laminate for CAB

[Breaker]

Hi all,

I'm shopping around for laminate these days and I'd appreciate some feedback from folks on their experiences and opinions related to type/brands and colours.

I ask because I was at Home Depot checking things out and the only brand of laminate they carried was 'Formica'. I want a black laminate for my CAB but the Matte Black (colour #909) manufactured by Formica looked really dull to me on the sample. To check I pulled a few 4' x 8' sheets from the rack and the colour wasn't any better. Also, it seemed to be really hard to clean; I wasn't able to rub off the fingerprints on the few sheets I looked at and the dust made it look terrible.

I know there are other brands of laminate out there as well as other colour variations on black (besides a matte finish). Guess I'm looking for advice from the BYOAC community on this one?

Any comments are appreciated!

Thanks,
Breaker.

[Flinkly]

uh, well in my experience, formica is what you call a kind of laminate.

[Tailgunner]

The other major brand is Wilsonart.

[jcrouse]

Here's a great thread over at MameWorld which shows my cab and talks about laminate and various brands:

http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=arcadeospc2jamma&Number=28618&Forum=All_Forums&Words=Pionite&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=27654&Search=true#Post28618

Hope this helps,
John

[Gravesniffer]

I just started building my cabinet.

[Breaker]

Hey all,

Thanks for the comments - very helpful!

Gravesniffer - this is what I was hoping to hear! The availability of the black laminate at Home Depot is certainly a big factor - I wasn't keen on the idea of having to special order this stuff.

I also appreciate your comment about the quality of the final look. It's great to have that kind of feedback from someone who has used the same laminate - puts my concerns to rest.

Cheers,
Breaker.

[quarterback]

I used MDF so the black semi gloss paint on the surfaces that were not laminated match almost prefectly.

[Gravesniffer]

Breaker...  No trouble!  I am very happy as I am sure you will be. 

One other sneaky road you can try is that when I was talking to a guy at Rona (Canadian equivilent of Loews I think) he said that there was quite a few special orders that did not get picked up.  I just about grabbed one of those but eventually opted for the simple black at Home Depot (the other one was black with a stone/crackle pattern, and much more expensive).

My biggest lesson learned so far (not having worked with laminate before):  Make sure you are very careful when you are waiting for the contact cement on the laminate to dry.  My aformentioned dog came flying in from outside (cold weather zooms) and jumped right on the glue side.  This meant scratchy scratchy on the other side which was down on the concrete floor.   Will be straight forward to repair (just a little scratch) but as some of these pieces are big, do not be tempted to step or lean on them while you are putting glue on.  I love a learning curve.

Quarter...  No pics yet, but I can take some for you.  I finished the laminate yesterday so I will take some pics tonight.  I have a drywaller/taper working in the basement today so hopefully he doesn't glop anything on it

'Sniffer

[Breaker]

Hey 'Sniffer,

Thanks for the tips - I probably would have leaned on the laminate while putting on the contact cement -  but not now.

I'd be keen to see some pics as well!

Cheers,
Breaker.

P.S.
I'm out on the east coast in Nova Scotia - where in Canada are you located?

[IntruderAlert]

There are some fairly large pieces of the laminate chipped off on one of my cabs
What would I have to do to get it looking decent again?

[shmokes]

uh, well in my experience, formica is what you call a kind of laminate.

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, that is incorrect.  Formica is just a brand of laminate, not a type of laminate.  There are also Wilsonart and Pionite and at least one other big name that I don't recall.  Wilsonart has the best colors assortment, in my opinion and when comparing two similar colors I nearly always prefer the hue offered by Wilsonart over the cometitors.

As for repairing chips check out this product called Seamfil.  There are an assortment of colors and color matching charts for the laminates of all the major brands.  1Up used black to repair a knick on his original Pacmamea cab a while back and was very satisfied with the result. 

[Gravesniffer]

Breaker...

In Calgary.  Waiting for it to warm up already.   

Actually, I got talked into going to Edmonton for the long weekend so I forgot to take pics.  I am home tomorrow and will post em then.

Intruder...

I chipped the laminate on the first panel I had to cut a bevel on.  There was no wood exposed, so I just painted it black and it was for the most part unnoticeable.  I was reading up on the Seamfil that shmokes posted and I think I will try that.  It even has color matching chart for all the different laminate brands.

I guess that was another lesson learned with the laminate.  I chipped it by cutting it laminate side down.  I cut all the other bevels laminate side up (and scored the cut line with a knife) with the saw blade in the full up position.  This kept the laminate from chipping (made very smooth cuts).  I dunno if this is how the experts do it, but it worked for me.

Schmokes...

Kudos for the link!

'Sniffer