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Thread: Cabinet Shops... What adhesive (brand) for Formica / Laminate?

  1. #1

    Cabinet Shops... What adhesive (brand) for Formica / Laminate?

    I have spray equipment for lacquer but nothing really setup for thick viscosity... so unless there's a good cheap gun out there, I'm going to have to roll or brush on.

    Will that give me an inferior result? I don't care about speed much other than that I will need to be able to start glue up before one end dries. I'm stripping old laminate out of my kitchen and resurfacing my counter tops. I will likely only do this once or twice more in my life. Probably not worth buying a spray setup for adhesive... but I absolutely will if it's necessary to keep the surfaces stuck for life. I don't like having to do things twice.

    Related, is there a certain type of contact adhesive that will give best results? I plan on using solvent adhesives unless there's a reason not to besides fumes.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2018
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    1- Contact adhesive needs to dry completely before putting the two surfaces together (any that I have used)
    2- a special roller works best, has nips on it to hold the depth/thickness consistent (someone else surely knows what proper name for roller is)
    3-two coats always worked better for me on any surface that was porous, most laminates only needed one coat(two didn't hurt anything)
    4-spraying is faster never used a spray system as probably only have glued a few thousand square feet of laminate mostly back in the 80's
    good luck
    ron

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b40069424/

    Works well if you don’t need to do massively large areas just be aware that the web might telegraph through thinner vertical grade laminates, particularly high gloss ones.

  4. #4
    We run Wilsonart 950 red for everything brought in in 5 gallon pails. Contact is not brand specific. A lot of shops spray with super low dollar harbor freight cup guns and run them til they dont run then throw them away. 15 bucks a hit isnt bad but supporting harbor freight and filling the landfill isnt great. But it works if your needs are small/intermittent. Rolling/brushing is a waste of time and a waste of material. You will go through miles more contact and it will be slow, lumpy, hit miss.. Dont waste your time. Ventilation is important but dont get caught up in the scaredy-baby "youll shoot your eye out kid" either. Decent ventilation, mask, gloves, your not building a neutron bomb.
    Last edited by Mark Bolton; 07-20-2021 at 2:23 PM.

  5. #5
    Just watched a video of a guy using one of the purple $15 HF "HVLP" guns. I don't care for those at all and have a couple. Now I have a good way to justify throwing them away... lol!

    I didn't realize they would spray thick contact cement.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Nick Sorenson View Post
    Just watched a video of a guy using one of the purple $15 HF "HVLP" guns. I don't care for those at all and have a couple. Now I have a good way to justify throwing them away... lol!

    I didn't realize they would spray thick contact cement.
    They blast a spatter coat which is just what you want. Pebble, 80% coverage.

  7. #7
    I use Helmitin a pro company up in canada and maybe in the states. red or natural five gallon pails or whatever the new size is. Be sure you get stuff for spraying. you can use a cheap gravity feed but be aware of your needle nozzel combo you want a larger size than even for primer if possible.

    I modified a primer suction gun and it worked fine as long as the lid was really tight. Five lbs of pressure turns it into a turbo. They have Gravity guns that are also pressurized and id seen Sata and a few others had pressure gravity. If you use gravity and have the larger needle nozzle combo you wont need the benefits of pressure. The gravity guns will be easier to clean and since using pressure stuff on hoses for finishing dislike cups and more so if on the bottom.

  8. #8
    Pva wood glue works fine too if you have a vacuum press. No fumes.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Warren Lake View Post
    The gravity guns will be easier to clean

    No one even cleans gravity guns for contact. Shoot some acetone in a giant freezer bag, drop the gun in, and zip it up. Unless your spraying so infrequently that the contact in the cup settles out you just unzip the bag and spray again. Cleaning out a contact gun is a waste of time.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin Jenness View Post
    Pva wood glue works fine too if you have a vacuum press. No fumes.
    If I had the room for a cold press that'd be my aim. But I can bring in cold/hot pressed laid up panels for pennies more than I can buy the raw material so unless its a time crunch panels come in laid up

  11. #11
    from day to day the gun was never cleaned, spaces between if I wasnt going to be doing laminate for some months poured it out and ran thinner through it and left a bit in the cup.
    Last edited by Warren Lake; 07-20-2021 at 3:06 PM.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    They blast a spatter coat which is just what you want. Pebble, 80% coverage.
    It should be a linear web 3" - 4" wide sprayed from 10" - 12" away. Anything uneven like a pebble will telegraph through and not give consistent coverage.

  13. #13
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    I'm not a fan of spraying solvent based contact cement in my little shop. It's bad enough smelling the solvent, let alone getting overspray all around the spraying table and raising all the hair on my arms. Definitely use the roller here.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Kelly View Post
    It should be a linear web 3" - 4" wide sprayed from 10" - 12" away. Anything uneven like a pebble will telegraph through and not give consistent coverage.
    Nope. And you can d#ck off over linear web pebble...disposable guns have been laying laminate for years.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Coers View Post
    I'm not a fan of spraying solvent based contact cement in my little shop. It's bad enough smelling the solvent, let alone getting overspray all around the spraying table and raising all the hair on my arms. Definitely use the roller here.
    Material is so thick there is no "overspray". You can contain what doesnt hit the work with a scrap of cardboard in your free hand. Airflow and a respirator handles solvent in the air.

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