need to cut narrow strips of laminate there is a special tool (made by Eclipse?) that is able to cut strips of varying widths, again using score and snap. If you need to dock a strip you can do so with tin snips but leave about 10mm trimming clearance if you do this (and don't use your good snips).

Mick

Hi

I haven't cut much laminex since I was an apprentice, we used to cut it on a table saw with the blade down low to minimise chipping. This is probably the most accurate way. If you want to score it I find a tungston tipped fibro score knife to be the most effective. Always remember to cut at least 5mm over sized all around to allow for glueing error ( you only get one chance), then trim with trimmer or file.

Thank's guys, I've never tried a table saw, thinking it would shatter and this stuff ain't cheap,I'll give it a go.:)