If you have tried to cut chipboard at home at least once, then you know for sure that this work is by no means simple and requires not only skill, but also availability good tool... It is especially difficult to process laminated chipboard, when sawing which often a lot of chips are formed. That is why, when faced with such a problem, many craftsmen come to the conclusion that it is better to cut the chipboard when buying, especially since many trading organizations provide such services and the price for them is quite acceptable.

Sawing of chipboard is carried out using precise panel saws, which will help to obtain workpieces of a given size and shape.

Modern models allow you to cut straight slab materials not only horizontally and vertically, but also at an angle.

In addition to cutting sheets, you will be helped to calculate and provide several options for competent and economical cutting in the form of a visual video file. sheet material(with the help of special computer programs) and, if necessary, carry out the edging. However, if for some reason you prefer to do this work yourself, you will have to do some preparatory work before sawing the chipboard.

Tools and materials

If possible, it is best to cut the chipboard with a hand milling cutter, using homemade guides. This method is not very convenient when cutting large sheets, because when working with this tool, a table is required. In addition, with this method, the cutters have to be changed frequently. But as a result, you will get cleanly processed, "chamfered" edges.

Some craftsmen use a jigsaw in their work, however, in the absence of skill, it is difficult to cut exactly, and chips can form.

You can try to install on the jigsaw a bimetallic blade with teeth pointed inward, intended for a laminate. Cutting with a jigsaw should be increased by increasing the speed, with a small feed, so that breaks do not form.

If such methods do not suit you, then for cutting chipboard at home, we will prepare for work:

• a hacksaw with fine teeth (one that is best suited for metal work). In this case, the teeth should be divorced by 1/2 of the blade thickness and be hardened;
• paper adhesive tape;
• file for rough processing of the cut line;
• sandpaper for finishing the cut line.

How to cut chipboard without chips?

Before starting to cut a chipboard, especially a laminated one, cut a line with a sharp tool along which we will cut and glue paper tape with a sticky layer along it. This will help to minimize damage to the decorative chipboard layer.

To keep the chips as small as possible, the movement of the hacksaw must be guided under acute angle to the surface (no more than 30 °). Movements should be smooth, without undue pressure on the plate and sudden jerks.

If chips still could not be avoided, we process the cut first with a file, working in the direction from the edges to the center, and then with a fine-grained sandpaper. It is also possible to mask all defects by applying a flexible profile where possible.

Figured cutting

It is even more difficult to obtain curved surfaces of a given configuration at home, while you will have to additionally spend money on purchasing a router, which will help you get rid of chips and notches formed when you cut chipboard.

Price for manual frezer can fluctuate significantly, depending on the manufacturer, capacity, availability additional functions... If you do not plan to manufacture furniture professionally, then it is advisable to purchase an inexpensive model.

To cut chipboard, you need to follow these steps:

1. having marked out the contours on the chipboard sheet necessary details, we cut it out with an electric jigsaw, trying to cut, retreating only a couple of millimeters from the intended cutting line;
2. we make templates of the design radius from fiberboard or plywood and carefully grind the ends with sandpaper;
3. attaching the template to the part to be trimmed, clamp it with clamps and process it with a manual copying cutter with a bearing, removing excess material exactly to the intended line.

In this case, it does not matter which cutter (with two or four knives used). The only condition is that the knives must grasp the cut thickness to be processed along the entire height. After processing, it remains only to stick the edge on the part. How to do it - watch the video:

What you can't cut chipboard

If the volume of work is large enough, and the quality requirements are small, some craftsmen advise to saw the chipboard at home using a grinder (angle grinder, commonly called a "grinder"). In doing so, they use a disc designed for working with wood. To make cutting easier, a guide bar is fixed along the cutting line with the help of clamps. Sawing chipboard using a grinder can sometimes be seen in the video.

Attention, important! This method is absolutely unacceptable, since there is a very high probability of injury during work, especially if discs are used. large diameter and the protective cover is removed from the grinder.

