Frustrated as hell

[Mark Thomas]

Iv been working on my cab for far too long 5 years on and off and to say im frustrated would be an understatement. Today I went to put some laminate on and its gone horribly wrong and I feel like smashing the crap out of it.

Iv tried my best to get all the bubbles out left a 1" trim and then went to use a laminate trimmer I bought off Ebay to give it a nice professional finish. Well that didnt happen pics below show how it nearly destroyed my cab and left me with a real mess.

The trim bit I used has gone in the bin and iv left the cab while I calm down.

Can you advise me if the trimmer is too powerful? or if I need a very specific trim but as the one I used stated it was to trim laminate. I started in the bottom of the cab and kept adjusting the depth so it seemed to be cutting just right but it just didnt go well.

[Crazy Cooter]

Yikes.

Are you using a plastic laminate like on kitchen countertops?
If yes, does your trimming bit look like this:
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/freud-1-4-in-x-3-8-in-flush-laminate-trim-bit/973247

[mytymaus007]

Should of practice on another piece. Thats a good trimmer! DAMMM!

[Mark Thomas]

hey buddy my trim bit did not look like that, I am using this stuff

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/D-C-FIX-GLOSS-BLACK-SELF-ADHESIVE-VINYL-900mm-roll-m-/160777489356?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item256f15cbcc

Agreed I should have practiced on some other wood  lesson learned

[paigeoliver]

Maybe I am missing something, but did you put adhesive vinyl on the cabinet and then try to trim it with a laminate trimmer?

Unless I am horribly misinformed rolls of adhesive vinyl and laminate are not the same thing at all.

[Crazy Cooter]

You just need a razor blade or exacto knife for that vinyl you bought.  Routers with trim bits are for laminate like countertops.  Totally different materials.

[drventure]

You just need a razor blade or exacto knife for that vinyl you bought.  Routers with trim bits are for laminate like countertops.  Totally different materials.

+1 It looks like you picked up vinyl. Nothing wrong with that, it's just not as hard or tough as actual laminate. The difference is that laminate typically comes in sheets (or VERY stiff rolls), whereas vinyl is really flexible.

That's a nice router btw.

Chalk it up as a misfire, tear the vinyl off and then either.

1) pick up some more vinyl, apply, squeegee the bubbles out and trim with a sharp knife.

or

2) pick up some black laminate (formica, etc), glue it down with some overlap, and use your router/trim bit on it.

it looks back but it's definitely not the end of the world

[Mark Thomas]

What an idiot  no wonder it went so wrong, thanks guys. What would I use this router for just kitchen work tops? Or could it do other routing duties?

Thanks for the advice guys I'm gonna try again this time with a razor 

[drventure]

Routers are quite handy for these kind of projects. You can use it to true up the second side of a cabinet using the first side as a template, you can cut tmolding slot, Route out speaker holes, trackball mount areas, all sorts of things.

I wouldn't ditch it unless you just never plan on building anything again.

[paigeoliver]

You can do a bunch of stuff with a router, however all I ever do with mine is cut t-molding slots.

I usually use a heat gun to wrap my vinyl around the edges smoothly and then the edge gets covered with t-molding.

[PL1]

I usually use a heat gun to wrap my vinyl around the edges smoothly and then the edge gets covered with t-molding.

Rikitiki's side art post is a great tutorial on how to apply and work with vinyl laminate -- printed or plain.


Scott

[shponglefan]

Iv been working on my cab for far too long 5 years on and off and to say im frustrated would be an understatement. Today I went to put some laminate on and its gone horribly wrong and I feel like smashing the crap out of it.

Iv tried my best to get all the bubbles out left a 1" trim and then went to use a laminate trimmer I bought off Ebay to give it a nice professional finish. Well that didnt happen pics below show how it nearly destroyed my cab and left me with a real mess.

The trim bit I used has gone in the bin and iv left the cab while I calm down.

Can you advise me if the trimmer is too powerful? or if I need a very specific trim but as the one I used stated it was to trim laminate. I started in the bottom of the cab and kept adjusting the depth so it seemed to be cutting just right but it just didnt go well

Trimmer should be fine; even a full sized router will be fine for trimming laminate.  But as others have pointed out, it may be that you're using it on the wrong material.  If that is adhesive vinyl then a trimmer is going to cause it to snag.  Laminate is a rigid material; it looks and acts like a hard plastic.

You can salvage this.  Get yourself a proper sheet of laminate, some heavy-duty sheers to cut it to size, then glue that on.  Then get the trim bit out of the bin and give it another go!  (After practicing on a seperate piece of course).