First Post - Veneered MDF

oozulum · 12 Sep 2006

I've been lurking on the forum for a while and now it's time for my first question. Please bear in mind that I'm quite a novice.

I need some thick veneered MDF for a project. However the thichness I need (50+mm) doesn't seem to exist. I can get it in 25mm and obviously thinner sizes.

My question is, is it ok to glue boards like this back to back, bearing in mind that they're veneered on both sides?

Cheers,

Drew

Scrit · 12 Sep 2006

Hi Drew and welcome

One or two companies can supply 50mm veneered stuff, but you'll pay the price of it being a one-off for them. As you correctly surmise it should be possible to get 50mm by gluing boards back to back, but I'd go for three boards: 18mm veneered + 12mm plain MDF + 18mm veneered. I know that is 28mm but many "18mm" veneered boards I've machined have actually been nearer to 19mm and there's a couple of glue lines to take into consideration, too. 18mm is a stock thickness with a good variety of veneer facings available, 25mm is much more difficult to source in such a good range as most of it seems to go to office furniture manufacturers. You can also save a little weight by specifying lightweight or ultra lightweight for the core MDF and/or using a "egg box" type core structure, rather like a torsion box has.

Th only suggestion I'd make about glues is to use something which doesn't creep or foam, e.g. exterior grade PVA (D3) or urea formaldehyde (UF) glue (Extramite)

Scrit

jasonB · 12 Sep 2006

I've done quite a few shelves by making them up in layers either with a solid center or strips around thge edge and ribs spaced along their length. It is bes to gule the boards up 5-10mm oversize then trim once the glue has set, a lot easier than trying to keep 3 layers of board in place during clamping.

These shelves are 13mm veneered board and 12mm MR MDF core, the edge is finished with 50mm wide iron on edging, and the finished job

Jason

Newbie_Neil · 12 Sep 2006

Hi Drew

Welcome to the forum.

You could also do a search on this site for torsion+box or look here for a description.

Cheers
Neil

oozulum · 12 Sep 2006

Thanks for your sguuestions.

I'll make sure I post a pic of the finished project.

DomValente · 12 Sep 2006

Welcome Drew

May seem obvious or you may already know but you can purchase some veneered boards with A,B and C sides(A being the best) so an A/C board is cheaper than an A/A.

Good luck

Dom