cutting out holes in mdf

[adamb4321]

Hi,

My girlfriend has roped me into helping her make a "role play" area for her school in the style of a shop/railway station etc like this one:


http://www.e-quip4education.co.uk/acatalog/info_TT3271.html

i'm going to be using 16mm MDF for the panels, what will be the best thing to cut holes for windows/doors etc?

I've got a cheap jigsaw that is pretty rubbish as the blade always wanders at an angle and can't cut a nice neat straight line.

Would a more expensive jigsaw be better or is there another way of doing it? Can I cut out square holes with a circular saw?

also, what would be the recommended circular saw blade (how many teeth per inch etc) for making nice clean cuts in MDF?

Any help appreciated

 

[Deluks]

All jigsaws wander, however a new good quality blade will help, plus you have to go ultra slow.
You can plunge cut with a circ saw (mind those fingers!) tpi not as important as it being sharp. You can always sand down rough edges later.

Cutting holes accurately is best achieved using a router and trammel, or a round template and guided bearing bit.

*edit*

Just looked at the pic, and I reckon ply would be better for the freestanding panels.

 

[gregers]

i think as this is aimed at children,i too would agree with ply,but i personally would lip all edges to avoid splinters etc.

 

[adamb4321]

Thanks for the replies,

I've ordered the MDF already but the ones you can buy are all mdf so I don't see it being a problem, I looked at ply but the splinter issue put me off.


I've got a router so I'll probably use that to cut the holes out once I've made a template to cut round.

Adam

 

[foxhole]

A router was used on the one in the pic, if you notice the corners are all rounded, no square edges, mdf is perfect for the job but must be sealed, 16mm mdf was that a typo comes in 15mm or 18mm.? The pic looks like 15mm unless you buy ready laminate mdf.

 

[Deluks]

The pic looks like 15mm

You can spot the difference between 16mm & 15mm from that pic!

 

[foxhole]

mdf is not available in 16mm, simples

 

[Deluks]

Is if it's veneered

 

[adamb4321]

The MDF I've got is 18mm.

I managed to have a look at a couple of panels which are like the ones in the link and would say that the board that has been used was 9mm so maybe I could have got thinner sheets.


And yes the corners are radiused, couldn't see any sign of sealer on the cut surfaces though.

I've ordered a reasonable jigsaw as I think it should speed things up a bit, hopefully I can start this weekend.

 

[adamb4321]

Just a quicj update.

I bought a ryobi jigsaw for around £60 and splahed out on some Bosch jigsaw blades have to say it all went very well.

I used my circular saw to make the straight cuts and then jigsawed the rest, it's looking good so far.

The next job is to make a frame for it and then screw and glue together.

I've been reading other posts about sealing the cut edge on MDF, whats the quickest way to do this?

I'm thinking of either pva/water mix or sanding sealer except I don't know what sanding sealer is? is it something like knotting solution?

 

[chippie244]

Sanding sealer is a shellac based varnish like button polish, once it has been applied and dried you can, using the correct grades of sandpaper, get the cut edges as smooth as the face.