It is believed that without professional tool high-quality wood cutting or sheet materials do not fulfill. Today we will talk about ways to make a clean, even cut without chips, on your own and without using expensive equipment and consumables.
Cutting tools and the mechanics of their work
If you don't take into account stationary machines for cutting, alternatives for self made not so much. Among the available tools, we can offer circular and pendulum saws, commonly referred to as miter saws and jigsaws. It is also possible to perform a sufficiently high-quality cut using an angle grinder on which it is installed saw blade on wood with pobedit teeth. But this is not the most effective and, moreover, far from safe option.
In the process of cutting with any type of power tool, the working parts move at a very high speed, and therefore the mechanics of processing remain behind the scenes. However, understanding it is the key to getting a clean, chip-free edge. The simplest principle underlies the operation of pendulum saws. The cut is carried out at forward movement saw blade, while the size of the removed fragments depends entirely on the size of the tooth and its alignment.
Chips appear due to the inhomogeneity of the processed material, in particular due to the hard crust of laminated sheet materials or because the fibers solid wood have different densities. Chips can form on different sides of the product depending on the shape of the tooth, the feed force and the speed of movement of the working element. When working with a jigsaw, the appearance of chips is caused either by the fact that the teeth tear out large fragments from the reverse side, or by pushing through the top layer, during which it is not cut off, but breaks out in large fragments.
The operation of the teeth of a circular disk is in many ways similar to a jigsaw, with the only exception that their movement is directed strictly in one direction, and they move at a very high speed. Also a significant factor is the direction (angle) of the applied force: if the jigsaw blade moves strictly perpendicular to the surface, then the circular saw cuts at an arbitrary angle, depending on both the diameter of the disk and the thickness of the part. This can work to your advantage: the oblique immersion of the tooth contributes to more accurate cutting of chips, but on the reverse side, due to the tangential movement of the cutting edges, quite large fragments can be torn out. Of course, you can only make a straight cut with a circular saw.
Selection of saw blades and blades
When cutting, cleanliness and processing speed are inversely dependent quantities. It is worth noting that chips on the cut will appear in any case, so the main task is to reduce their size to such a value that they can be easily eliminated by subsequent processing. The smaller the size of the tooth and the closer to right angle, under which cutting edge touches the surface of the material. To select a circular saw blade, these are the two most important factors out of three.
The third can be called the amount of setting - the displacement of adjacent teeth, which can be easily determined by applying a ruler to them. To ensure a clean cut, the routing should be minimal, but do not forget that in this case, when trying to cut a thick board or sheet of plywood, the disk may simply jam or the end will burn from strong friction.
Jigsaw blades are more varied. For cutting without chipping, a series of clean-cutting saws are used, for example, BOSCH has a line of blades called CleanWood. Their main difference is their small size and lack of pronounced directionality of the teeth. They usually have the shape of an isosceles triangle and cut in both directions of movement.
Also, saws for clean cutting differ practically complete absence wiring and opposite direction sharpening adjacent teeth. In order to ensure the possibility of figured cutting, the files have a very small width, which is why they become quite fragile.
For finishing cutting of sheet materials, blades designed to work with metal products. These files have smallest size teeth are from known ones, so the cut is performed slowly, but with the highest quality indicator. Due to the significant width of metal blades, finishing figured cuts can only be carried out with a significant bending radius, on average about 60-80 cm.
Please also note that dull teeth, which is typical for low-quality saw blades with a “mileage” of 3-5 meters, also leads to the formation of chips. Therefore, do not skimp when purchasing consumables if the quality of processing is really important to you.
Zero gap technique
The principle of finishing the sole is most often used by carpentry craftsmen. cutting tool, which consists in reducing the gap between the working body and the pressure platform. This is almost guaranteed to eliminate the effect of “breaking” the crust in the top layer of the material.
Zero clearance is achieved by securing the cover plate to the tool base. The pad has only one narrow hole (or slot) that fits tightly to the cutting organ. Because of this, even with a high feed force, the teeth are guaranteed to cut off small chips and not turn out the chips in the upper layer of the part.
