Advice on my new cab , anybody?

[General Zod]

This weekend I had the opportunity to pick up another cabinet in excellent shape with one small exception. The sides were refinished with white formica, and the formica has a ton of scratches on it. Not to mention, it's just basically a shell, good condition nonetheless.

Overall the cab is solid, sturdy, 0% weather damage, and everything is tiptop. Why in the world they refinished the sides is beyond me.

My question is this, keep in mind this a Tron cabinet, so you should know the specs of the sides I'm working with, but is it possible to sand the formica down where the scratches are almost non-visible, and perhaps slap a coat of satin semi-gloss paint on there? After a good primer of course. ;-)

Would it give me a decent finish without having to rip off the formica?

I tried looking through the forum for some advice before asking, but I found nothing.

Thank you,

Michael

[Radical]

Have you checked to see if the laminate will come off?

If it wasn't put on properly it might come right off with little effort.   Especially if it was glued on top of the previous paint.

[General Zod]

Radical,

Actually there is a spot that isn't glued all the way, I can pull it back a few inches and look inside. Could I damage the wood by trying to remove the rest?

I remember someone asking a few days ago about the 3/4in mdf,using a formica finish, and how it would affect the t-molding. How much would it cover ... with the t-molding the way it is normally on a cab, it doesnt look that bad at all with the formica, i mean with everything lining up and all.

I'll have to check into it tomorrow.

Thank you

[Apollo]

Yes you will damage the wood if you try to rip it off. I have just removed all the old formica on one of my cabs using the proper method and I would certainly recommend doing it the right way.
I used a gas powered blow torch, you could probably use an electric heat gun if this wasn't available.

[Tailgunner]

Yes you will damage the wood if you try to rip it off. I have just removed all the old formica on one of my cabs using the proper method and I would certainly recommend doing it the right way.
I used I gas powered blow torch, you could probably use an electric heat gun if this wasn't available.

A heat gun will work, I recently stripped all the formica off of a Pacman cocktail cab using one. A painter's 5 in 1 tool turned out to be a big help with peeling the hot formica off of the cabinet.