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Best way to connect melamine panels?
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 :P 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
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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... :P