Questions about melamine

[John Carlson]

I'm about to build some cabinets out of melamine-coated particle board. I've never worked with this stuff before and I have two questions.

First: I want to cover the outside of the cabinets with plastic laminate to match the rest of the room. But the only melamine I've seen is at HD and it's coated on both sides. Can laminate be applied over melamine (with contact cement?) or do I have to find somebody who sells melamine-one-side-only board?

Second: I'm planning to use dado and rabbet construction, using regular yellow glue for assembly because all of the joints will have at least one surface of particle board to particle board. In searching the group archives, I see references to something called Roo Glue for melamine, but it sounds like this is for gluing melamine to melamine, not PB to PB. Is yellow glue in rabbets and dados OK?

Any other thoughts, recommendations or warnings would also be appreciated

-- jc Published e-mail address is strictly for spam collection. If e-mailing me, please use jc631 at optonline dot net

[Doug Miller]

Not AFAIK; not much seems to stick to melamine. You could try it, I guess, and let us know how it comes out, but I'm not betting on success.

That would work. So would laminating your formica to a sheet of MDF or plywood, and fastening that to the cabinet with screws from the inside, or with clamps and glue (see below for discussion of appropriate glues).

Yellow glue doesn't stick to melamine. Roo Glue is supposed to, and I imagine it would bond PB to PB or to melamine too, although I've never used it. Titebond Melamine Glue does a pretty good job of sticking particle board to melamine, but IMO the joints should be mechanically reinforced as well. One caveat with the Titebond product: the shelf life is short (only one year), and it isn't a real big seller -- so IF you can find a retailer that has it on the shelf, better check the date code to make sure it's still good. Woodcraft and Rockler do *not* carry it; try the distributors that supply your local cabinet shops.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

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[Robatoy]

I need more info.

What kind of plastic laminate are we talking about?

Dado & rabbet? That will be hard without chipping the melamine.

I can't imagine there being one-sided melamine. In 35 years, I have never seen it...it would warp, I think.

Screw the thing together and cover the screws with your laminate. Scuff the melamine first with a rough belt sander, do not gouge. Clean thoroughly with laquer thinner then use a spray-on contact cement. After you trim the laminate panel, covering the screws, edgeband the cabinet edges in situ.

I hope that steers you in the right direction. *G*

[Pounds on Wood]

I'm no expert with the stuff, but I have used a good amount recently.

One side Melamine is readily available from good distributors. Which is to say NOT the borg. I would search it out because one-sided should be less $$.

Contact cement works well on Melamine. I suggest solvent based, as I have sworn off the water based forever. (piss on the Ev-Nazi's)

Polyurethane glues work good on the Melamine surface, although I would not use it for the laminate.

I would use the polyu instead of yellow in the rabbets and dados. Works great on the particle board, including the bit of Melamine surface that inevitably will be part of the joint.

--

******** Bill Pounds

[Renowood]

My local supplier sells both single and double sided melamine, same price $24. The single side has brown paper on the other side. Cheaper than the Borg and a lot less than Lowe's. Also it's of higher quality than the Borg's.

Renowood

[Jody]

A Hardwood lumber outlet in my area has both. The one-sided has the same finish as MDO or signboard. It's a coated paper face. They also have a very limited line of wood veneer and melamine. I think the only thing they carry in that is oak, cherry and walnut.

[bridger]

it'll probably work. do a test.

yellow glue will *not* stick to melamine.

roo glue will stick melamine to about anything.

yellow glue is fine for PB to PB but not for PB to melamine.

[John Carlson]

Thanks Bill (and others). I'll look around for somebody who sells one-sided Melamine. Gotta be someone around. And I'll take your advice about the polyurethane glue (that's something like Gorilla Glue, right?) instead of yellow glue.

If I can get the one-sided stuff then I won't have to laminate over the melamine. I would use the melamine surface for the inside of the cabinet and laminate the outside. For that I would expect to use something like Weldwood contact cement which I've used before with good results. It's nasty stuff and the fumes scare me, but it works.

-- jc Published e-mail address is strictly for spam collection. If e-mailing me, please use jc631 at optonline dot net