Where do you find Black Melamine?

[Dan]

Home Depot only has white melamine and wants to charge me $46.50 for one 4x8 3/4" thick sheet of black melamine (special order).  Anybody have a better source?

Thanks,
Dan

[Dave K.]

I'm also interested in finding this out.  All I've been able to do right now is spray paint it black.  Looks ok painted for a couple days before someone scratches it.  For my control panel I covered it with Happs black pica vinyl.  I guess I could cover the entire cab in it, but it would be a pain getting the bubbles out (and probably expensive).

-Dave

[towlebooth]

I searched locally for this material and found some - but they would not sell it in the low quantities I wanted.  I decided on going the lamenant (formica) route.  I will let you all know how it goes.

Chad

[lo_cash]

If there are no more home centers in your area try looking in your yellow pages for Cabinet Makers Supplies and Equipment,  Building Materials or Lumber.  Or try finding a Cabinet Maker or Woodworker who would be willing to add your sheets to an order they are placing.  They may charge you a couple of bucks but you could probably get it cheeper than Home Depot.

Good luck.

lo' cash

[betacrash]

A great alternative to melamine or painting is contact paper, not the kind they sell in hardware stores, but the kind that I found on ebay. I bought a roll and covered my cabinet. It's thicker than regular contact paper and the adhesive is stronger. well worth checking out. There is alway's an auction for this stuff on ebay and it's usually only about 8.00 for a 45 foot x 24" roll.  heres a link http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2005526226  -betacrash

how in the hell do I get my flash signature to work?

[Dave_K.]

A great alternative to melamine or painting is contact paper, not the kind they sell in hardware stores, but the kind that I found on ebay. quote]

So you have any pictures of your cabinet?  Is the vinyl shinny black or flat black?

-Dave

[Mike]

This stuff isn't contact paper. It's vinyl for a machine like the Gerber Fasttrack. It can be printed on and cut out. If you ever see decals on the side of buses it's made out of a type of this stuff. There are a lot of different types. They come with different adhesives for different applications. They also come in every color you can imagine. This stuff does hold up well. If you can get that roll for $8 that is a super good deal on this stuff. You could take the roll to a printing place and they should be able to print directly on it before you attach it. This stuff is really expensive if you buy it. You also can get it in widths of at least 48". I can't remember the names of the companies that manufacture this stuff but there are tons of them. I'm not sure if you can buy it direct or not.

[betacrash]

yeah, i used to work in a sign shop and use the stuff. We used to order ours from a local supplier. But you cant beat the price on this stuff.  Its got a good finish. Its got about the same surface as satin finish paint, its not glossy. it cleans very easy. I dont have any pictures, yet. but it looks very professional. There are tricks to applying vinyl, so if you do this. Contact me and i'll help you. -betacrash

[Dan]

After lots of searching around, I finally found a local plywood store that carries double-sided black melamine in 4'x8' 3/4" thick sheets for only $28.50 ea!  Now I can finally get started on my ArcadePC interchangeable panel project...

Dan

[Lilwolf]

What does the cut ends look like (I'm assuming that it's just some plywood/partical board inbetween some black plastic something).

Is there any cheap solid black stuff solution?  

The T(whatever) edging is pretty expensive.  And I dont' have the router bit for it.

[Lilwolf]

TMOLDING!

I couldn't think of the !@#!@# word until after I sent it.

anyone know any cheap tmolding places?  and what router bit do I need?

[Mike]

www.t-molding.com is where i got mine from it's the cheapest I could find it next to wico. But I didn't want to buy the amount wico was forcing me to buy.

[Lilwolf]

It's still 8 bucks for 20 inches.  That addes 20 bucks per control panel for me.

Is there any other solutions people have done (sold color center stuff or anything?)

[Mike]

I didn't use it on my control panel. The original control panel that i busted off with a hammer had it. But it was to hard to use the cheap router I had to do the notch for the stuff. So I just used the another bit and rounded the edges and it looks fine. Also you need about 40 - 50 feet of t-modling to do a full cabinet depending on the size.

[Mike]

oh yea and thats $8 for 20 feet not inches.

[Lilwolf]

hehe... that makes a LOT more sense.  I guess one of these days I have to memorize the difference between " and '

(because the smiley looks the closest to I'm a dumb !@#t and should have known)

[ddebuss]

Happ controls has T-molding on sale for &.19 per foot until the end of March.

The router bit was way cheaper than t-molding.com at my local woodcraft store.  Also, t-molding.com doesn't indicate that they give you the arbor and bearing with it either.  You must have these to use the slot cutter.  I think I paid around $15 for the cutter and arbor.  I don't recall the size and I can't look right now, but the cutter was the smallest one they sold.  Perfect tight fit every time.  I've routed 4 complete cabinets and 1 control panel with it and it's still sharp.

Woodcraft also has the T-molding, but it's a bit more expensive.  They didn't have a selection either, just 3/4" black smooth.  That's why I got to Happs for that stuff.

fyi: It is a real pain to get the slot bit set just right to perfectly center it on the 3/4" board.  For that reason I have a separate router for slot cutting and I do not touch the depth settings.  I believe it took me nearly an hour to get it right.

Sears sometime has sales on special purchase routers.  If you get this at the same time they have Craftsman club, you get a great deal.  I think I picked up my second router for aroud $35.  Well worth my time and sanity.  I find myself more willing to do the projects as well.

[matt]

If you don't have a router, just rent one at a tool rental store, couldn't be that much. I wouldn't pay much more than $30 for a 3/4" black melamine panel, try any local cabinet shop and have them order it for you. Best of Luck matt

[klutzo]

Just bought a Router kit for my Trusty Dremel.. Besides using it to route the CP for Joysticks, Trackballs and such, I'm going to route the edge for Tmoulding.... Hopefully I'll get the setting right, but I have practice pieces.  =>

A local arcade suppy store carries T-moulding in my backyard.. it's 55 cents CDN per foot... not too bad.

[ErikRuud]

If you are using a dremel as a router, you may need to make several passes, each pass would be set to cut a little deeper.

A dremel does not have the torque needed to cut a deep slot.


I am not using T-Moulding on my CP and Cabinet.

[Pepe]

You might want to try these people as an alternative:

http://www.wilsonart.com/MesaGold/Sections/Products/laminates/productviewer/ProductViewerset.html

They sell sheets of laminates in various colors and textures:

Widths: 30", 36", 48" and 60". Lengths: 96", 120" and 144"

They will also send you free samples. I just ordered mine and will make an inquiry about pricing after I receive them.

They are out of Temple, TX

[darkmanx]

i used my dremel router with almost no problem...the manual said to always go counter clockwise with the router.....i tried this and it just wouldnt go anywhere. for the hell of it i tried the opposite direction and it worked like a charm. perfect and it took it all in one pass. go figure.

[Warlocke]

I have been using a biscuit jointer to do my slotting. Works great. Very fast and simple to set up for proper depth and board size.

 As far as the cabinet covering, I bought the Happ black vinyl to do the sides and control panel. Then I got my Wico catlog and noticed they had an ok variety of coverings. Oh well, now I have to decide if I want to stick with the Happ vinyl or get some from Wico.

-KM