Everyone knows that laminated chipboard is our chipboard, which is covered with a paper-resin film. The lamination process takes place under special conditions: pressure 25-28 MPa, temperature 140-210 ° C. The surface is solid, smooth and beautiful. Chipboard coating is very resistant to mechanical stress and thermal stress. Because of these qualities, laminated chipboard has become simply necessary for furniture production and for interior decoration.

Some craftsmen like to make furniture on their own. They acquire Chipboard good quality from manufacturers or in special building stores... Since the color gamut of laminated chipboard is very rich, you can easily choose required material... The surface of the chipboard also has the most diverse structure, since it is smooth, imitate a tree different breeds or stone.

To make special furniture or unique interior with your own hands, it's not enough just to buy chipboard and draw it into details. Chipboard coating is very thin, its structure is fragile. If you cut the chipboard roughly and incorrectly, the cut will turn out to be ugly, torn, and shells form on the edges. To be able to cut the chipboard correctly and not get chips and cracks, you need to know some little "tricks" of the work.

Chipboard sawing rules

To cut the chipboard at home, use a hand saw with fine teeth, a circular saw or an electric jigsaw. To get the job done without any problems, you need to do the following:

1. Fasten tightly duct tape exactly along the cutting line. The tape will prevent the saw teeth from damaging the coating film.
2. Cut through sharp knife coating and a layer under it along the cutting line. In this case, the saw will cut only the inner layer of the chipboard, and touch the coating only tangentially.
3. The hand saw, when handled, should be positioned at an angle (very sharp) to the surface of the board.
4. For sawing with an electric tool, use the minimum feed.
5. When the part is cut, you need to cut the edge of the cover at an angle of 45 ° with a sharp knife.
6. The cut is sanded with a fine file, the cut is processed towards the center from the edges.

The edge of the sawn chipboard should be covered with a special overlay so that in the future it does not get any chips or cracks. To protect the saw cut, you can use self-adhesive melamine tape, or a C-shaped patch piping, or a T-shaped edge.

The most in a simple way marking is drawing straight lines along the sides of the slab using taut threads, a square, a ruler and / or a measuring tape. With a large number of cut parts, it is difficult to select optimal scheme cutting the sheet, which can reduce losses due to the remaining scraps. To outline smooth bends, you need to use patterns that allow you to reproduce numerous fragments of the same type.

Special programs help to improve the quality of cutting, in which the dimensions of the products are set, the calculation is made and the scheme is displayed optimal location cutting lines. These programs include "Cutting 2", "Master 2" and others.

Usage example software shown in the video:

When cutting material with your own hands, you must pay Special attention straight corners and keeping straight lines. Large sheets should be marked on the floor, working in pairs. One-person delineation of dimensions is fraught with parameter distortion caused by misalignment. measuring instruments during work.

Ways to cut chipboard

Basic cutting tools wood-based panels are:

• hand saw for wood or metal;
• electric or conventional jigsaw;
• Circular Saw.

The cuts are more accurate when used hand saw for metal and jigsaw. The disadvantages of the saw include its low productivity, which is unacceptable for working with large volumes of chipboard. The use of a jigsaw does not allow getting straight cut lines, compared to a circular saw.

Working with a jigsaw does not always prevent chipping at the end of the slab. Only the use of high-quality canvases can create straight line cut.

To reduce the amount or even avoid chipping when chipboard processing, you can use a special technique of working with the usual circular saw... First, strict markings are made, mirrored on different sides of the material. Then, according to this marking, recesses are cut on each side, which go deep into the slab by about 60-70% of its thickness (the material is cut completely in two passes).

Since surface chipping occurs at the exit of the teeth and not at the entry, two-pass sawing virtually eliminates material damage. This method requires high precision cut, providing a smooth end surface. The saw blade for chipboard should have a small serration to reduce the area of ​​interaction with the pressed wood chips.

