blade or blade care for laminate floors
jimatgreatwhite
| Posted in Tools for Home Building on
I’m sure this has been gone over in the past,here goes again though.
Is there a saw blade that doesn’t dull after 200 square feet o laminate flooring or is it just gummed up?
If it is gummed up what is the best way to clean it up?
I’ve been gone for quite a while forgive me if I’m beating a dead horse with this question.
Jim at great white
Replies
In order:
No. But a triple-chip blade will last a bit longer than other types.
Oven cleaner and a stiff brush. When this no longer works, send it out to be resharpened.
When I bid a laminate floor job, I add a $100 charge for each 500SF of flooring for blade resharpening and replacement. I use Exchange-a-Blade blades for those jobs; costs me about $90 to buy the first one and $48 to swap it out for a re-sharpened one.
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laminate is very abrasive, dulls the blade.
Triple chip grind will last longer than ATB but will still dull.
Just did 1600 sf of laminate and the Freud Avanti TCG blade is still servicable.
On laminate flooring I do all I can to do my cuts with an inexpensive blade in my skillsaw. 99% of the cuts won't show, so you can cut with whatever. Yup, the wear layer is aluminum oxide and eats blade teeth.
I use jigsaw to cut laminate. Speed square to run plate against. The dust is not as bad as with mitersaw and cutting can be done without going to other room. Blades are a lot cheaper than the 10" miter and chipping can't be seen.
I'll second the jigsaw recommendation. There are some blades with the teeth reversed, that do a really good job of cutting it without chipping.
Just to add about the downcut jig saw blades, they work a LOT better with the orbital action OFF.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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thanks all
now I know I' not doing anything wrong.
jim at Great white
Thank you everyone my thinking is confirmed. Laminate requires blade allowance. Now how do I get the extra money out of my wife for this job?;)Jim at Great white
Why, nookie, of course !Greg
That is exactly what I do. Price in one new, cheap as possible, blade per job. I usually end up keeping it on hand as a beater blade. If I remember, I also mark it as "flooring", as once dull, they seem to cut the laminate flooring just fine, it's other materials that it give an unacceptable cut on. I run it through as much flooring as possible then toss is when it starts working the chop saw too hard. Vic
Jim how big of a job?
What I have found works best is a cheep riobi cordless saw. Tape the metal corners and drag it with you as you go. The blades are $10.00 or so and last several 1000 ft before they are too bad to use. We have laid 65 to 70,000 sq ft this way.
Thanks Craig
for gum from a laminate floor, im not too sure for cleaner, but i know with pitch, Simple Green and a nylon brush works well
I ruined my nice Tenyru blade that came with the Makita by cutting laminate. The good news is that the sharpening company got it as good as new.
You can also use those el-cheapo "Exchange-A-Blades" if a dealer stocks them.
Scott.
For the past few years, I've cleaned my saw blades in disposable pizza pans I get at the grocery store. Put a couple of blades in the pan, cover with Simple Green, wait ~5 minutes, and scrub them with an old toothbrush.
For router and shaper bits, I use Simple Green in old butter tubs.
Regular cleaning cuts way down on trips to the sharpening shop.
I find that the worst part about laminate floors is the DUST. To that end I use jig saws wherever possible. You can double the life of the blade by attaching a layer of plywood under the base. After that part of the blade gets dull, remove it and use the rest off the blade depth. Also we use cheaper 7 1/4 skill saw blades in the table saw when we are forced to make multiple rips. If you do a lot of laminate you can also purchase a cutter (like a large paper or shingle cutter) which will cut with no power or dust.