Anyone ever use Kitchen countertop for a Control Panel?

[Hoagie_one]

I got this big ol piece of 3\4"  Kitchen Countertop leftover from doing my kitchen 4 years ago and I'm wondering if I should use it.

I have enough for two mini cab CP's.  They even have a nice little curve at the botton edge, LOL.

Need suggestions on how I should cut and router this so not to mess up the laminate

Oh, and what about painting it.  It is an ugly beige color, looks fine in the kitchen, would look like crap on an arcade machine

[rampy]

Well I'd say go for it... but if you have to paint it (because it's ugly) there's little point to bothering is there?

Rampy

[Hoagie_one]

i guess i could go for the Beige mini cab look.  lol

maybe set a trend

[Dartful Dodger]

Your worried about messing up the ugly beige laminate that your going to be painting over?

I don't know about the sides, but for a test run on my first control panel I used a piece of wood that was leftover shelving for my entertainment center.  it had black laminent, and I just drilled out the holes through the laminent side.  the buttons have a lip and the joystick has that covering, and the bolts heads are wide enough, so the scruffy edges of the laminent was covered.  The test panel looked good, to bad It wasn't the right size for my cabinet, I would have used it.

[Hoagie_one]

how easy does paint stick to laminant?

probably not well

[SNAAAKE]

how easy does paint stick to laminant?

probably not well

it doesnt even stick .
thats what I know.I say build a brand new one then laminate it(thats just me).  

[Lilwolf]

I did for my first 2 control panels.   I got a great deal on a black counter top that had a scratch.

it was harder to cut then mdf... and it was harder to trim.

but other then that... worked fine.

[Apollo]

It's easy to paint laminate.
Just clean with mineral turpentine ( get rid of any grease ). Sand with 180 paper and then 2 coats of primer. You have to use special primer though. I used Dulux Primerlock. All you have to do is go to any paint shop and tell them what you are painting and they will sell you some primer for hard to paint surfaces like formica. Easy. Then get a can of auto spray paint and there you go.

[AlanS17]

Ummm... doesn't that defeat the purpose of laminate?

[rampy]

Ummm... doesn't that defeat the purpose of laminate?

Which was my point to the first poster... unless you are *that* hard up for materials it makes more sense to go get either melamine, some prettier countertop scrpas if you are infactuated with the idea, some MDF, or just about anything else...

i'd only use it because it's handy if it wasn't the "finish" I was looking for...

*shrug*
I'm just operating on common sense, not any divine counter top wisdom here...

Rampy

[BillyJack]

it's a sinch to pull laminate off if that's a problem.

[u_rebelscum]

Need suggestions on how I should cut and router this so not to mess up the laminate

Router or dremel would be the "cleanest" cutters.  But you could use circular saw, or maybe a jigsaw.

If you use a circular saw, try to find a "finishing" blade with as many teeth as possible.  Place the board so the laminate in on the opposite side as the saw: upside down with a hand circular saw, upside up on a table saw.  Don't rush the cut by pushing too hard.

If you use a jigsaw, get a fine tooth wood blade and set the jig to "smooth cut", not "orbital cut".  Again put the laminate on the opposite side than the saw: upside down.  And again, don't push too hard.

If you're really worried about chipping and don't have a router, you could clamp a piece of wood on the laminate side on the cut.  (The wood will get cut too.)  Or even score the laminate before cutting.

With a router, you can rough cut to about 1/8" to 1/4" (the rougher the cut the farther away you'll need to be) from the final edge you want and finish with the router.

[GadgetGeek]

I just built my CP using a sink cutout.  I used a 1" long flush cutting bit in my router for the edges and they came out perfect.  I used a 1 1/8" hole saw for my joystick and buttons.  It got a bit hot at times since the particle board gummed it up.  I drilled a pilot then drilled about 1/8-1/4 inch from the back side, flipped the board over and drilled the rest of the way through from the top.  This kept any chip-out on the backside to a minimum.  Then I used some  of that black vinyl OSCAR found at partsexpress over the top and it looks perfect.  Only problem I had was getting the carriage bolts to set right into the laminate.  Since your counter top has the nice smooth edge, I think that would look great.  Hmmm, maybe version 2.0 I will go hunt for some of that.