Giant Laminate-Floor-Cutting Scissors
By Benjamen Johnson
Cut laminate flooring up to 12mm (1/2″) quietly and dust-free with D-Cut’s model LC-160 laminate flooring cutter. Besides cutting 6″, 12″, or 18″ pieces to length, you can rip pieces lengthwise, make notches or L-cuts, and even cut diagonally.
There’s no limit to how long you can make a cut. You start by making a cut the full width of the blade, reposition the piece, and keep making cuts until you’re done — almost like using a giant scissors. After you’re done for the day, there’s virtually no maintenance to perform.
The whole cutter measures 25″ x 6.3″ x 2.8″ and weighs just 7.3lbs. D-Cut includes a cutting-length stopper and a steel stand to support long pieces with the LC-160.
You’ll pay about $60 for this tool, which isn’t bad considering what you probably paid to replace the blade in your table saw last time you used it to cut laminate flooring.
Laminate Cutter [D-Cut]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
October 10th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Would this thing also work on backerboards like Hardibacker? It says to use “shears” but never power tools, given the silicate and fiberglass dust hazards. I’ve ruined many a blade on these trying to make inside corners and cuts that can’t be done with a simple score-n-snap.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I’d sure like some user reviews on this (none yet at Amazon). I’ve got several thousand square feet of laminate to install this winter and since I won’t saw it indoors due to the talcum-powder like dust, it means setting up outside under a tarp on rainy days. If this gadget works, it would be worth every penny of it’s price. I’ll be watching.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
joelfinkle: it would depend on the blade — hardibacker is notoriously hard on blades, so I’d want to see the blade made out of some pretty hard stuff before I expect it to last any length of time on hardibacker.
October 11th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Looks like a great way to loose a finger or two.
October 12th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I did a Pergo installation, several years back, and can tell you that stuff wears out saw blades fast. Most of those flooring products are really hard, and I would have to see a cutter like this in action, to quite believe it…
October 12th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Heh…I just watched the demo video, at the product page…I thought the guy was going to lose a thumb!
October 17th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
This looks a bit like the Shingle Sharks we use to cut roof shingles - which is a whole different issue.
We do a lot of flooring and have dedicated 2 older Delta Sidekick compound miter saws to this task. This Delta 6-1/2 inch saw is no longer in production and the original 40 tooth ATB carbide blades are also impossible to find – but we’ve switched them out to Freud TK301’s which are also 40 tooth design. I don’t recall – but we may have to reverse-mount the Freud blades. The Delta Sidekick saws were not terribly good as compound miter saws – especially compared to our newer Bosch and even-newer Makita saws – but they work great on relatively thin and wide stock like flooring. The Pergo product does wear out blades – perhaps because they incorporate some abrasive material in their “wear-layer” to provide extra longevity to their surface finish. If you are going to install lots of this product – you just have to get over it and watch your blades for signs of wear and keep replacements handy.
In a pinch, we do cut laminate flooring on our Bosch and Makita 12 inch saws using a 72 or 96 inch Freud laminate blade – but since I hold the purse strings – I much prefer to replace a $20 Freud TK301 on the Sidekick saw than a $100 blade that we use mostly to cut melamine.