on this video I want to share with you
some useful tips when working with
laminated finishes for your projects in
particular I want to share a really
fantastic router bit that I found and
will make it super easy to get that
perfect flush finish every time all the
videos I found on YouTube tell me to use
a flush trim bit with a bearing at the
tip found these to be very problematic I
started with these cheap flush trim bits
from China as you can see the bearings
quickly gave way after a couple of uses
next I upgraded to a branded flush trim
bit this is a much better quality bit
but you can see that glue sticking to
the bearing is a problem this bearing
isn't going to last much longer without
extensive cleaning what I want to show
you now is this router bit with a
triangle at the tip this is an awesome
tool as you no longer need to worry
about glue jamming up the bearing I will
show you the bit in action shortly I
have the bit installed on line Makita
handheld trimmer secured to an
inexpensive jet router table with the
table it saves me a lot of time as I
don't have to clamp the workpiece down
and turn it to get to all sides so these
are my work pieces for a shoe cabinet on
building they've been cut to size and
pocket holes already drilled there's a
lot of videos on using contact cement to
stick on the laminate so I'm going to
skip showing you that step as it's
pretty much standard I've left a bit of
overhang when cutting the laminate and
now I'm going to show you how I trim it
off the thing I love about the triangle
bit is that it's very easy to run the
board along it because it's stationary
also the main advantage is that you
don't have to worry about glue jamming
up the bearing and then burning your
workpiece from the friction of the barre
with this setup it takes me a minute or
less to trim each panel so the frilly
bits you see on the edge of this
laminate is the protective cover of the
laminate I prefer to keep the plastic on
when I trim because I'm sliding the
finish surface on the router table will
protect from like scratches and also
helps to keep the glue off the finished
surface which means less time spent on
cleaning and polishing afterwards
so the last step after putting on the
edge banding is to peel off the
protective cover
and there you have it a fully finished
piece of furniture using laminate I hope
you found this tip helpful and if you
want to get the router bit that's an
affiliate link on the description of
this video which helps me out if you use
it
here's some bonus video footage a shot
of how I cut my laminate to size I get
these four by eight sheets of laminate
in rolls it helps to have a large world
table to work with the laminate these
things are pretty fragile and it will
crack if meant too much basically I just
lay the workpiece I want to cover right
on top of the laminate I then use a
sharpie because mark around edge giving
me about a quarter inch or so as a
buffer to be trimmed off this is another
great tool for working with large sheets
of laminate it's a laminate cutter on
smaller sheets I would just cut them on
my table saw but with large sheets this
can be tricky with the laminate cutter I
just cut it like I would a piece of
paper the cut width is about the same
size as the sharpie line so once cut
it's pretty much the exact size I want
this means less wastage and more precise
laminate cuts for gluing I hope you
found these tips helpful and all the
tools I mentioned are in the description
of this video thanks for watching
you