Cutting Kitchen worktops (unusual angles)

[Trevithick]

Hope someone can help us out with this, I was going to buy a worktop jig, but after looking at a few it appears to me they are designed for cutting specific angles (90 and 45 degrees)? I have never used one before so I may be wrong.
Our kitchen is a strange 5 sided shape so the angles of the corners are:- three @ 90 degrees, one @ 35 degrees and one at 55 degrees.

Can these angles (35 and 55) be accomodated with the jig, or should I just cut the worktops straight through at half the angle rather than having a stagered joint?

Thanks in advance for any advice

 

[Scrit]

The standard worktop jigs are normally used because they save material over using a conventional mitre joint. Both DTS and Makita make worktop jigs which will allow joints to be made which are +/-3 degrees, however yours are so extreme that I can't think of a jig which would accommodate them. So mitre it is, I'm afraid.

Scrit

(Having said that somebody will now make a liar out of me....... )

 

[Trevithick]

Cheers Scrit, will cut standard mitres as sugested.

 

[Trevithick]

Have finally got the worktops along with some chipboard templates which have been cut to the correct angles.

I plan on laying into it at weekend so hope someone can help out by answering a couple of questions before I start.

1. What adhesive would you reccomend for jointing? (the worktops are a dark ebony satin finish).

2. Might seem a daft question but do I join them in situ or join them in the garage and bring in once fully set?

3. When making the joint should I align the faces by eye and touch or is it best to clamp to a flat surface before tensioning the bolts?

4. should the sharp corner of the laminate coating be sanded or chamfered or left as it is before making the joint.

5. Is it necessary or advisable to use biscuits as well as clamping bolts?

That's 5 questions already..! Anyway thanks in advance for any light you can shed in my direction

cheers Trev

 

[Scrit]

Talk about coming back to haunt me?

1. What adhesive would you reccomend for jointing? (the worktops are a dark ebony satin finish).

I don't know of a suitable colour in the usual Colorbond range, but an alternative is to use a runny good-quality black silicone sealant such as that manufactured by Evostik. If the joint is cut correctly the line should be almost invisible when it's pulled-up by the worktop joiners. BTW on true mitres I'd consider using at least four rather than the standard three

2. Might seem a daft question but do I join them in situ or join them in the garage and bring in once fully set?

In situ. I now have this wonderfu; image of someone trying to bring an entire, made-up U-plan kitchen worktop through the door as one piece in our house

3. When making the joint should I align the faces by eye and touch or is it best to clamp to a flat surface before tensioning the bolts?

You need to have levelled-up the carcasses as well as you can in fore-aft and side-to-side directions. The worktops are then dry positioned and levelled again, if necessary by packing underneath with shims (veneer, plastic packers, even cardboard are used. The bolts are tensioned to finger tight, the joint levelled and then they are tightened a bit more. I generally work from front to back several times gently re-levelling the joint as I go with pressure rather than BF&I (the worktops often seem to have an imperceptible dip in the middle which can be felt if not seen)

4. should the sharp corner of the laminate coating be sanded or chamfered or left as it is before making the joint.

Don't touch it. Sanding or scraping can leave a visible white line (actually the paper fibre on which the wood grain pattern is printed). Just remember to use a fresh cutter every second joint (i.e. one cutter does 2 joints, both sides, then the joiner recesses)

5. Is it necessary or advisable to use biscuits as well as clamping bolts?

It's personal taste, but I don't use biscuits. The reason is simple. The base of a biscuit jointer is straight and if you have a slight bow in the top of the worktops and you are jointing end to side the end slots will be slightly higher in the end material than the side slot material - so you'll never get the joint dead flush. Some people even glue them, but wouldn't because they go off (set solid) awfully quickly, so if something is going wrong you are committed very early on unlike using jointing adhesive or coloured silicone which give a bit more leeway. Once the joint has set if I think it needs more support I'll sometimes screw a piece of MFC across the underside of the joint where it won't be seen. It is rarely necessary, though

Scrit

 

[Trevithick]

Talk about coming back to haunt me?


WoooOOOOooooOOoOoooo.. (eery spooky sound echo's from the darkness)

Had to raise the floor by 50mm, plaster the kitchen and fit a new ceiling. anyway next stop worktops. Thanks Scrit for the detailed answers to the questions (will get you a beer next time I see you) will hopefuly save me a lot of dithering about at the weekend

cheers Trev

 

[pjholybloke]

The standard worktop jigs are normally used because they save material over using a conventional mitre joint. Both DTS and Makita make worktop jigs which will allow joints to be made which are +/-3 degrees, however yours are so extreme that I can't think of a jig which would accommodate them. So mitre it is, I'm afraid.

Scrit

(Having said that somebody will now make a liar out of me....... )