Hi,
It was cold again in the garage this morning so I didn't want to tackle gluing the laminate as I would need the garage doors open to release the fumes from the contact adhesive. I got everything ready for the glue up though. I had forgotten to buy wooden dowels to use for glue separators which would keep the laminate and MDF apart until everything was aligned after applying the glue.
Bench cleared for action
I pulled out a 2' square piece of 6mm MDF and setting the saw bench at 18mm ran 19 strips off. All the sharp edges needed sanding so my chum David came to my aid as David had very kindly made me a long sanding block quite a while ago and this made a a quick job of it unlike trying to sand with a bit of hand held abrasive paper. All were then dusted off.
MDF glue separator strips and David's excellent sanding block.
Whilst in the garage I had a look at one of the tins of Evo Stik and noted the coverage was stated at one surface 2.8 square metres with half this for two surfaces which I would be doing. Now the question was did I have enough adhesive and to make matters worse I only had one foam 4” roller. A trip to Screwfix solved this as I bought another 500ml of Evo Stik and also bought a 5 pack of foam rollers. I didn't want to run out of glue in the middle of a panel or drop the only roller I had onto the garage floor; better safe than sorry.
Again David's sanding block came in handy as I used it to lightly sand all the MDF panels removing any roughness left by the saw and to provide a key for the glue; the Formica panels were also sanded around the cut edges to remove any bits. The bench was cleared and everything dusted down.
Light sanding and laminate roller.
Wow; the sun came out after dinner and it warmed up so I was in business. With the garage doors open I still had my coat on and decided to tackle the desk top panel first as this was the largest panel and if this went OK the others would be much easier. Having watched the “You tube” video I was looking forward to rolling the Evo Stik Impact Adhesive on with ease; 30 years ago I used a brush for a similar job and didn't like doing it. As on the video I poured a quantity of adhesive onto the Formica and set about rolling it out; this proved highly stressful and I simply found it impossible to use the roller as it was making the job a gooey sticky mess leaving everything patchy. I must admit I wasn't sure what roller had been used in the video so assumed a foam roller would be OK; well it wasn't and my stress was going off the scale. Supplied with the adhesive was a toothed plastic spreader so the roller was dumped out of the way and the spreader was just as bad; this adhesive was terrible to spread and it was gelling much too quickly; near to panic I rushed up into the bungalow and grabbed a 1.5” paint brush. Like 30 years ago using a brush to apply this adhesive certainly was not a pleasant job but eventually I coated all ten panels (5 MDF & 5 Formica). I'm glad the doors were open or I would have been glue sniffer of the year.
Now came the moment of truth; a mistake whilst aligning the MDF and Formica for the desk top could prove expensive. The MDF panel was resting on the Startrite combination woodworker and I placed MDF strips onto the adhesive knowing they would not stick as this adhesive only sticks to itself. The Formica was very easy to align and the middle strip was gently pulled out ensuring the Formica didn't lose alignment; the rubber roller was used to press the Formica into contact with the MDF and then the rest of the strips were removed one at a time allowing the Formica to go down flat without air bubbles.
Desk top panel ready for Formica.
I had allowed rather too much extra size on the Formica; 1/2” extra all around when in fact 1/4” all around would have been much better. Too much overhanging Formica is just asking for trouble whilst rolling under pressure; one slip off the panel would destroy the overhang leaving a ragged edge. Fortunately I realized this before I did any damage. Not wanting any air gaps in the glue joint especially around the edges I went mad in applying roller pressure; so much so in fact that the roller became quite hot. At last the Formica was laid and I could move on to the other four smaller panels; by now I was hot and bothered so removed my coat and really got stuck into the other panels doing these on the bench. One thing I quickly picked up on was the sound as I rolled; at first there was a lot of “cracking” sounds as the roller was forced hard into contact with the laminate but after a few passes of the roller all would be quiet indicating the joint had gone together.