The use of a sawing machine greatly facilitates the cut in two approaches. A number of parts can be made by cutting out a workpiece with deliberately oversized dimensions (by 5-10 mm), after which they are cut on both sides according to the specified parameters. The use of a sawing machine allows you not only to maintain accurate dimensions, but to cut exactly the lines required for the manufacture of prefabricated structures.

Some sawing machines support self-marking of the slab. The complete set of such machines includes clamps and rails that facilitate precise cutting.

How to cut off the chipboard evenly and without chips can be seen in the video:

Processing of chipboard boards after cutting

Working with particle boards after cutting the workpiece includes:

• end processing carried out with special edging materials;
• painting, wallpapering or tiles;
• bending of slabs of material and patching up accidental or manufacturing defects.

Processing of cut edges, the process of edging with your own hands

It is necessary to improve the aesthetics and prevent chipping of the material. For pasting the ends, melamine films are often used, which are ironed to the surface. They are less durable than a laminated layer, however, they are visually attractive and protect against mechanical stress and slight moisture ingress.

The process of edging chipboard at home is not very difficult. The trimmed edges of the slab are cleaned sandpaper and polished, after which it is pressed against them edging tape... Glue is applied under the tape, which is optimal for a particular type of film (not required in self-adhesive tapes).

The plate is placed on the end, and plastic edge pressed down by a heated iron. After removing the improvised incandescent press, a flat board should be put on the film to fix the load and the hardening process.

More details about how to glue the edge on chipboard, the video will tell:

Painting and wallpapering

You can paint the chipboard with your own hands in several approaches. First, you should get rid of the material from residues. old paint, using heat or mechanical action, and process the noticed defects with sandpaper. A regular or acrylic primer is applied to the clean surface.

After the priming layer has dried, the slab is covered with a layer of paint, which is recommended to be applied in two stages. The application of the paint layer can be done with a brush or spray gun. The consumption of material in the latter case will be less, although ordinary paint will cost less.

To protect the chipboard from moisture, you can treat the surface with linseed oil or rub it with a stearic candle. Do not forget about applying sealant at joints that are open to moisture.

In a universal way chipboard preparation for further processing is puttying. The surface is pre-coated with a primer, after which a layer of starting and finishing putty... Only non-laminated materials are processed. chipboard plates since on laminated surface putty holds on worse.

Wallpapering on chipboard boards is carried out after applying the primer. This reduces the likelihood of rust transmitted from anchorage points buried in the tree.

The tiles are laid directly on a dry and clean chipboard surface using thick adhesives... To enhance the fixation of the tiles, a fine polymer mesh is used, which increases the overall strength.

Correction of random defects (holes, dents) or technological holes is carried out with a mixture sawdust and glue. PVA or epoxy mixture is used as an adhesive base. Repairing slabs usually does not require special skills. Particleboard parts are rarely glued to each other, preferring to use self-tapping screws or bolted joints.

How to bend a chipboard - a practical aspect

Sometimes it is necessary to make a bent part from a chipboard - the end of a table, cabinet, shelf.

To do this, you first need to cut the required piece of material to size, and then make numerous parallel cuts on its inner surface (see Fig. 1 and 2):

Required fragment Making cuts

To give a curved shape, the resulting part should be glued to the template with PVA glue and fixed with self-tapping screws. After keeping the time required for the glue to harden, the part can be removed and used for its intended purpose.

Before screwing the screws into the chipboard, it is advisable to drill out the material in advance. For this, drills are used that have a diameter of 1-2 mm smaller than the self-tapping screw. Chipboard drills are used the same as for wood drilling, and standard self-tapping screws are purchased.

Due to the lower cost of chipboard sheets than other assembly and building materials, a small amount of scrap when working with your own hands is not critical. Broken sheets can be used to make smaller items without incurring the cost of recruiting professional equipment and specialists.

