Cutting Formica

[JohnG]

Funny thing. just looking at it after I posted it........The curve kind of fits right in with an AS since it is all curves too.

[COArgosy78]

This was a eye opening morning Tried to get on to the website to post and just kept getting a "Server Busy" screen. Soooo, we finally just bit the plywood, so to speak, and glued the laminate edging down to the plywood base and trimmed w/router on our own Went ok, I guess, a few dips and places that hopefully will sand out. Had to go get more sandpaper and I exchanged the faucet I had originally picked out. Now, this site seems to be back in business and we are gearing up for the next exciting chapter - namely laminate to plywood top.

One ?? here. We think it would be best to cut the hole for the sink in the plywood before adding laminate. Then trace that hole onto laminate - but not rough cut the hole for the laminate itself until after it is applied to the plywood. Then rough cut a hole in laminate and then trim w/router. Does that sound like the right sequence?? Also, we plan to trace the holes for the faucet onto the laminate, but wait to cut those with a drill after laminate is applied to plywood - does that work or is drilling holes going to chip laminate?

PS Aaron - Aren't you the smooth one!!! I bet you know which is the newer by the color, right??

Driil a hole just slightly larger than the router bit in from the edge of the sink cut out , drop the router in and cut the sink opening out with the router bit. It will be as clean as your cut out on the plywood. So make a nice clean jigsaw cutout for the sink in the plywood first. Drill the holes for the faucet with a hole saw using a very light touch

[COArgosy78]

Laminate had been applied to plywood base! Hope to have some additional pics soon, but with this being the last day of holiday and work starting up again tomorrow - may be next weekend before all is complete. The drilling of the holes for sink and faucets is next, then trim edges. Anyone got good suggestions for cleaning off some glue residue that showed up on top. I have some GooGone, think that will work??

[thenewkid64]

Mineral spirits on a rag will get the glue off without fail.

All of it looks good, you will be pro's by the time you are done!

[COArgosy78]

Hi Brett - I tried some GooGone yesterday and it seems to come off - altho I had to rub pretty hard. Will try your suggestion, if I can find mineral spirits around here. Maybe will wait till we are all done and go over the whole thing.

Since the deed is done now, so to speak, I have been wondering what happens if it does not all stick. The reason I ask is that we were unable to figure out a way to add laminate to the plywood the way you all suggested. With the 2 big cutout areas (sink & stove), the top kept bowing. We thought about adding books or something underneath to help hold it up - but Price decided to try laying the laminate adhesive side up and then turn the plywood over and press it down onto the laminate. That way there was a flat surface to push down on evenly. Anyway, if there needs to be some tweaking - say along the edges...can that be done??? Can we maybe add more adhesive after the fact? I'm a little nervous about this.

[thenewkid64]

You would not be able to "add" the contact cement. The bowing has me a bit perplexed IF you applied the contact cement according to the directions and then used one of the methods in this thread to align the piece there should have not been a problem.

I have had luck adding a glue called Gorilla Glue. It requires the pieces being glued to be clamped. You have to be VERY careful not to get any on the exterior of the item you are gluing as once it hardens it is impossible to remove.

[COArgosy78]

What I mean by bowing is that the plywood used (same thickness as previous base) is standing on several edges now that we have moved all metal edge pieces from old base to new. Those edges, plus the not very thick plywood, plus the rather large opening for the stove and smaller hole for sink create an area in the middle of the plywood that bowed as we applied pressure. If we turn the plywood upside down (so bottom is now up), it eliminates those edges and the plywood lies flat on its back. So, essentially, we ended up holding the plywood upside down above the sticky laminate and coming down as centered as we possibly could, then tried to apply pressure from one end to other with our hands as hard as we could. I'm hoping it worked - guess we will know when we flip (I haven't been brave enough yet!!!).

[malconium]

Years ago I learned a trick from a laminate expert about how to rub out scratches that had accidentally occured during laminate installations. He told me that paint thinner (mineral spirits) could be used to rub them out. It does work by the way but the point is that it works because it acts as a solvent to the laminate material. So all I am saying is that be carefull to wash it all off if you are using it to get the glue off.

I just picked up on this thread today so this comment may be a bit late but I will give it anyway. I have had fine results using a scroll saw to cut laminate. I just use a fine blade and cut from the backside. Also there is a special scroll saw blade available (I believe I saw them for sale at Lowes) that is designed for cutting laminate from the good side. The teeth cut on the down stroke rather than on the up stroke as normal.

Malcolm

[crazylev]

Having done a bit a laminating myself, I offer these tips:

If I were to do my sink countertop over, which someday I will as I am not crazy about my stock white one, I would also laminate the bottom of the counter top with V-32. V-32 is a cheap brownish, very thin laminate used to prevent warpage. If you laminate one side of a long piece say 2' by 7' on just one side, and that piece is going in an area of high humidity, moisture could be absorbed through the unlaminated (bottom) causing warping. V-32 is a cheap way to really seal both sides for a good stable slab. It may be overkill, but I have yet to have any problems with anything I have done this way.

Bob Thompson's idea with the dowels is good, but if you are doing a 2' x 8' run, that's a lot of dowels. I have found that laying out wax paper over the wood surface works well. You carefully "peel-out" the wax paper once the laminate is in the correct position. Because it's waxed, it won't stick. And cheap too.

Once the laminate is in place and the wax paper removed, you should apply lots of preasure using what is called a J Roller. This ensures a real good bond.

You also want to make sure that there are no splinters of wood, dust whatever, between the laminate and surface. This will cause an unwanted bump once the marriage is complete. Check both surfaces carefully before commiting. As mentioned above, sides/edges first.

Jonathan

[COArgosy78]

Since my last post over Labor Day weekend, we have had a few setbacks, but nothing that could not be repaired...so far We had all laminate applied, flipped it over to check top for adhesion and found that some of the front area of top had not gotten stuck real well because the strip running under it (along that metal edging) did not allow it to make good contact with the plywood. Not major bad, but enough that we ended up pulling off that front strip and using the Gorilla glue technique, carefully added some in very small quantities and clamped. We will have to recut and readd the side strip, but that was a small loss compared to having to redo the entire top. One other mishap. We picked up the entire piece to try to see if the stove would fit back in the hole that was cut for it and in the process the laminate bent on the small piece of wood to the side of the oven and cracked the laminate at that point (I am going to post pics to clarify all of this tomorrow for those brave souls who come after us in doing this project). We could only score it along that spot and end up with a seam, but I am thinking that it might have been a stress point while the trailer was moving anyway and better to find out now than after we had reinstalled the whole thing. Thats it for now.

[COArgosy78]

Alright...here are the final pics of our galley redo. As I said above, we had a few mishaps, but learned some things from them and none that I feel are major.

1st pic is of the area where the laminate cracked & we cut & made seam
2nd pic is where it is partially installed
3rd w/stove back in
4th w/stove,sink and new faucet...yea!!!

Still some minor adjustments to make. This is definately one of those take your time and be ready for some booboo type projects. Would we do it again? HMM, ask me in a couple months. :rolleyes

I will try to see if I have any old pics that show the original galley somewhere and post later.