I was delighted to have finally put this job behind me and I could stand back to inspect my handiwork. This Formica looks wonderful. The instructions on the adhesive tin say that the adhesive should be left for 24 hours to cure but I wasn't happy with this because the Formica overhang on each panel was just waiting to become damaged so I decided to have a go at removing this excess using the router. With a flush cutting bearing guided cuter installed into the router I actually found this part of the job very rewarding; the router did a brilliant job in bringing the Formica flush; the adhesive tended to pile up in places but was easy enough to remove with a thumb nail then the router was put around again just to ensure everything was indeed flush as intended. The hardest part of routing was securing the panels as they just wanted to skate around and again I was afraid of causing damage to the overhang. Clamps and packing were a slow way to go but worth the effort giving me five lovely panels ready for an oak frame to be added. Please note these panels are still covered with a clear plastic film and it is this film that is scratched by the router base and not the actual laminate; the film will remain in place until the desk is completed as it affords protection to the laminate.
Top panel Formica in place.
I wandered up into the bungalow for a pot of tea and Bron accompanied me back into the garage to see what I had been up to. The garage looked a bit of a mess after all the routing but was soon cleaned up. Bron also liked the new panels and is looking forward to me installing the new work surfaces in the kitchen. In the end I only used one 500ml tin of adhesive leaving two tins for use on the kitchen work surfaces. When I picked up the foam roller it was bone dry without a sign of adhesive on it?
What a relief; success at last.
As with every project I do some things are easier than others to do but I can honestly say applying impact adhesive with a paint brush isn't my idea of fun. I need to do a bit more research before my next laminating job; what adhesive is used and what type of roller to apply it with; it looked so easy on the video but as usual I have to learn a new technique the hard way.
These panels are a major feature of the new desk and having successfully made them I feel a lot more confident that the desk will eventually turn out well. Next job is to make the oak frames and this should prove interesting as the frames need to be very accurate to accommodate the panels without ugly gaps at the joints.
Kind regards, Col.
It was cold again in the garage this morning so I didn't want to tackle gluing the laminate as I would need the garage doors open to release the fumes from the contact adhesive. I got everything ready for the glue up though. I had forgotten to buy wooden dowels to use for glue separators which would keep the laminate and MDF apart until everything was aligned after applying the glue.
Bench cleared for action
I pulled out a 2' square piece of 6mm MDF and setting the saw bench at 18mm ran 19 strips off. All the sharp edges needed sanding so my chum David came to my aid as David had very kindly made me a long sanding block quite a while ago and this made a a quick job of it unlike trying to sand with a bit of hand held abrasive paper. All were then dusted off.
MDF glue separator strips and David's excellent sanding block.
Whilst in the garage I had a look at one of the tins of Evo Stik and noted the coverage was stated at one surface 2.8 square metres with half this for two surfaces which I would be doing. Now the question was did I have enough adhesive and to make matters worse I only had one foam 4” roller. A trip to Screwfix solved this as I bought another 500ml of Evo Stik and also bought a 5 pack of foam rollers. I didn't want to run out of glue in the middle of a panel or drop the only roller I had onto the garage floor; better safe than sorry.
Again David's sanding block came in handy as I used it to lightly sand all the MDF panels removing any roughness left by the saw and to provide a key for the glue; the Formica panels were also sanded around the cut edges to remove any bits. The bench was cleared and everything dusted down.
Light sanding and laminate roller.
