cutting mdf?

jogdish

Hi,
Want to cut some very light MDF (5mm, or less thick, the super cheap stuff). Ive tried a saw and a hack saw and both make a mess (I don't have a nice table, or a band/circular saw).


Would using my Aldi bought parkside angle grinder be good? Says 76ø for the discs, Im hoping I could pick up an appropriate disc and give it a try.


Any advice?

looksee

No idea about angle grinders, but you need a fine toothed, sharp saw and the board firmly anchored.

newirishman

A jigsaw with a fine blade, plus some tape on the top, high speed but little pressure usually works.
Alternatively, a saw/blade for metal cutting does the trick as well.
Also, sandwiching between two chunkier planks of throw away wood if everything else fails.
Angle grinder with appropriate wood cutting disk works as well I guess, but could be tricky to do a straight cut.

jogdish

looksee wrote: »

No idea about angle grinders, but you need a fine toothed, sharp saw and the board firmly anchored.

Is there a name, bowe/japanesse/hack or similar? for that type of saw

jogdish

newirishman wrote: »

A jigsaw with a fine blade, plus some tape on the top, high speed but little pressure usually works.
Alternatively, a saw/blade for metal cutting does the trick as well.
Also, sandwiching between two chunkier planks of throw away wood if everything else fails.
Angle grinder with appropriate wood cutting disk works as well I guess, but could be tricky to do a straight cut.

Tried the jigsaw (old black and decker) almost impossible to control.

newirishman

jogdish wrote: »

Tried the jigsaw (old black and decker) almost impossible to control.

MDF needs to be fixed properly on both sides using a plank and clamps so it doesn’t wobble. Cut between tables of same heights of you have that are close together (don’t cut into the tables of course!)
High speed on the jigsaw with the forward movement (pendulum action) turned off

my3cents

An angle grinder will burn. I've used one to cut wood with screws stuck in it when putting in new windows.

If the mdf is that crappy I wonder if scoring it a good few times with a stanley knife blade would work. Once you have a deep score will it snap leaving a clean enough edge on the main face which you scored? You need a good straight edge to try that.

you could also try double scoring where you score two lines leaving the thickness of whatever saw blade you are using then cut between the score lines. That might just help keep the face from tearing to bits. Tape first then score even.

phelixoflaherty

Keep saw blade at very shallow angle

Lex Luthor

cutting MDF in general is messy, fibres go everywhere

I don't think a hacksaw or angle grinder is an appropriate tool for cutting wood

If its a sheet, then a circular saw with a fine blade should be ok

Ak84

For 5 mm a sharp stanley blade will cut it with no mess as someone else suggested. But by god be careful.

beauf

As previous .. Fine toothed circular saw.

listermint

beauf wrote: »

As previous .. Fine toothed circular saw.

I wouldnt buy a circular saw just for this job. ( i have 3 of them) but i wouldnt buy one .

A New Stanley blade and a straight edge as pointed to above is ideal.

colm_mcm

jogdish wrote: »

Tried the jigsaw (old black and decker) almost impossible to control.

Get a different blade.