glueing to melamine

[tsb]

Has anyone any idea what the best glue is to stick MDF to melamine. I'm building kitchen cabinets at the moment using melamine faced MDF. I want the melamine finish on the inside of the cabinets but any outer sides showing will be covered with a veneered oak MDF to match the face frame

 

[Slim]

Contact adhesive?

 

[Oryxdesign]

PU should do it

 

[Steve Maskery]

tsb
You can't glue to melamine reliably. It's one of the best non-stick surface available.

Many kitchen cabinets are just screwed together, but yo can use biscuits if you want to glue as well, any good PVA would do the job, but it it the biscuit/chipboard surface you will be gluing, not the melamine.

Cheers
Steve

 

[jasonB]

I did a cabinet once with maple veneered board on the side and MFC inside. Took all the melamine off one side of the chipboard with a belt sander and just used PVA.

If you have a few to do it may be easier to use 18mm veneered board and us econtact adhesive to bond a sheet of Laminate (Formica) to the inside, seal the oak before on the show face to keep it all balanced

Mitre bond will also do it but a bit expensive if you have a few decor panels to do :wink:

Jason

 

[Paul Chapman]

I've used biscuits and PVA successfully (glue the whole of the mating surfaces, not just the biscuit slots). Once the cabinets are in place they are not going to move about so there shouldn't be too much stress on the joints. The only ones you might want to give some additional thought to are the wall units as there might be more stress on their joints if heavy things are put in the units.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Karl]

TSB

If I understand correctly, you are building the carcasses from melamime. And then cladding any exposed end panels with (18mm??) Oak veneered MDF.

Can you not just screw (from the inside!) the MDF veneered boards to the carcasses? Or am I missing something????

Gluing up sounds like a right PITA.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Oryxdesign]

I'm sure PU works however, why not use single sided MFMDF?

 

[tim]

Took all the melamine off one side of the chipboard with a belt sander and just used PVA.

How many belts did that use? :shock:

Cheers

Tim

 

[George_N]

I have built my kitchen cabinets out of MFC put together with biscuits, chipboard screws and PVA glue. The cabinet backs are 18 mm MFC so they are rock solid.

 

[tsb]

the idea was to use 6mm veneered board, but it sounds like am better of using 18mm. Thanks for suggestions

 

[andy king]

Hi tsb,

you can glue to melamine successfully using standard contact adhesive. (I use TimeBond as it allows a little movement to align and isn't so messy as standard contact adhesive)
To achieve a good bond you need to scour the surface of the melamine with a coarse abrasive to provide a key for the adhesive.
You'll then be in a situation similar to standard Formica type laminating where the back of the laminate has a non porous surface with a texture, bonded to a porous smooth substrate such as chipboard, or in your case, MDF.
A tip if you haven't used contact adhesive before is to glue the laminate/melamine surface first as it won't suck in and dry as quickly as the MDF. By the time you have glued the MDF, as it will dry quicker because of the porosity, they should then be both at a similar touch dry situation and ready to go.

Hope this helps.

Andy

 

[George_N]

Where end panels show on kitchen units I have successfully glued on decorative end panels of painted 6 mm MDF "match board" with "Grip Fix" construction adhesive. If you can lay the cupboards flat until the glue goes off then the glue on its own is enough. If the cupboards are already in situ then a couple of discrete panel pins will stop it slipping out of place until the glue sets.

 

[gidon]

tsb - agree with Karl - screw from inside. Prolly through some of the shelving holes.
That's how all the oak veneered fascia panels are fixed in my Ikea kitchen.
Cheers
Gidon

 

[steve tighe]

Another way of doing it is if you've a local veneering firm,get them to glue oak veneer onto a sheet of laminate,you won't need a backing but you will need to hand sand out the initial saw marks on the veneer which won't be a problem as they're reasonably fine.

That way you can cut your MF boards to size,allowing a couple or so mm's for the tops/top rails & bases,& do as others have said regarding keying up the MF face before using contact.Obviously get the veneered laminate made up over size & trim it back to suit.

You can put the unit together as well before glueing the laminate on,then it's a simple matter to fit the frame on the front after trimming back.

That's just a suggestion,it does work & it works well,it's also a good method to use if you want to veneer a curved surface,convex or concave.

Basically it's laminating but with a timber facing.