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Just got several quotes to do 5 built-in wardrobes here in my house ranging in size from 1m40 (4'7") to 2m (6'7") in width x 60cms deep x 2m28 (7'10") high. Prices range between just over €10,000 to €12,000 which seems like a lot seeing as they are just wood coloured melamine coated particle board (don't know the proper name in English) and come with no internal accessories and the doors consist of a frame around the outside of a melamine panel and kitchen type hinges. I have previously built built-in robes by doing the planning and then a company does the cutting and edgeing and I do the assembling. I don't know of a place to do the cutting and edgeing here so my question is: Will a home made saw bench with a fine blade be good enough to cut melamine panels without chipping the edge? I know that professional saw benches have a small diameter blade in front of the big blade to first cut the underside thereby making a clean cut. I like woodwork although I wouldn't call myself an expert but I'd prefer to spend the money on a good saw and whatever else is required and do it myself.
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You can buy the best blade you can find for cutting 2 sided melamine, and you'll still get some chips on one side, although if you only need one good side, it shouldn't be a problem.
If I need clean edges on both faces, I use one of two methods, both of which are similar.
1) Cut your parts about 1/8" (3mm) big, and trim it off with a router and straightedge.
2) make a fence for my router table with a step on the outfeed side, so it acts like a jointer. Then trim off all the edges after rough cutting with the table saw. This works best for smaller parts.
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I don't know if you do woodworking for a living, but one of my vendors that sell Amana cutting products, carries a saw blade that they guarantee won't chip melamine. I have never tried it, but it might be worth looking into. I know another shop in the area has gotten two of them and returned them both and tried to get a third. One day their sales rep was in the shop talking to one of the employees and brought up the two returned blades. The employee said they cut great, better finish then the beam saw, but that the owner was just trying to get free blades.
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It's not the melamine that chips, it's the chipboard. I cut hundreds of feet of melamine MDF every month and never have any chipping problem. I've also cut plenty of particle board melamine and it always chips on the back.
