What roller covers for contact cement?

[Brian Elfert]

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.

[Roger Feeley]

Yikes! I hope you have plenty of ventilation.

you didn’t say if the surface is horizontal or vertical. If horizontal, I would pour it out and use a hard rubber roller or squeegee to spread. If vertical, they make special roller covers for adhesive, epoxy, and polyester resins.

Contact Adhesive Rollers 9" Long With A 1/8" Nap
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY4YM8N..._RPRkFb4S6W2G6

[john bateman]

Around here Home Depot carries two adhesive roller covers, 1/4" or 1/8". They are $5 each and you would probably need to discard at the end of the day.

[Zachary Hoyt]

I don't know about contact cement but I used foam roller covers to spread epoxy when I built a couple of canoes a few years ago. I bought 9" roller covers and cut them into thirds with a utility knife as it was cheaper to do that than buy the short ones.

[Brian Elfert]

Yikes! I hope you have plenty of ventilation.

you didn’t say if the surface is horizontal or vertical. If horizontal, I would pour it out and use a hard rubber roller or squeegee to spread. If vertical, they make special roller covers for adhesive, epoxy, and polyester resins.

Horizontal application. What I did was make a frame of 1x3 pine and then I am laminating 1/8" hardboard to the frame. At this point a roller works best for putting contact cement on the frames. I am only putting contact cement on the hardboard where the frames will touch. I will be putting laminate on the hardboard and it might make sense to use a different method for spreading the glue then.

Yes, lots of ventilation. Fan blowing air out one window and sucking in from window across the room. I found $5 adhesive rollers at Home Depot that I could cut in half.

[Brian Elfert]

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.

[Paul F Franklin]

The non-flammable formulations have improved, but I think it's fair to say the flammable type is still superior. Having said that, I avoid the flammable version because of the flash fire danger, and I've not had any issues with delamination of laminate as long as I follow the directions to the letter. And I always use two coats on on any porous substrate.

I'd be careful even using fans with the flammable stuff, any little spark can set it off.

[Lisa Starr]

Per Paul's post above, yes the non-flammable versions are better than they used to be but....still not as good as the flammable ones. Even the reduced VOC versions of flammable ones fall short of the "full strength" version. I use Bonding Adhesive made for commercial roofing, as it is just contact cement on steroids and I have ready access to 5 gallon pails of it. It works great, but boy does it require ventilation. I use regular 1/4" nap 8" roller covers from a borg. If used daily, you can get a day or two out of the same cover.

[Mark Bolton]

You may want to switch to a spray option. Cheap HVLP gravity cup gun from HF is what we keep in the shop to spray Wilsonart 950 all the time. It beats the roller hands down. I wouldnt toss the rollers out at the end of the day though, just seal them up in a ziplock baggie tight, if its going to be a while toss them in the fridge and they will last for a long time.

You may want to make sure your OK with contact/laminate over tempered hardboard. I cant recall for sure but I think I remember reading about some issues applying laminate over hardboard but not sure. Waterbased contact would be fine (like Wilsonart H2O) but it definitely doesnt have the bulletproof reputation nor the speed of high solvent. The big issue with the H20 is the longer dry time.

We just laminated about 180 4 ply hardboard panels with straight PVA but you'd have to be able to clamp them for 30 minutes or so.

[Brian Elfert]

You may want to make sure your OK with contact/laminate over tempered hardboard. I cant recall for sure but I think I remember reading about some issues applying laminate over hardboard but not sure. Waterbased contact would be fine (like Wilsonart H2O) but it definitely doesnt have the bulletproof reputation nor the speed of high solvent. The big issue with the H20 is the longer dry time.

I can't find anything online specifically about laminate or Formica over hardboard. The hardboard bonded just fine to my pine frames with contact cement. I was wondering if I might need to scuff the surface of the hardboard to make the laminate stick. I did not scuff the hardboard before attaching it to the pine.

[Brian Elfert]

DAP Weldwood non flammable contact cement says that one surface must be porous. I know laminate is not porous and hardboard doesn't really seem to be porous either. That seems to disqualify the DAP product. The 60 minute time before the parts can be assembled is also an issue. I probably have to do two coats on the hardboard so it takes over two hours for a single sheet of laminate.

I would use the Wilsonart H2O contact cement, but I wouldn't get it for at least a week if I ordered it. There are only a few online sources for the product and most of them state it doesn't ship for several days. I have no idea where to get the stuff locally. I doubt any distributor will sell to me.

[Mark Bolton]

DAP Weldwood non flammable contact cement says that one surface must be porous. I know laminate is not porous and hardboard doesn't really seem to be porous either. That seems to disqualify the DAP product. The 60 minute time before the parts can be assembled is also an issue. I probably have to do two coats on the hardboard so it takes over two hours for a single sheet of laminate.

I would use the Wilsonart H2O contact cement, but I wouldn't get it for at least a week if I ordered it. There are only a few online sources for the product and most of them state it doesn't ship for several days. I have no idea where to get the stuff locally. I doubt any distributor will sell to me.

Good catch on the porosity, no go for H2O, I forgot that one.

[Brian Elfert]

Good catch on the porosity, no go for H2O, I forgot that one.

None of the information I could find on the H2O contact cement said anything about porosity. It was only the DAP product that said that. Good thing I didn't order any of the H20 product then.

[Mark Bolton]

Additionally that was a concern of ours with these 4 ply panels even with PVA but talking with franklin and having done test mockups over 3 years ago we just fast scuffed with 80 grit and pressed them but again this was just straight PVA (TB Original).

I was concerned with whatever oily type surface there is on the hardboard but the mockups held for 3 years and Franklin said they had had zero issues in their tests with hardboard. Makes the H2O contact issue seem a little odd and makes you wonder what amount of porosity is required. The reasons you mention with the water borne contact, and that it has some serious constraints with regards to spraying is why I havent switched. Im not saying the flammability issue isnt a major one but when you spray contact its nothing like spraying a solvent finish. There is ZERO overspray hanging in the air. It comes out of the gun in a stringy spray. I most definitely wouldnt be careless but I also wouldnt be a chicken little about it either. Good setup of your area, good ventilation, and its fine. Its so much faster its worth it because the mere air flow of spraying speeds the dry time and you dont wind up chasing dry spots, thick and thin, etc..

[Mark Bolton]

None of the information I could find on the H2O contact cement said anything about porosity. It was only the DAP product that said that. Good thing I didn't order any of the H20 product then.

Right when I read your post I remembered a conversation with our Wilsonart rep who caught me on that when I was going to use it but spaced it. Im pretty sure all the waterborne contacts are just some variation of PVA (basically wood glue) and the water has to be able to go somewhere because it wont be mostly gone even with the long dry times.