good way to drill laminate ?

[night]

i have the holes already in my mdf. the lam was on backorder.
now i have it, and using a normal bit cracks it all up.
ive tried several dremel bits, but nothing works very well.
i just need to make holes big enough to stick the router bit in.

[Cisco Kid]

try putting duck tape or masking tape (something that won't destory the laminate when removing   ) over the hole before you drill into it and see if that doesn't minimize the cracking

I would have thought a high speed dremel would've made short work of that without cracking ... hmmm  

[Tailgunner]

I've always used spade bits or holesaws, but I've never tried drill laminate that wasn't already laminated onto something. You might try sandwiching the laminate between two scrap pieces of wood, clamping them together would probably help.

[night]

its cemented down, but with the mdf holes already drilled the sandwich method doesnt help much.
i have one of those side cutter bits, but it climbs out like crazy

[rockhopper]

I would still try this 'sandwich' method anyway, as the pressure the scrap wood applies on the edge of the laminate around the predilled holes should prevent cracking.

I'm assuming your using a spade bit too.

[night]

i have one of course, im just very reluctant to use it cuz there is no room for error.
when i first drilled the lam, it was the speakers. so a crack didnt matter for a 5" wide hole.

[shmokes]

Maybe you could melt a hole through it by heating up a nail or paper clip with a torch.  Maybe a soldering iron would puncture through when hot.  

[Brax]

Apply your laminate to the MDF, then use your router to cut out the button holes. Yes, it'll crack up a bit when you drill your pilot hole but I've never had it crack so bad that it goes past the hole. You have? Drill slowly using a backer board and it should be fine. It was for me.