When you look at the price tags of furniture made of chipboard in a store, you are amazed at how expensive it is! But chipboard is one of the most available materials for designing furniture with your own hands. Fortunately, all the necessary accessories are now on sale. And furniture projects, both on the Internet and in “paper” magazines, can now be found for every taste. So what's the problem? The main problem is to neatly cut the chipboard.

Of the household tools, the most suitable for cutting chipboard is a hand-held circular saw. But even when cutting chipboard with its help, a number of problems arise: 1) it is very difficult to follow strictly in a straight line, the saw wags; 2) chips are formed.

Are there any ways to solve these problems? There is. We will tell you about them today. By the way, all these tricks apply to cutting plywood.

Tip 1: Cut the chipboard on the floor with full support

Full support cutting means that when you reach the end of the saw, the cut chipboard sheet will not fall off immediately.

If you want a very clean and crisp cut, Particleboard is better just cut on the floor. This will give you a 100% solid, stable base. The chipboard will not move even if you pile on top of it to complete the cut. You will also be sure that the cut piece will not fall off, split or fall.

Place 5 × 10cm blocks under the chipboard sheet perpendicular to the direction of the cut. Bars will have to be sacrificed as the saw will go through them. The more stable your chipboard sheet is, the neater the cut will be.

Tip 2: Adjust the cutting depth

The correct cutting depth affects the quality of the cut.

Adjust the depth so that no more than half of the disc teeth protrude beyond the bottom edge of the chipboard or plywood (see photo above). It may not seem important to you, but believe me, the depth of cut greatly affects the quality of the cut. With this setting, the prong cuts through the material rather than chopping it, and the saw also stabilizes so that it vibrates less during the cutting process. Both of these factors make the saw marks on the chipboard cut less noticeable.

Position the saw along the edge of the chipboard, raise the guide and watch from a close distance to set the correct cutting depth. By the way, at the same time it would be good to check the saw blade for damage, because a saw with bad teeth will make a rough cut. Another point: the saw is designed in such a way that its stroke goes upwards, so chips are most often formed on that chipboard surface, which is facing up, and the cut from the side of the surface looking down is cleaner. Therefore, position the chipboard with a good face down when cutting.

Tip 3: Use a rigid, long, straight object as a guide for ripping.

As a guide for making a straight straight cut, it is convenient to use a narrow long piece of chipboard, 16 mm thick and about 30 cm wide, which was professionally cut in a specialized workshop. All that is needed is to tighten the ends with a clamp.

The main difficulty lies in positioning it in the right place for an accurate cut. To do this, measure the distance from the edge of the saw support platform to the blade (see photo below).

Add this value to your slice width, mark both edges of the chipboard and overlay a guide board. You will also need to factor in the thickness of the saw blade in your measurements.

It is usually best to have a metal base plate circular saw rested against the edge of the guide, so maximum stability of the saw during cutting is achieved.

Tip 4: check the guide before making the cut

This is a fine tuning, so to speak. Make a mark with a pencil - a line 5 cm long, thus determining the width of the cut part. Then start the saw, press the saw support platform against the rail and cut the board into the chipboard. Make sure the saw blade starts rotating in the air before it even touches the sheet to be cut, otherwise the edge of the sheet may split. Now measure the distance from the edge of the sheet to the notch to make sure you've done everything and calculated correctly. Better, as they say, measure seven times ...

Tip 5: cut at a constant speed without stopping

Cut without stopping and support constant speed... If you stop, there will be a mark on the chipboard or plywood.

Cutting speed depends on many factors, including the type of saw and blade sharpness, and the material you are cutting. In general, the sharp disc passes through the chipboard sheet with little resistance, as if it were melting wood. If you feel like you have to force and push the saw, it means that you are sawing too fast or the blade is dull. Cutting too fast tears the chipboard fibers and leaves noticeable marks on the cut. Too slow can cause the blade to overheat and ignite the wood.

