melamine?

[skirge66]

Well here i am, very excited about getting started finally, placed all my orders with happ, oscar, hagstrom, and american gaming, i went to home depot and lowes to buy the wood...

i was looking for black melamine as i've heard you guys talk about it, it seemed to be a great way to achieve a finished look to the cabinet without having to paint or use laminent. What i found only came in white at the store? is this a special order material or there a specialized type store that carries the other colors i see mentioned online?

also MDF vs melamine, it would appear that mdf would be much sturdier material, how well does melamine fasten with wood screws, and how durable of a join is it.

a qustion on laminant, how dificult is it to laminate your control panel after all the holes are cut? i would like to have none of the hardware showing on top of the cp which will require things like the trackball etc to be sunk into the wood the laminate over top of the mounting plates.

your help would be greatly appreciated.

[SNAAAKE]

Well here i am, very excited about getting started finally, placed all my orders with happ, oscar, hagstrom, and american gaming, i went to home depot and lowes to buy the wood...

i was looking for black melamine as i've heard you guys talk about it, it seemed to be a great way to achieve a finished look to the cabinet without having to paint or use laminent. What i found only came in white at the store? is this a special order material or there a specialized type store that carries the other colors i see mentioned online?

also MDF vs melamine, it would appear that mdf would be much sturdier material, how well does melamine fasten with wood screws, and how durable of a join is it.

a qustion on laminant, how dificult is it to laminate your control panel after all the holes are cut? i would like to have none of the hardware showing on top of the cp which will require things like the trackball etc to be sunk into the wood the laminate over top of the mounting plates.

your help would be greatly appreciated.

I built a cabinet with melamine wood.
Wood is perfect,joints are good and everything but there was chiping while cutting.looks very clean and yet easy to clean the material(when gets dirty).
Also if you are gonna be laminating the control panel with a seperate piece of laminate then its not that hard.
BUT,you install the laminate first then drill all the holes and stuff.Thats how I did my last panel and work great(didnt install any trackball so someone else have to give you info on that).

If you want you can just use MDF and laminate the wood yourself so you wouldnt have to use plain black melamine(hard to find).you get to choose color or marble laminate.
Not that hard...

[rampy]

FWIW, my thoughts...

I haven't seen large pieces of melamine in anything other than white at HD...  you will probably have better luck at a "Real" lumberyard / contractors warehouse. (or have HD order it)

I think the results would be cool, using melamine, but I think you'd have to be careful cutting it / use the right tool to prevent chipping...  

I predrilled my button holes (although I didn't do any countersinking/flush mounting for my t-ball /bolts) and then fastened the laminate on with contact cement....   I then drilled a  "pilot hole" (which if I have a plunge router wouldn't have been necessary) and then put in my laminate/flush trim bit in my router and just let the existing holes guide my trimming (hope that makes sense).   So you can do it either way, but my way worked out for me without issue.

*Shrug* I like MDF myself, but I converted a cabinet so I didnt' have to make the choice on which wood.

good luck!

rampy

[caykroyd]

Lumberyard is a good suggestion to get black melamine.  I went to one and they have a lot to offer.  Melamine and MDF are pretty much the same type of wood, aside for the black coating.  I also posted a thread about a local lumberyard that will laminate the wood for you.  $50 per sheet.  Plus it's idustrial grade particle board, which apparently holds screws better than MDL/melamine.  Might want to open up the yellow pages to look for lumberyard.

[eightbit]

Most of the big box stores will order special order other colors of melamine for you. Very rarely do they stock anything but white.

Use plywood for your control panel and laminate it then you can use wood screws from underneath.

[u_rebelscum]

a qustion on laminant, how dificult is it to laminate your control panel after all the holes are cut? i would like to have none of the hardware showing on top of the cp which will require things like the trackball etc to be sunk into the wood the laminate over top of the mounting plates.

Be sure to fill the holes and the top of the mounting plate is level with the top of the wood if you want them totally unnoticeable.  Otherwise, they might look like bubbles.  Not ugly, but not perfect.

Also, if you laminate after you cut the holes, you can route the laminate instead of drill.  This can result in cleaner holes if done correctly.