MDF Kitchen doors help needed

[pren]

Hi.

Pardon my manners for jumping in with a question.

If the 12mm MDF is going to be sealed and painted; Is moisture penetration really an issue? If not, would regular MDF be ok instead of MR-MDF once sealed and painted?

Seaco: I love those doors! Very impressed! I'd have pegged that as a professional job. You haven't had any issues with warping at all?


Cheers.
Bryn

 

[DaveL]

If the 12mm MDF is going to be sealed and painted; Is moisture penetration really an issue? If not, would regular MDF be ok instead of MR-MDF once sealed and painted?

The reason for using the MR MDF is it machines better, the cut edges are not as fluffy and therefore time is saved at the filling and sanding stage. 8)

 

[seaco]

That's is how I made mine... https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... highlight=

Lee, how exactly did you finish the doors? How many coats and what top coat?

Hi Noel

It is all spray painted with an undercoat and topcoat I got from a local custom kitchen fitter he gave me the tip about using superglue also.

I will try to find out exactly what the paint was for you if you need it?

Hi.

Pardon my manners for jumping in with a question.

If the 12mm MDF is going to be sealed and painted; Is moisture penetration really an issue? If not, would regular MDF be ok instead of MR-MDF once sealed and painted?

Seaco: I love those doors! Very impressed! I'd have pegged that as a professional job. You haven't had any issues with warping at all?


Cheers.
Bryn

Hi Bryn

I used MRMDF for 2 reasons 1, is that I didn't want to take any chances if any small cracks etc appeared and let moisture in and 2, MRMDF routs and finishes nicer than MDF... and I haven't had any problems at all with any doors and that includes warping infact I can truely say that if I took those same photos again today you wouldn't be able to tell the difference!

I do put some of that down to the paint which is I have to say superb and some of the toughest I've ever used...

 

[RobertMP]

I've made a door just using material I already had for now. 12mm std MDF panel with strips of 6mm beech veneered mdf stuck onto the face

Have to say it went together easily and looks quite good considering. I did make it oversize then cut it down with the circular saw and it wasn't too difficult and the edges were reasonable. Pre sanded the inner edges and it now has its first coat of primer. Should have drilled the hinge holes before starting spraying so I'll do that in the morning before rubbing down and second coating.

I will try the other method of construction as the materials will be easier to source. Stick on front frame was certainly easy though

 

[hpl]

I tried making MDF doors in our last house to spruce up the kitchen before putting it up for sale. It worked, along with a few other quick revamps, and we sold the house within a few days (but 4 years ago).
I used the stick 6 mm round the edges trick with the brads but I noticed that over the next few months the MDF must have shrunk slightly and a few of the joints opened up and the filler in the holes didn't shrink so they were left slightly raised. I have avoided doing this again since but it doesn't seem as if anyone else has had a similar problem. Should I try again?

Johnny B

 

[Noel]

Seaco said:
"Hi Noel

It is all spray painted with an undercoat and topcoat I got from a local custom kitchen fitter he gave me the tip about using superglue also.

I will try to find out exactly what the paint was for you if you need it?"

Lee, that would be very helpful, thanks.

 

[RobertMP]

Well here is my first prototype...

Spray painted with 2 coats of Johnstones MDF primer and 2 coats of Johnstones trade eggshell brilliant white. I'll use Dulux trade eggshell for the job (cream colour of some sort) but didn't want to buy 2.5 litres just for testing the process.

Going to make the kitchen a lot brighter!

This is the strips stuck on the face version. Still intend to try out the joined version so I can decide what sheets I will need.

 

[George_N]

That looks good Robert, not a million miles from what I have done in my own kitchen.

 

[pren]

Bloody hell, Robert! That's utterly flawless!! =D> :lol: I do like those handles.

Did you have to dilute the primer and topcoat for spraying? What sort of sprayer did you use?

I'm going to be replacing my kitchen doors in the near future, so I'd like to follow your lead.

Cheers.
Bryn

 

[RobertMP]

I have a Fuji HVLP set that I bought from another member here on the forum. The water based primer was thinned with about 25% with water and the oil based eggshell finish with around 20% white spirit. I used a viscosity cup to get them to around 20 - 25 seconds.

I didn't clear up the workshop as thoroughly as I would if spraying something more important and there were a couple of dust inclusions in the finish. Surprisingly once the door was put on I realised the dust specks just did not notice. So I will still take a cleaner approach but it is nice to know that the odd dust speck is not a disaster.

I've bought some sample drawers from Ikea to try out and picked up the handle there too. Not sure about the handle myself. Drawers seem quite good quality and are cheaper than buying the runners alone. Wrong widths of course but that is soon solved with a new base panel and modified back. Bit longer than normal runners too but I can cope with that.

 

[George_N]

I have a Fuji HVLP set that I bought from another member here on the forum. The water based primer was thinned with about 25% with water and the oil based eggshell finish with around 20% white spirit. I used a viscosity cup to get them to around 20 - 25 seconds.

That sounds very thin. There was some discussion on the forum a while back about spraying problems and someone (can't find the thread at the moment) said that the physical properties of water based paints are spoiled by over thinning. You don't appear to have any such problem and your results look great but I have found that thinning by about 10% for water based paints is about right to get to about 50 - 60 seconds with the viscosity cup. This viscosity works well with my cheap HVLP system (B&Q) and also with a compressor-driven gravity-fed gun. Much thinner and I don't get good coverage and the drying times are too long. Also spraying water based products onto MDF, even the MR stuff, you don't want to make the surface too wet or you will get some swelling of fibre bundles that are difficult to sand smooth.

 

[RobertMP]

I did try it a bit thicker but it did not atomise too well. My percentages are just guesses in any case as I did not measure anything (apart from viscosity).

Just got home from Barking with £136 worth of Medite MR MDF so I'll have plenty of chances to experiment further! Gone for the stick on option as it was so much easier to do and looked just as good. Got a 2 week holiday soon so I'll start a WIP thread when I get back.

 

[George_N]

Looking forward to seeing the results.