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Any tricks to cut out a panel from 1/2” Formica covered panel and use the drop?

Trboatworks

Trboatworks

Diamond
Joined
Oct 23, 2010
Location
Maryland- USA
I have this cut I need to make:
Approximately 12”x30” panel to remove from installed cabinetry.
1/2” ply covered with Formica 1.5” radius corners on cut.
I have to use the cutout as a door with no banding on edges.

Any tricks to make this outside of my normal Fein multimaster on the straight runs and jig saw w/downcut blade on the corners?

This sort of cut is always a PITA- hard to keep edges square with clean radius corners.
Just man up (again) and chop the thing out?
Ply edges to be stained black- need close fitup so maybe 1/16” all around after sanded out inside and out of cut.
 
Rob F. said:
Take it to waterjet guy?
Click to expand...

No go- panel is attached to this...:

images.jpeg

That does make me think though- if I had a high speed spindle to spin a 1/16" bit I could jig up to run inside a guide panel I could at least cutout the formica surface and get a 1/8" depth of cut or so.
Job has to be done on Monday so I have to use what I have in shop at present.
I don't have anything fancy like a air spindle on any machines so out of luck along that route - just the normal routers etc
Maybe Home Depot fair like a Dremel could be set up to mill out the panel for a one off cut.
This is a vertical panel down in one of the hulls.
 
Is the the surface not replaceable?

A guided saw can make the cuts but thickness of blade is limiting factor.

Can a matching material be found or a trim used to cover gap?

Or make door from better looking stuff and call it planned...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
No- no such luck on any of those points.
This is a much larger bulkhead and the job is to match OEM installed access panels.
I don’t have the surface material and can’t get it so must use drop.

Fein cut disks are thin enough for the staight runs leaving the corners to fight with and needing a act of will in general to keep cuts acceptably square.

I have some 1/16” end mills- I will see what I can cobble together to get a spindle running around a guide plate to get this done.

Typical last minute job on a boat- time and tide and all that...
 
If the bit you have is acceptable build a template install in a laminate trimmer and cut. An inner and outer template would be ensure no bit wander. Keeping a steady enough hand to avoid snapping bit, that’s a whole mother story.
 
I'd just cut it close with any saw you like, then do the final trim with a router and a flush trim bit. Any straight edge would work for the sides. You may have to get creative on a guide template for the rounded corners.

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Dealing with the straights first, I would grab my Porter Cable 548 worm-drive bayonet saw, and use a short, fine-tooth blade and go slow. Maybe even the metal cutting blade. (First plunge would be with the Fein.)

I would even consider taking the blades to the surface grinder first, and skimming them down to half-width or so. This will take the set out of the teeth, but you're not in production here, so should be ok going slow, perhaps with air blast to clear chips.

Then go with your 1/16" or so router in a guide template to both clean up the saw kerfs and attack the corners.

Decaf works best for this, too.
 
I’d tell the Boat owner that a new hatch will need to be made.

I have a coarse diamond coated 1/2” dia. Router bit that use to clean openings in disimilar materials.

I have had an owner ask me to do a similar project. Nope, a drop is a drop.
We put in a hatch.
 
Honestly i would start it with a "woble" - orbiting action - plaster cast - fein type saw in the first straight, then switch out to my big Bosch jigsaw, decent bosch blade and orbital action and if you drew the outline in fat marker pen i could leave you ink on both sides. Use to use it to do a hell of a lot of laminate flooring for various people back when that was all the rage over here. Bosch do some really nice blades that won't splinter if not fed too hard and the results can be great, also the blades are more than thin enough you can easily give the edges a light sand smooth and still hit your 1 /16" requirment.
 
Is the panel only accessible from the front?
If you can get at the back I would cut with an orbital jigsaw from the back.
The difficulty is in starting the cut, usually I would just drill a hole and start cutting but the close fit doesn't allow that much looseness!
A small starting slot with a very small router bit, (can you get smaller than 1/16"?) would be the way to go.

If you have to cut from the front it can be done but do practice with the downcut blades as they want to lift the jigsaw and that doesn't help with accuracy.
You would also want to reduce the orbital action, maybe even off or the lowest setting.
I would use masking tape if cutting from the laminate side to avoid any scratching. I would also start at the bottom and work to the top in both directions, this keeps the sight lines and makes it easier to stay on your line.
A little bit of Dozuki work at the end will prevent a disaster when the panel comes free, not good with a jigsaw blade thumping away.

Good luck when you get to this job,

Michael
 
Saw out the drop with a jig saw. Square up opening with a router using a masonite jig and router guide.
Clean up the panel on a jointer . Dress the radiused corners on the disc sander.

Apply "near enough" wood edge banding to both raw edges ,having calculated the banding thickness to restore the material lost in the kerf.

Work the edges to fit!

Viola!

I've done this many times in foam core, balsa core and honeycomb aviation panels. Even Kevlar skins.

That material is quite dear, so the drop is a money factor if you would need to produce a plug from a new sheet.

Edge filling is required to produce a good glue surface on both elements. Contact cement is great for bonding the edge banding if the banding conforms to the corners readily. Selective thinning might be needed.

Error on having the banding be a bit lighter in color than the panel color. It's easy to darken things up. The actual reveal depends on the viewing accessibility. You can get by with big gaps in dark corners! ;-)
 
Nobody mentioned RotoZip, uh, yeah, Henry’s did.

This task is what drywall guys do all day, with a RotoZip.

Bits will fit routers, with proper collets.

And google “sink cutout bits”

Which way do you want the chips to go?
 
Corners are easy.

Hacksaw blade in a holder.

Elcheapo tools had them back in the day and have one in a box someplace.

Makes great hand saw for that odd ball job.

Also a "keyhole" saw

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
A long time ago I did work like this. Customers loved it. But I liked a steady food supply. Do your best to price it so high they will not want it. Then add 20% to that. When you still get the job you need to thing about your life and think if you want to be a Pilgrim searching for a higher meaning to life through woodworking. Business makes a profit. Pilgrim listens to a Prophet and "thinks" there are answers coming.
 
Scruffy887 said:
A long time ago I did work like this. Customers loved it. But I liked a steady food supply. Do your best to price it so high they will not want it. Then add 20% to that. When you still get the job you need to thing about your life and think if you want to be a Pilgrim searching for a higher meaning to life through woodworking. Business makes a profit. Pilgrim listens to a Prophet and "thinks" there are answers coming.
Click to expand...

Scruffy

It's not wood working , it's a BOAT!

BOAT= bust out another thousand.

If you can't make money working on boats, you are the idiot!
 
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