Best way to connect melamine panels?

[1UP]

Alright, I'm in the home stretch here!  I finally bought the wood for my cabinet, and the last few controls, t-molding, and odds and ends.  I decided to go with 3/4" black 2-sided melamine (basically pre-laminated particle board).

My question is, what is the best way to construct a sturdy cabinet at this point?  Should I just pre-drill holes and screw into the ends of my melamine, or do I need cross-dowels, dadoes, or 1x2s?  Should I bother gluing as well as using screws?  Do I need to strip away the melamine finish if I do glue two pieces together?  How can I finish the edges where the saw has chipped the black laminate?

Thanks!

[ErikRuud]

Let me put it this way,

Predrilling should be mandatory.

Glueing is better than not glueing. I am not sure if stripping the melamine is necessary, but it would seem to make sense.

Screwing into 2x2 or cross dowels is better than screwing into the particle board.  2x2 would be easier than cross doweling, you would have dress up the ends of the dowels.

Dadoes in particle board are probably more work than they are worth.

I don't have any ideas for repairing the chipping.  You can minimize the chipping when cutting with a circular saw by making sure that the "good side" (the side that will show) is down. On a table saw the "good side" should be up.

[1UP]

I don't have any ideas for repairing the chipping.

[Jack]

A good way to minimize chipping is to put a couple layers of masking tape on both sides before you cut.

[Steve Graffeo]

I am just a few steps ahead of you as far as completion of my cab.  Let me give you a few pointers which I learned about 3/4" melamine.

Rough Cutting Parts:
1. Unless you want to purchase a specific table saw blade for cutting melamine, you can:
 A - Use a blade with as many teeth as you can find and use carbide tip if possible.
 B - Cut half way through the material, flip it over and cut the other side.
 C - (The Way I Chose)  I cut oversized pieces, then using a straight edge clamped to the material, use a router with a carbide tip straight cutter to clean it off.

Oh yeah, important: DONT USE TAPE ON THE CUT LINES.  This will gum up your router bit decreasing its cutting abaility and you will end up chipping the melamine.  I know pencil is nearly impossible to see on black melamine but trust me, don't use tape.

As far as T-moulding.. it is imperative you get the right slotter for the molding. Be sure it is carbide tipped..

I mention carbide for all cutting because a chromium tip bit will last all of one cut before you chuck it.  Melamine is super tough stuff.  It will eat your saw blades and router bits  .

As far as screwing the cabinet together, always pre drill. Im using drywall screws through the outside into the endgrain of an adjoing board. Also always use glue, you dont need to strip the melamine off, just use a good quality glue. (gorilla glue) As far as the screw heads on the outside,  I then have small black decorative caps that tap over the screw head. Viola, no visible screws!  If you want them try a place that sells panelling, they are like .02c each.

Most importantly - Be patient and take your time.. Im so totally psched to finish my cabinet I have to hold my self back from taking short cuts. The project is larger than it appears.  If you want good results, dont let your emotions get the best of you!  

Good Luck and Have Fun!

[me]

hey hey....

phew you a writer or what???good writing man...

anyways i dont see what the big deal is???

i used pre melamine and cut only using JIGSAW...
only JIGSAW and thats it..i used 0.97$  saw blade from home depot...i dont know what to say but i had no chiping..fssss no idea why go through all the trouble..

and if you take my advice..dont do the screws from the outside..you wont like the result after all the HARDWORK...

if you gonnna be doing all the work then do it right...

and also why i only used JIGSAW cause thats all i have..
i am 17...no lot money...but still called the cabinet finished after lots of lots of work...hehe

anyways i hope i am helping and REMEMBER dont do the screw from the outside...just use little L-BRACETS and let someone hold the wood pieces for you....trust me you dont wanna see FILTHY EVIL screws or the CAPS outside of your cabinet...then you feel like its not 100% just like in the arcades..thanks

[matt]

Yellow Wood glue won't do much good on melamine, use urethane (ex. Gorilla, Ecell, Titebond urethane) or a glue specific for urethane is called Roo-Glue, it will bond melamine to melamine, cutting a dado is tough but will work.  What we do at our shop is make a pattern out of cheap particle board and use a straight router bit with ball bearing the same size as the cutter (flush trim bit w/ bearing) and route the finished cut for a chip free finish, if using a saw scoring one side by flipping over will work with the blade 1/2 through the wood or use masking tape, both ways work well, as for joining, we use pocket screws if only one side is going to be visible, if not try some KD fittings (knock down) available from most mail order hardware catalogs & Lowes or home centers, or cross dowells would work equally as well if you don't mind the look of them. The pocket cutter like I mentioned is both fast & strong when glued but you see the pocket cut on one side as well, the other option is to glue and screw (pre-drill) and apply laminate over the visible screws or cover with screw covers caps also available, they really don't look to bad (Hey all the stuff walmart sell uses them, not saying much) but the cross dowells or KD fittings do not require glue, screws will. Good Luck Matt

Alright, I'm in the home stretch here!

[1UP]

Hey, thanks everyone.  I've got my laminate all ready and waiting, so I guess it doesn't matter what hardware i use to connect, as it will be covered up in the end.

I'm gonna try using a power planer to shave down the edges, but I had tried using a 150 tooth circular blade to cut, and it stopped cutting after about 5 inches.    Not carbide tipped I think...

Pity that I didn't ask for help sooner, or I might have a slightly larger cabinet!  Oh, well, I'm sure I'll never miss that extra 1/4".    Unfortunately, I really had no concept as to how massive and heavy 4x8' boards would be, so I couldn't get them into my apartment anyway, and ended up chipping the edges just trying to get them in the elevator!  Finally, I had to just sneak into the parking garage with the Black & Decker and cut the panels to size ASAP.  :-/

The real fun is going to be trying to paint Pac-Man sideart by hand!  I've been an artist all my life, so I have no doubts I can do it, but my next weekend is going to be shot to hell...