Help, I'm going try lamininate a countertop

[Bob Schumacher]

I have one countertop I need to laminate, 2 x 4 foot with 2 inch radios corners on all four sides. I have read many websites and other threads here and have a good idea as to what I need to do. I'm concernd that when I try laminating the edge it will lift off the sides next to the corners. I also want to have only one seem, I possiable.

My questions are:
1. I want the best quick tac I can get with the contact cement. what kind should I use?
2. How do I cut the edge laminate for the best looking seem. I think back beveling one side will work, but any other way/ideas?
3. I'm using LDf, there fore I need two or more coats of cement. How long do you weight in between coats? None of the cans I read said anything.
4. How much pressure do I need to put on the roller to make sure the laminate will stay on?

I think the laminating the will be fine, but the edge is my concern. I cut the laminate .25 over sized and put it around the piece. it does bend around the corners fine, but wants to lift off next to the corners. will the quick tac hold that on or should I clamp it?


Thanks for any help.

Bob

[David DeCristoforo]

I'm no expert with p-lam but I had a guy working for me some years back who was. He used a heat gun to soften the laminate (which is really just a form of phenolic) and then he would "pre-bend" the small radius. When the lam cooled, it would spring back a bit but it was much easier to get the pre-bent pieces to stick down flat.

BTW, most contact works best if the glue is allowed to dry to the touch before pressing. Also, you can't use too much pressure but you can use too little so don't be afraid to bear down on the roller.

YM

[keith ouellette]

I have put down formica and only applied the pressure I could get by rubbing it with a dry rag. I stuck every where with no lose spots.
As far as your corners, I have never bent the stuff but I think you will need to clamp. The contact cement does stick right away but does not have its full bond strength for 24 hours. It may hold down at first but the spring pressure of the laminate could cause a gap between the sub straight and the laminate allowing it to break lose later on.

[Jim O'Dell]

What I have been doing is allow the glue to dry to the touch. To the point that it's not "wet" looking any longer. Then I re-coat. This weekend, that was about 20 minutes. ;) Again, let the glue dry to the point that you can touch it and not have any on your finger, or feel that you are pressing into putty. Once it makes contact and is pressed into place, it shouldn't lift. In the case of the radiused corners, I'd try the heat gun trick that Yoshikuni mentioned, but make sure you are getting adequate pressure on the laminate before you round the corner. My can of contact cement, Weldwood Original, says 75 pounds of pressure should be adequate. As Yoshikuni also says, more is not going to hurt. And a clamp won't hurt either. If you use something like a C clamp, make sure you have a block of wood on both sides to keep from damaging the laminate or the substrate.
I've not done radiused corners except on the inside edge of the hole where my DC pipe went through the top of the cabinet...but that's curving a different direction. Jim.

[James Stokes]

You can get a router bit that puts a beval on your laminate for the seems. You put a straight edge on it and cut 1 piece from the top and 1 from the bottom. That makes the best seam. The 2inch radius should not be a problem. It works best if the laminate is hot. You also put the front face on before putting on the top. The top allways needs to overlap the fronts.

[dave rollins]

Bob
To have the best success at bending around that sharp of a radius you should be using postforming grade laminate. This type of laminate is thinner than your standard type of laminate and is designed to be heated to form sharp radius bends. If you can find some Templelaq you can paint a strip on the area that you are going to bend. This paint is designed to melt at a specific temperature and gives you a better indicator of how hot you are getting the laminate. Remember that if you get it to hot you will bubble or burn the top protective layer of the laminate. You may consider making some cauls for the corner by taking a square of 2 x 6 and cutting a 4 in. hole in the center. Just cut the block into 4 pieces and you have a way to put clamping pressure on each corner. One other word of caution is that by only cutting your piece a .25 in. wider than what you need you have very little room for error. Make certain that your corners are as close to 90 degrees to the top as possible or it will throw you off. One last thing is never start from one end and work to the other always start in the middle and work toward both ends.
Good luck and hope this helps
Dave

[Joe Chritz]

I assume the seam you are referring to will be on the edge (where the radius is) and not the top. I have made seams in surfaces before with a router, straight bit and cutting guide. You need to be very careful in setting the second piece.

On a small piece like an edge you should be able to get a good seam with a sharp utility knife.

Over size is good on laminate since it is easy to trim but not easy to precisely position the piece. I just messed up a laminate piece by positioning it incorrectly. First time in a few hundred square feet so I can't complain to much but it was an easy one and a stupid mistake that caused it.

Joe

[Bob Schumacher]

Thanks for all the tips. I did a test peice with the radius corners and it went OK untill I looked close. In the radius part the laminate cracked and seperated some. I did not use heat since it bend right around the corners the many times I tried before the gule was applied. I was concerned the heat may harm the laminate. So I went to plan B and did a test with square corners. That worked well. The edge went with little to no issuses. The top I made a couple of minor mistakes but all in all was fine.

On to the real top tonight.

I will post pictures when complete.

Thanks again for all the help.

Bob

[Bob Schumacher]

This is the final project done. The top went very well thanks to all the imput from you guys.

Thank you