When using overlays, it is extremely important that they do not scratch or damage the surface of the part. Therefore, they are most often made from a material that is inferior in hardness to the material being processed, for example MDF or plasterboard. Unfortunately, such an overlay does not last long, which is why it has to be changed every 4-5 meters of the cut.
More durable linings can be made from sheet plastic (PVC, fluoroplastic), fiberglass or metal. In the latter case, the surface of the lining must be carefully polished and soft metals such as aluminum or duralumin must be used to reduce vibration.
Using adhesive tapes
Using the same principle, you can protect the back side of the material being cut. Tape should be placed along the cutting line to protect against large fragments being torn out. Pasting surfaces is one of the few ways to ensure the cleanliness of a curved cut with a jigsaw. Unfortunately, masking tape It is not best suited for this due to its low strength.
The highest quality cut can be obtained by gluing the part with aluminum or fiberglass reinforced tape It should be wide enough to cover 15-20 mm on each side of the cutting line. The density of the sticker is also important: the tape must be pressed down well with a dry cloth swab and the formation of folds must be prevented by any means.
You should avoid tapes with very tenacious adhesive. During the tearing process, they can carry along small fibers and fragments. laminated surface, dissected by microcracks that form during cutting. Also pay attention to how easily traces of glue are removed and whether the adhesive adheres well enough to work with rough materials such as unsanded plywood or OSB.
Ensuring a perfectly clean cut
For most parts, it is enough to reduce the chip size to 0.2-0.5 mm. Such small irregularities in the cut edge are not noticeable; if desired, they can be easily eliminated by chamfering with an emery block or covering them with a wax corrector pencil. End grinding is also possible sandpaper, if a sufficient allowance was given during cutting.
However, even at home, it is possible to achieve a cut quality comparable to the result of a cutting machine with two high-speed disks. This is only possible when the tool moves along a guide rail, or, in extreme cases, along a temporary stop bar.
First you need to make two cuts about 0.5 mm deep on both sides of the part to indicate the thickness of the cut. Along the edges of the cutting line, you need to scratch two grooves under an even ruler. This is done either with a segmented or oblique shoemaker's knife (for chipboard and uncoated wood), or with a sharply sharpened drill or pobedit cutter (for laminated materials).
The depth of the grooves should be at least half the thickness of the outer layer, which is non-uniform in relation to the main body of material. This method requires high precision matching the grooves and the cutting line, but this is the only way to really ensure a perfectly even cut end that does not require additional processing.
Despite the huge range of power tools, new models are appearing that perform certain jobs better. If, for example, you cut a large circular saw plywood, laminate or chipboard, this is difficult due to the size of the saw, since Circular Saw, universal tool and it can cut workpieces up to 55mm thick.
A small circular saw is another matter, especially when you are cutting only plywood, which cuts perfectly laminated chipboard, for furniture, and with excellent quality I drank it away.
Such a tool appeared in 2014, from BOSCH, circular saw PKS 16 Multi. In appearance, this tool looks more like a jigsaw, but it is a mini circular saw that can be used for cutting various materials, up to 16mm thick. This tool fits perfectly in one hand and weighs only 1.9 kg. With a power of 400 watts, the speed of the circular saw is 6400 rpm. For sawing various materials, the kit includes three saw blades with a diameter of 65 mm, one diamond and two with soldered teeth.
Of course, it cannot be said that this is the only tool of this type, since there are similar analogues, including the Chinese mini circular saw from Aliexpress, the universal circular saw Rhythm UPD-900 and many others. But such a mini circular saw is well suited for home renovation, carpentry or practicing your favorite hobby.
With such a saw, you can in a matter of moments get a cut of any desired shape: straight, curved or angular, and with use, the accuracy of the seam improves.
Moreover, you can cut with a diamond disc hard materials. The cutting depth is adjustable, so you can start cutting in the middle of the sheet, which makes it possible to make cuts for kitchen sinks and other cuts in the middle of a sheet of plywood or chipboard.
Author RVT
It is believed that without professional tools it is impossible to make high-quality cuts of wood or sheet materials. Today we will talk about ways to make a clean, even cut without chips, on your own and without using expensive equipment and consumables.
