The conveniences of building cabinets and other projects from melamine are often offset by its tendency to chip and tear out along the cutting edges. Delta believes it has solved the problem of ragged cuts with its new line of full-kerf blades that are designed specifically for cutting delicate melamine.
Delta begins with a heavy-duty blade plate that is laser-cut with a series of harmonic slots to help dampen vibration. The arbor hole is honed to improve the fit on the arbor shaft as well as minimize runout. But, as you might expect, the real magic is in the teeth. The company uses submicron NANO-grade carbide and grinds the teeth into hollow-faced tips to double the number of cutting edges. Teeth are tipped at a 10-hook angle — there are 60 teeth on the 10-in. blade.
“The feedback we collected from more than 200 professionals working with melamine in 50 commercial and residential woodworking saw shops stressed the importance of no chipping or tear out, plus longer blade life and the ability to re-sharpen their blades,” said Simon Barrett, a product manager for DELTA Machinery. “With a fervent commitment to designing and engineering products that exceed the demands of our customers, these new saw blades represent the high performance and precision they expect from DELTA Machinery.”
I was sent a sample of this blade recently and, after making a number of cuts with the blade installed in my cabinet saw, I was favorably impressed with the results. The edges were crisp, and there was no tearout evident on either the top or bottom face of the melamine.
Delta offers these new melamine blades in four sizes: 10- and 12-in., 220mm and 300mm. Prices range from around $85 to $120, and the blades are available now through Delta distributors.