Then you will get both marks and a burnt mark on the cut. This is why it is best to cut on the floor when you are making a long cut. You can crawl on your knees directly on the chipboard, following the movement of the saw, you do not need to stretch or bend.

Just calculate in advance whether the length of the electrical cable is enough for you.

Tip 6: Take a disc with big amount teeth

The more teeth there are on the disc, the clearer the cut will be. And, naturally, the disc must be sharp.

In principle, all discs from the picture above are capable of making a good cut on chipboard and plywood. As we wrote above, the more teeth, the better the cut. However, the downside to the 140-tooth disc is that it dulls faster than the other three. Especially if you are cutting chipboard. Take a 40 or 56 tooth blade. Better to keep one more in reserve. A 56-tooth disc is commonly used for cutting.

Tip 7: Cross-section is best done with duct tape

The cross-cut runs perpendicular to the grain of the plywood, and even the sharpest blade can chip easily. it a big problem, the best solution which, buy a disc for cutting laminate, which we wrote about above. However, you can accomplish this task using other disks. To do this, stick adhesive tape on both sides of the cut line. It will prevent chipping.

It must be removed carefully, pull it in the direction perpendicular to the cut (see photo below) so as not to damage the chipboard laminate.

And one more piece of advice. If you need to cut expensive material with front side, tape the saw platform with duct tape so that it does not scratch the surface of the sheet.

In the process of making furniture independently, the contractor may need to cut or trim laminated chipboard for later use. Of course, it is best to perform this operation on sawing, however, if necessary, and to reduce labor intensity, it is quite possible to cut laminated chipboard at home (using a jigsaw). Moreover, it is very important to implement this procedure in such a way as to minimize the number of chips and thereby form an even cut.

Why do chips appear

Before cutting chipboard or laminate with a jigsaw, it is advisable to understand why chips are formed when cutting sheet material. And the answer is simple: everything lies in the construction of the jigsaw, or rather in the construction of the nail file.

So, in the process of cutting, the nail file receives return movements (up and down). And if when the file moves along the teeth (usually down), chips practically do not form, then when the tool moves in the opposite direction, the teeth seem to pull out the top layer of the material, thereby forming an impartial chip. That is why it is possible to observe an almost perfect cut from the lower side of the chipboard and a cut with chips along its upper edge.

Methods for minimizing chips

An additional reason for the formation of chips can be the spread of the teeth of the file. Therefore, the first step is to take care of purchasing a tool with a straight cut (often Bosh files). However, it should be borne in mind that with prolonged work, such files overheat and may even bend during the cutting process. Therefore, it is necessary to take breaks in work to cool the cutting tool.

However, changing the file alone is not enough, and in order to cut the chipboard (laminate) with an electric jigsaw without chips, it is necessary to perform a small revision of the power tool. Namely, to make sure that when the file moves against the inclination of the tooth, the material does not break out. For which it is enough to make a persistent platform. This conclusion can be reached by trying to cut through two at the same time chipboard sheet... So, there will be practically no chips on the lower element.

In order to make a thrust platform for a jigsaw, it is enough to cut out a rectangle in dimensions identical to the dimensions of the sole of the power tool from any dense material (for example, from a laminate).

Then, along the larger axial line, a cut should be made and the resulting equipment should be fixed to the sole of the jigsaw using insulating tape or double-sided tape... All the revision is ready and can be done finishing works in compliance with certain recommendations.

First, as mentioned above, you should use a jigsaw file with a straight cut.

Secondly, in order to better control the cutting process, it is justified to apply a marking line on both sides of the chipboard and check the processing accuracy from above and below.

And thirdly, to take constant breaks from work to cool the cutting equipment.

Sometimes the decision in this issue can serve as a simple cut through the leminated layer of material using assembly knife, and subsequent work with a jigsaw will no longer cause large defects in the form of chips. but this work requires a certain experience and accuracy from the performer.