What roller covers for contact cement?

[Brian Elfert]

What about the 3M Fastbond 30NF contact cement? The technical data sheet from 3M even mentions hardboard so I would hope it would work. It is very expensive at three to four times what regular DAP flammable contact cement sells for. It is available through Amazon Prime.

The easy choice would be to just keep using the regular contact cement. It should work just fine. It just needs a lot of ventilation to use. The dew point and temperature have been unusually low for the past few days so bringing in lots of fresh air has not been an issue. The dew point will be back up into the 60s by tomorrow so bringing lots of humid air inside is not a great idea. I will probably move the operation outside to keep the chemicals outside.

[Mark Bolton]

What about the 3M Fastbond 30NF contact cement? The technical data sheet from 3M even mentions hardboard so I would hope it would work. It is very expensive at three to four times what regular DAP flammable contact cement sells for. It is available through Amazon Prime.

The easy choice would be to just keep using the regular contact cement. It should work just fine. It just needs a lot of ventilation to use. The dew point and temperature have been unusually low for the past few days so bringing in lots of fresh air has not been an issue. The dew point will be back up into the 60s by tomorrow so bringing lots of humid air inside is not a great idea. I will probably move the operation outside to keep the chemicals outside.

Gadzukes.. Just pulled it up. $300 a pail was the cheapest I found. That would be a hard pill to swallow paying 80 a pail now

[Bruce Wrenn]

I am currently applying a bunch of the high VOC contact cement for a project. About a gallon worth so far. I bought a batch of 12 cheap roller covers from Amazon. The mine ones about four inches wide with just a metal rod.

My problem is the roller covers keep coming apart. I used up five covers last night for about 1/2 gallon of contact cement. Any recommendations for a better roller cover considering I probably have ten days left of applying contact cement? I bought a dozen roller covers considering I would use one per day and toss it when done for the day.

Your laminate supplier should stock the textured rubber roller covers for contact cement. End of the day, wrap them in a bread bag, and tomorrow start off where you left off.

[Mel Fulks]

Are you doing whole sheets ,or pieces ?

[Brian Elfert]

I don't have a laminate supplier. I am just a hobbyist trying to minimize my financial outlay for this project. I am making cabinets for my RV. I got the laminate from a cabinet shop that went out of business and had a whole pallet of 4x10' sheets of laminate they sold me for $2.50 per sheet. Most of my materials come from Home Depot or Menards.

I am installing sheets of laminate about 36" wide by about 76" long.

[Mel Fulks]

[QUOTE=Brian Elfert. I am only putting contact cement on the hardboard where the frames will touch.

I think that yellow glue would be better for that part of the job

[johnny means]

I use the corncob rollers shown in a previous response. We used to pride ourselves on who could milk one roller cover the longest. We'd store them in our glue buckets and they would last indefinintely. Some guys would keep one going for years, and this was in a shop where a job could involve hundreds of sheets of laminate.

[Brian Elfert]

I think that yellow glue would be better for that part of the job

Yellow glue might be a good choice if I had enough clamps to hold it all down while it dries.

[Mel Fulks]

Brian, contact cement is only rated to last 5 or 10 years in an inside heated and cooled environment. Call any company
that makes it and they will tell you it's not going to work in a camper. Maybe you can get some coarse screws in what
is already done.

[Joe Jensen]

Getting a bit off topic now, but would water based contact cement be good enough for sticking laminate (Formica) to hardboard? I saw a lot of reviews that the water based stuff doesn't stick thing together like the high VOC contact cement. I wanted maximum bond between the hardboard and my pine frames.

I just did a bunch and used the water based from the laminate manufacturer. Other than taking a lot longer to dry before joining it was excellent. In a production environment the latex would take too long I think. I live in Arizona where humidity is low. It was 78 degrees and 45 percent humidity and the adhesive took 1.5 hrs to be completely dry. The distributor said to make sure it was totally dry and said if you did it would bond as strong as solvent based. I believe him now. I did some scraps and I cannot pull the laminate off the MDF scrap.

[Brian Elfert]

Brian, contact cement is only rated to last 5 or 10 years in an inside heated and cooled environment. Call any company
that makes it and they will tell you it's not going to work in a camper. Maybe you can get some coarse screws in what
is already done.

How do countertops and cabinets with laminate glued with contact cement not fall apart quickly then? Factory made laminate countertops probably don't use contact cement, but shop made ones probably do.

It is what it is at this point. If it falls apart in a couple of years I will have to rebuild with plan B I guess. I didn't want the weight of MDF in my RV. Plywood doesn't necessarily hold laminate very well. I don't have all the clamps required to use a glue that requires clamping. Plan B will have to involve several hundred dollars for those equal pressure clamps.

What glue would you suggest I use if I had the proper clamps to clamp hardboard to pine?

[Mel Fulks]

If the pieces are smooth and fit well yellow glue might be okay ,check at what temp it fails. For any joints that don't fit well I would use PL brand polyurethane adhesive. All of the mfgs will answer questions and give you advice on phone or in
an email.

[Andrew Seemann]

Hi Brian,
For supplies, you might try Holdahl Company in Plymouth. I'm pretty sure they sell retail. WW Guild members get a discount on some stuff if you are a member. They appear to have a good selection of laminates, adhesives, and accessories.

[Wayne Cannon]

I still have several roller covers specifically for spreading smelly, flamable, contact cement. They have a very hard, red, rubber-like surface -- almost like a plastic and harder than a traditional hard rubber J-roller.

[Mark W Pugh]

OK, I'm not an expert on specific rollers. I spread the majority of the contact cement with a piece of scrap wood/plastic/whatever, and finish edges with a short nap paint roller. I don't remove the roller from the handle. It's now my contact cement roller.

Next time I need the roller, I just brush it off, and use it again. No need for multiple high priced rollers to spread glue. IMHO