Cutting tools and the mechanics of their work
Apart from stationary sawing machines, there are not many alternatives for manual work. Among the available tools, we can offer circular and pendulum saws, commonly referred to as miter saws and jigsaws. It is also possible to perform a fairly high-quality cut using an angle grinder, on which a wood saw blade with pobedite teeth is installed. But this is not the most effective and, moreover, far from safe option.
In the process of cutting with any type of power tool, the working parts move at a very high speed, and therefore the mechanics of processing remain behind the scenes. However, understanding it is the key to getting a clean, chip-free edge. The simplest principle underlies the operation of pendulum saws. The cut is carried out with direct movement of the saw blade, and the size of the removed fragments completely depends on the size of the tooth and its setting.
Chips occur due to the heterogeneity of the processed material, in particular due to the hard crust of laminated sheet materials or because the fibers of solid wood have different densities. Chips can form on different sides of the product depending on the shape of the tooth, the feed force and the speed of movement of the working element. When working with a jigsaw, the appearance of chips is caused either by the fact that the teeth tear out large fragments from the reverse side, or by pushing through the top layer, during which it is not cut off, but breaks out in large fragments.
The operation of the teeth of a circular disk is in many ways similar to a jigsaw, with the only exception that their movement is directed strictly in one direction, and they move at a very high speed. Also a significant factor is the direction (angle) of the applied force: if the jigsaw blade moves strictly perpendicular to the surface, then the circular saw cuts at an arbitrary angle, depending on both the diameter of the disk and the thickness of the part. This can work to your advantage: the oblique immersion of the tooth contributes to more accurate cutting of chips, but on the reverse side, due to the tangential movement of the cutting edges, quite large fragments can be torn out. Of course, you can only make a straight cut with a circular saw.
Selection of saw blades and blades
When cutting, cleanliness and processing speed are inversely dependent quantities. It is worth noting that chips on the cut will appear in any case, so the main task is to reduce their size to such a value that they can be easily eliminated by subsequent processing. The smaller the size of the tooth and the closer to the right angle at which the cutting edge touches the surface of the material, the smaller the chip size. When choosing a circular saw blade, these are the two most important factors out of three.
The third can be called the setting value - the displacement of adjacent teeth, which can be easily determined by applying a ruler to them. To ensure a clean cut, the routing should be minimal, but do not forget that in this case, when trying to cut a thick board or sheet of plywood, the disk may simply jam or the end will burn from strong friction.
Jigsaw blades are more varied. For cutting without chipping, a series of clean-cutting saws are used, for example, BOSCH has a line of blades called CleanWood. Their main difference is their small size and lack of pronounced directionality of the teeth. They usually have the shape of an isosceles triangle and cut in both directions of movement.
Also, saws for clean cutting are distinguished by the almost complete absence of setting and the opposite direction of sharpening of adjacent teeth. In order to ensure the possibility of a figured cut with a small setting, the files have a very small width, which is why they become quite fragile.
For finishing cutting of sheet materials, blades designed for working with metal products can also be used. These files have the smallest tooth size known, so the cut is performed slowly, but with the highest quality index. Due to the significant width of metal blades, finishing figured cuts can only be carried out with a significant bending radius, on average about 60–80 cm.
Please also note that dull teeth, which is typical for low-quality saw blades with a “mileage” of 3–5 meters, also leads to the formation of chips. Therefore, do not skimp when purchasing consumables if the quality of processing is really important to you.
Zero gap technique
Carpentry craftsmen most often use the principle of modifying the sole of a cutting tool, which consists in reducing the gap between the working tool and the pressure pad. This is almost guaranteed to eliminate the effect of “breaking” the crust in the top layer of the material.
Zero clearance is achieved by securing the cover plate to the tool base. The pad has only one narrow hole (or slot) that fits tightly to the cutting organ. Because of this, even with a high feed force, the teeth are guaranteed to cut off small chips and not turn out the chips in the upper layer of the part.
When using overlays, it is extremely important that they do not scratch or damage the surface of the part. Therefore, they are most often made from a material that is inferior in hardness to the material being processed, for example MDF or plasterboard. Unfortunately, such an overlay does not last long, which is why it has to be changed every 4–5 meters of the cut.
