MLCS Plywood edgebanding bits

[Travis Porter]

Around 6 months or so ago I picked up the MLCS shaper cutters for plywood edgebanding. This set here.

Although this set is for a shaper, MLCS and others make sets for the router that work pretty much the same way. This set makes a tongue and groove, while others may just do a V cut.

I pulled them out and used them last week as I am building frameless kitchen cabinets for a friend. I had bought this set as I thought it would expedite and simplify the process of edgebanding the plywood.

I tried them out, and the slots cut into the plywood were less than clean. As the cutter makes the cut, the edges of the plywood are so sharp that they are extremely fragile and get crushed when pushing up against the fence. I went to the MLCS website, and low and behold, they now have a video on how to do this. Their solution is to double stick tape another piece of wood to the plywood to act as a fence for the bearing and fence to ride against. This procedure will and does work, but if you have a lot of edging to do is going to take a LOT of time.

My advice is to save your money and make t-molding using a grooving cutter and rabetting bits for your router table or shaper. You can make it fit perfectly and get it centered exactly. That is what I am doing with the cabinet job.:icon_thum

 

[JimmyC]

Thanks Travis,

That was a great review and I have to agree with you, the reason that is purchased is to make a job simpler. If it doesn't do that then it's a waste of money. I know that I won't be buying that set, even though I've been looking at it.

Jimmy

 

[LeeNC]

Thanks for the review. I was looking at the router bits for an upcoming kid's shelf. Tong and groove it is.
LeeNC

 

[McRabbet]

Travis and others,

I've had the 1/2" shaft router bit equivalent and I found that one needs to be careful not to push the board to strongly against the outfeed fence or it can damage the sharp edge cut into the plywood. I solved it by keeping the uncut plywood on the infeed held with a featherboard (where I could add one) or just holding it against the infeed fence and then transferring pressure to straight using a push fixture that was square to the infeed fence as the end of the cut approached. I always added a backer piece to avoid tearout. A small amount of fraying of the plywood veneer does occur in the part being cut out, but I made the hardwood edging strips a little wide (like 13/16") on purpose and trimmed/sanded them down after glue-up and the edge blends perfectly with the plywood. I do think the Burgess-style bits are better, and perhaps a tongue-and-groove technique is fine, too. It would entail more steps, I suspect, for the edge piece when cutting a McRabbet both top and bottom in 2 passes to create the tongue (unless you've got a honkin' big shaper like some folks!!).

 

[NCPete]

Rob's process is pretty much what MichaelGarner and I used in our kitchen project. pushing the hard maple through the other cutter was at times "exciting".