# Kitchen worktop jig material?



## tsb (22 Nov 2010)

The kitchen worktop jigs they sell in screwfix appears to be made from a hard brown plastic with a white face. Does anybody know what this material is and where you can purchase sheets of it


----------



## chippy1970 (24 Nov 2010)

tsb":ydroi78f said:


> The kitchen worktop jigs they sell in screwfix appears to be made from a hard brown plastic with a white face. Does anybody know what this material is and where you can purchase sheets of it



Phenolic plastic you can get it from any plastic supplier but its very expensive


----------



## George_N (26 Nov 2010)

The really cheap ones are melamine-faced MDF and probably best avoided.


----------



## defsdoor (4 Jan 2011)

George_N":31mcesmv said:


> The really cheap ones are melamine-faced MDF and probably best avoided.



Is that the jigs or the worktops ?


----------



## Deansocial (16 Jan 2011)

defsdoor":13pdgt8h said:


> George_N":13pdgt8h said:
> 
> 
> > The really cheap ones are melamine-faced MDF and probably best avoided.
> ...



the jig,

its also call compact laminate by alot of places and is hard as hell to cut


----------



## donplas (21 Sep 2011)

the brown material is tuff null it is expensive tho

does anyone know where i can get a drg in DXF for a work top jig?


----------



## Benchwayze (21 Sep 2011)

Here's a link for Tufnol. 

http://www.needsplastics.co.uk/page3584/home.aspx

Click on the 'Materials' button. 

It is expensive, but you gets what you pays for. 

It stinks to high heaven when you machine it, as it is made from linen, glued together in sheets with hide glue, and then baked. 
It's great stuff for jigs, small drilling tables and router table inserts. etc.

try ebay. Sometimes you can buy small quantities on a buy now option. 

HTH 
John


----------



## Allylearm (24 Sep 2011)

There is other makers of the same product product called Trespa and Formica Compact it can be used for wet walls as it is impervise to water I purchase it 12mm sheets though due to manufacture parameters you can find this size does fluctuate. it can come in any colour and the centre core can be coloured to customers spec, edge can be polished to a clean finish of router, good for engraving name plates/signs. I cut it on Machinery (Beam Saw/CNC Router) as it is hard as nails and when fitting to scribe it is better sanding it with a belt sander. On a factory tour I did see wet wall framing and faceless fixing techniques along with toilet cubicle installation's. I would call it thick Formica and can take a impact but can shatter if determined into shards that are very sharp

I did make some worktop jigs from some sheets that were spare. I used the Howdens Jig as a template and machined out the jig by CNC Router.

I have only ordered it through Rowan Timber here in Scotland and usually gets delivered direct from the Newcastle factory of Formica. It usually costs in the region of £120 a sheet of 8x4 with bulk discount. I cannot remember if it is like Corian and you need to be certified to purchase from the manufacturer. It can take drywall screws as fixings on edge though more often I use machine screws/dowels and lumberjack glue or similar.


----------

