We cut exclusively 3/4” melamine on our Biesse Rover S. We run anywhere from 100 to 150 sheets a week. A new bit gets about 50 sheets done befor a change and we sharpen 2 times before discarding and lose about 8-10 sheets in tool lifeless sharpening. This gives me a tool cost of about .90 cents a sheet.
Is anyone cutting lots of melamine with a diamond tool? If so what has your experience been with it? How does tool life compare to carbide? How is the finish compared to carbide? Do you run same rpm and feed speeds? How many tools have you ruined and why?

We are running roughly 80 sheets per bit per each machine. That’s melamine and laminated panels

We used to use diamond on our rail and pod and the cost ratio was crazy. That lasted about 3 months

Currently, we are running roseburg from Missoula Montana and get a good yield. Uniboard and Funder not so many sheets.

We have been running resharpening bits for a year straight currently and have about 2 more years left maybe three with as many bits as we have

Once we went to a ball bearing tool holder, torque wrench with a specific set setting in the 3/8 cutters the life went up substantially.

We return onion skin all sheets, reducing the wear points on the carbide, and by speeding up our travel cutting speed, thereby reducing the heat on the cutter, but also much more holding power until the release cut.

The bits were originally 60+/- the resharp at ~23 each yielding still cheaper than diamond coat. One more sharp and we will be 100 each +/-

Both machines cut corian, 1/4” mdf, plywood etc, and daily maint we believe has also contributed to a better tool life.

One thing we have done is to send them to Vortex. Not all sharpening services are the same, as I threatened to sue a facility in Indiana for ruining over 10k in saw blades over a year, then I woke up.

I have been using carbide bits for melamine, I have never had any sharpened, I didn’t realize you could send them to Vortex for sharpening.
I wouldn’t trust anyone around here to sharpen them. I have never used the diamond ones, but a bigger shop I know did and also switched back to carbide as they thought it was cheaper.

I was wondering how it is possible for a shop to ruin that many saw blades. $10000 is a LOT of saw blades. I can get a saw blade back from sharpening and make a few cuts and know if the job was any good.

We were to the point of buying a blade per job because we were just that busy. Then we decided to have those stacks sharpened and what do you know, surely not us, we have been sharpening blades for years. Check your bearings and arbor runout.

So after bearing and new arbor on an scmi and casadei sliders, hmn, a new blade worked fine. Hmn.

Long story short that same shop took a brand new FS Tool 14 blade to nothing. Yes. Nothing. I got the blade back and went ballistic.

I took every blade from scoring to 18” jump saw and looked at them Every single blade was screwed up. No idea how the foreman missed so many.

I gave them one chance to take all the blades back. 87 blades total.

They sharpened what they could but wrote me a fat check for what was not able to be salvaged.

Lucky for them we had just gone to a flat table cnc

If your only getting 80 sheets on a bit, you much be getting a really cheap/crappy bit. I have customers getting 350 sheets doing closets and using 5x8 sheets of melamine using a coated 3/8 leuco bit.

Cabinetmaker,
Sorry to hear that, as soon as you get employees who don’t do their job you usually end up paying for it.
Years a go an old guy told me to lay a new blade on a piece of construction paper and trace a section of the teeth with a fine pen or pencil. He said after you get a blade back from getting sharpened you can lay it on the tracing and see how much is being taken off, see if the angle is being matched, etc. It is a simple, quick way of checking, now days there are more accurate ways of checking blades if it is a big concern.
Usually the shops that do a poor job get known in the industry anyways.

You can get better than 80 sheets per bit with carbide. I have seen melamine manufacturer have a HUGE impact on sheet count. I won't name names, but I have noticed that a few brands will give me maybe 50 sheets before a very high quality carbide bit is ruined, another brand will give me 300+ (4X8 sheets, mostly melamine, maybe 1/4 of that is 3/4 plywood)

Most (if not all) of the diamond options require you to run much slower feed speeds, which is going to slow down your router more than you'd like. At least, all the vendors I've inquired at have told me such.

Chris

What brand, what speed per minute and what model #. Where did you buy it ?

Jeff. Ya. I felt that way for a while. Now I have 22 guys and I am up their asssssssss with the trust but verify attitude.

Foreman got fired for not coming in on a required Saturday during the recession.

Chris, 350 sheets on a coated (Marathon?) Leuco. I'll bet the edges look like they were chain sawn. We typically get 80 +- sheets, same bit but nice quality cut. I know a shop that says he gets 200 sheets on the cheapest bits he can buy. All he needs to do is put on a lot thicker glue when he bands to fill up the tear out. Simple fix.

To me this comes down to feed rates. Last I checked diamond is still not close to carbide in feed rates, which means if I am running a full shift at the end of the day I will have fewer sheets processed if I use diamond. Even with a few additional tool changes my thru put would be much better with carbide vs diamond.

I run the Biesse skill that’s the precursor to the rover s

I run a 3 flute 3/8” compression bit I get from cnc-tool.com for about $54 each.

I shoot for about .020” chipload and 18,000rpm. This translates into about 1160ipm or 28-29 meters a minute.
I get good quality cuts on around 150-200 sheets of melamine from panolam.

I don’t know what software you are using but if you can use the 3D corrected curve lead in your bit life will improve a bit because the machine makes smooth transitions that reduce stoping and starting with your bit.

With a coated onsrude bit 3 flute we get around 300 sheets of melamine before it starts chipping.