More durable linings can be made from sheet plastic (PVC, fluoroplastic), fiberglass or metal. In the latter case, the surface of the lining must be carefully polished and soft metals such as aluminum or duralumin must be used to reduce vibration.
Using adhesive tapes
Using the same principle, you can protect the back side of the material being cut. Tape should be placed along the cutting line to protect against large fragments being torn out. Pasting surfaces is one of the few ways to ensure the cleanliness of a figured cut with a jigsaw. Unfortunately, masking tape is not the best choice for this due to its low strength.
The best quality cut can be obtained by covering the part with aluminum or fiberglass-reinforced tape. It should be wide enough to cover 15–20 mm on each side of the cutting line. The density of the sticker is also important: the tape must be pressed down well with a dry cloth swab and the formation of folds must be prevented by any means.
You should avoid tapes with very tenacious adhesive. During the tearing process, they can carry along small fibers and fragments of the laminated surface, dissected by microcracks that form during cutting. Also pay attention to how easily traces of glue are removed and whether the adhesive adheres well enough to work with rough materials such as unsanded plywood or OSB.
Ensuring a perfectly clean cut
For most parts, it is enough to reduce the chip size to 0.2–0.5 mm. Such small irregularities in the cut edge are not noticeable; if desired, they can be easily eliminated by chamfering with an emery block or covering them with a wax corrector pencil. It is also possible to grind the end with sandpaper if a sufficient allowance was given during cutting.
However, even at home, it is possible to achieve a cut quality comparable to the result of a cutting machine with two high-speed disks. This is only possible when the tool moves along a guide rail, or, in extreme cases, along a temporary stop bar.
First you need to make two cuts about 0.5 mm deep on both sides of the part to indicate the thickness of the cut. Along the edges of the cutting line, you need to scratch two grooves under an even ruler. This is done either with a segmented or oblique shoemaker's knife (for chipboard and uncoated wood), or with a sharply sharpened drill or pobedit cutter (for laminated materials).
The depth of the grooves should be at least half the thickness of the outer layer, which is non-uniform in relation to the main body of material. This method requires high precision in matching the grooves and the cutting line, but this is the only way to ensure a perfectly even cut end that does not require additional processing.
http://www.rmnt.ru/ - website RMNT.ru
An electric jigsaw is a device that can be used to cut plywood different thicknesses, and also cut from it various kinds figurines. Let's try to figure out how to properly cut plywood with a jigsaw, and let's start with the fact that the main thing here is strict adherence to safety precautions!
Therefore, before starting work, it is necessary to take care of such protective equipment, How:
- glasses;
- gloves;
- special oil.
Basic rules for cutting plywood with a jigsaw
For smooth cutting, you must adhere to the recommendations below.
- At the very beginning, secure the plywood firmly.
- Start sawing across the grain. If you do this lengthwise, cutting will be much more difficult.
- Do not put pressure on the jigsaw. Otherwise, the device will heat up and may even fail.
- If the plywood has increased strength, then coat it tightly with oil. This will make the work much easier.
- Do not operate the jigsaw at low speed for too long, otherwise the engine may overheat. Upon completion of work, clean the tool and lubricate it.
Other process features
We continue the conversation about how to cut plywood using electric jigsaw. If you plan to cut a round hole in the material, first make a small hole and place it in it. hacksaw blade. You can also use plunge sawing if the previous method does not work.
Note! A jigsaw is also suitable for cutting bevels. Here you can additionally secure the guide so that you can cut smoothly. To avoid chipping, place the plywood face down.
Using an electric jigsaw to cut plywood, you won't need to use any additional accessories. However, they - devices - can still be used to make work easier and more comfortable.
If you are working with plywood of considerable thickness, then use a special sawing table (this way you can work more accurately). Finally, if you are working with material of different thicknesses, then use replaceable inserts that are attached to the tool.
As a result, we note that a jigsaw can be either with a pendulum stroke or a regular one. If the material is thick, the stroke should be normal. In this case, the plywood itself must move vertically and be cut as it moves.
Video - Cutting with a jigsaw correctly
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