Glueing laminate to MDF?

[Greg Urwiller]

I'm in the process of building a Thien tophat style baffle for my DC. I cut 6" long sections of MDF and glued them around the circumference of the circle, planning on lining it with laminate to make my smooth inner circle. When I glue the laminate in, is there a certain type of glue I would be better off using? Would any decent 2 part epoxy work? Thanks. Greg

[David Hawxhurst]

i use contact adhesive for making laminate counter tops. never tried a 2 part epoxy but i would think it should work.

[Jim O'Dell]

I use the Weldwood by DAP for laminate work on MDF and have a shop full of it with no failures. I always use the original formula, not the water based. Just remember...let it dry to the touch before joining the two pieces, and once the touch, it's done...no second chances. Jim.

[Greg Bender]

Greg
Jim is right ,you get one chance to do it right. Get some dowels and lay the glued laminate onit in position and pull the dowels out one by one as you hold the laminate in position. Hit it with a j-roller after it is down to make sure there are no air bubbles.
Good Luck, Greg

[Bruce Wrenn]

Some things I understand, and some I don't. This goes into the "don't understand" file. Why even cut all those blocks? Look at my post "Another Vote for Phil Thien's Baffle" (google it.) Mine was the ORIGINAL "Top Hat" design. Named "Top Hat" as that what it looks like. I used flashing, but laminate would also work. Both will bend into a circle. Attach with screws and silicon caulk. You could using a router and trammel cut a groove in top and bottom piece if you wanted to make them over sized.

[Greg Urwiller]

There's a lot of different types out there and I have seen your pics Bruce. But, I went with a side inlet style and you know the saying...."seemed like the thing to do at the time"! Anyway, my top hat is done and all I need to do is glue the laminate. I know it's only going to touch the side "blocks" with a minimum of contact but it should hold fine.

[Bruce Wrenn]

You will only need to glue the two ends, as the rest will "spring out" against the blocks. Laminate can be glued with regular PVA.

[Keith Hankins]

I built a router table top and glued the two 3/4 mdf with regular glue and used contact cement for the formica top. Coat both sides and put small wooden dowels between the top and mdf so you can get it lined up and remove the dowels going from one edge to the other and press and roll down with a j roller. Once the two touch you wont be able to adjust. It's been 7 years and it's had the hell beat out of it and no issues what soever.

[Gregory King]

One point that I'd like to make which I feel will prevent problems down the road regarding moisture. I too, built my router station top from MDF and plastic laminate and because my workshop is only heated by wood when I am out there, I coated all of the exposed MDF suface [underside] with several coats of laquer to seal it up. We all know how MDF swells when it becomes damp and would completely render the new top useless in a very short time. So please seal it with a primer of some sort. Thanks Greg

[Bruce Wrenn]

Greg, tonight I had a fellow woodworker come over to my shop to look at some feather boards I have. He looked and asked it that was a "Top Hat" Thien baffle I had near the saw. Come to find out, he's building a side inlet "Top Hat", same way as you are. After seeing how I did mine, he said he wished he had seen mine earlier.

[Kevin W Johnson]

I made relief cuts in higher grade plywood for the inner wall of my top hat separator. Then I used aluminum flashing to line the inside. I also made a piece to close in the area around the inlet pipe to help eliminate disturbance in the circular air stream.

I get only a minuscule amount of fine dust that makes it to the collection bag.