Wow; the sun came out after dinner and it warmed up so I was in business. With the garage doors open I still had my coat on and decided to tackle the desk top panel first as this was the largest panel and if this went OK the others would be much easier. Having watched the “You tube” video I was looking forward to rolling the Evo Stik Impact Adhesive on with ease; 30 years ago I used a brush for a similar job and didn't like doing it. As on the video I poured a quantity of adhesive onto the Formica and set about rolling it out; this proved highly stressful and I simply found it impossible to use the roller as it was making the job a gooey sticky mess leaving everything patchy. I must admit I wasn't sure what roller had been used in the video so assumed a foam roller would be OK; well it wasn't and my stress was going off the scale. Supplied with the adhesive was a toothed plastic spreader so the roller was dumped out of the way and the spreader was just as bad; this adhesive was terrible to spread and it was gelling much too quickly; near to panic I rushed up into the bungalow and grabbed a 1.5” paint brush. Like 30 years ago using a brush to apply this adhesive certainly was not a pleasant job but eventually I coated all ten panels (5 MDF & 5 Formica). I'm glad the doors were open or I would have been glue sniffer of the year.
Now came the moment of truth; a mistake whilst aligning the MDF and Formica for the desk top could prove expensive. The MDF panel was resting on the Startrite combination woodworker and I placed MDF strips onto the adhesive knowing they would not stick as this adhesive only sticks to itself. The Formica was very easy to align and the middle strip was gently pulled out ensuring the Formica didn't lose alignment; the rubber roller was used to press the Formica into contact with the MDF and then the rest of the strips were removed one at a time allowing the Formica to go down flat without air bubbles.
Desk top panel ready for Formica.
I had allowed rather too much extra size on the Formica; 1/2” extra all around when in fact 1/4” all around would have been much better. Too much overhanging Formica is just asking for trouble whilst rolling under pressure; one slip off the panel would destroy the overhang leaving a ragged edge. Fortunately I realized this before I did any damage. Not wanting any air gaps in the glue joint especially around the edges I went mad in applying roller pressure; so much so in fact that the roller became quite hot. At last the Formica was laid and I could move on to the other four smaller panels; by now I was hot and bothered so removed my coat and really got stuck into the other panels doing these on the bench. One thing I quickly picked up on was the sound as I rolled; at first there was a lot of “cracking” sounds as the roller was forced hard into contact with the laminate but after a few passes of the roller all would be quiet indicating the joint had gone together.
I was delighted to have finally put this job behind me and I could stand back to inspect my handiwork. This Formica looks wonderful. The instructions on the adhesive tin say that the adhesive should be left for 24 hours to cure but I wasn't happy with this because the Formica overhang on each panel was just waiting to become damaged so I decided to have a go at removing this excess using the router. With a flush cutting bearing guided cuter installed into the router I actually found this part of the job very rewarding; the router did a brilliant job in bringing the Formica flush; the adhesive tended to pile up in places but was easy enough to remove with a thumb nail then the router was put around again just to ensure everything was indeed flush as intended. The hardest part of routing was securing the panels as they just wanted to skate around and again I was afraid of causing damage to the overhang. Clamps and packing were a slow way to go but worth the effort giving me five lovely panels ready for an oak frame to be added. Please note these panels are still covered with a clear plastic film and it is this film that is scratched by the router base and not the actual laminate; the film will remain in place until the desk is completed as it affords protection to the laminate.
Top panel Formica in place.
I wandered up into the bungalow for a pot of tea and Bron accompanied me back into the garage to see what I had been up to. The garage looked a bit of a mess after all the routing but was soon cleaned up. Bron also liked the new panels and is looking forward to me installing the new work surfaces in the kitchen. In the end I only used one 500ml tin of adhesive leaving two tins for use on the kitchen work surfaces. When I picked up the foam roller it was bone dry without a sign of adhesive on it?
What a relief; success at last.
As with every project I do some things are easier than others to do but I can honestly say applying impact adhesive with a paint brush isn't my idea of fun. I need to do a bit more research before my next laminating job; what adhesive is used and what type of roller to apply it with; it looked so easy on the video but as usual I have to learn a new technique the hard way.
These panels are a major feature of the new desk and having successfully made them I feel a lot more confident that the desk will eventually turn out well. Next job is to make the oak frames and this should prove interesting as the frames need to be very accurate to accommodate the panels without ugly gaps at the joints.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
