Alternatives to contact cement for plastic laminate?

[James Carmichael]

Howdy,

I'm looking for a good alternative to rubber contact cement for plastic laminate. Substrates will be MDF and baltic birch plywood. Is there something thinner permit the laminate to lay flatter? I'm not concerned about cure time as I won't be doing kitchen countertops, just smaller panels, so I don't mind clamping/pressing.

Thanks!

[Tom LaRussa]

Howdy,

I'm looking for a good alternative to rubber contact cement for plastic laminate. Substrates will be MDF and baltic birch plywood. Is there something thinner permit the laminate to lay flatter? I'm not concerned about cure time as I won't be doing kitchen countertops, just smaller panels, so I don't mind clamping/pressing.

Thanks!
James,

I'd take a look at spray adhesives. I can't think of names right now but I've seen several that work like contact cement except that the sprayer allows you to lay a finer coat of the stuff down.

[Jim Becker]

I use a water-bourne contact cement made specifically for laminates. The one I have is a Formica branded product. No bad odor.

[Jamie Buxton]

Good ol' yellow glue bonds very well to the back side of formica -- much better than I've ever been able to get contact cement to do. I use a vacuum veneer press to yellow-glue the laminate to the substrate. Works like a champ.

[Tim Palmer]

James,

I just got done laminating a formica top to MDF for a router table top and I use the spray adhesive by 3M called Super 77. It work great except I had to clamp it. I left it for several days since I did not have the time to work on it anyway. Just after I finished clamping it down my brother called me and told me about 3M's Super 90 spray adhesive which according to the label is designed to be used on, amoung other things, laminates. I think you can get both at either the big boxes or ACE. Give the bottles a read and see what you think.. Even though I had to clamp my top down it is glued on tight. I lifted the top with the edges of the laminate before flush trimming and absolutely no pull up.
Good Luck
Tim

[Richard McComas]

Howdy,

I'm looking for a good alternative to rubber contact cement for plastic laminate. Substrates will be MDF and baltic birch plywood. Is there something thinner permit the laminate to lay flatter? I'm not concerned about cure time as I won't be doing kitchen countertops, just smaller panels, so I don't mind clamping/pressing.

Thanks!Not knowing how much work you have to do or if you will be doing this kind of work on on-going basis I will suggest you try a spray gun, hose and one of the products like Conbond 690.

I use this product both at work and the home shop. This product and it’s competitors are very low in odor, sticks very well and is ready to stick in just one to two minutes after spraying, a real time saver.

I paid about 125 for the hose and spray gun. The canister of pressurized glue runs around 300, sounds expensive but it goes a long way and is a pleasure to work with compared to the contact cement in a can that you must roll or brush. The shelf life after opening is quite long. I have had mine set for several months at a time and still works well.

All most forgot, you could also buy a mini canister of glue if the 300-dollar size is too large as it's available in two sizes.

Do a Google for more info.

Full sized canister.
<img src="http://www.fototime.com/29C998BA3A2BF42/standard.jpg" border=0>

[Tim Morton]

I'm not sure about the scope of your project, but i will offer this. Last month i had a situation where i needed to re-attach a plastic substrate to some MDO plywood and I tried several methods that did not work. I then tried Super Glue Gel, and it was AMAZING!!! After only a few minutes of set-up the bond was permenant.