I chipped my table...I want to throw up!!!

[Becky B.]

I was in the Bambi II tonight, obsessing over the height of the dinette table. I decided I needed to make it higher & moved up the brackets. Then, I proceeded to drop the table. I took a BIG OLD CHIP out of it!!!! CRAPOLA!!!! It caught the one unfinished edge at the back of the table & a chip that's about 3 1/2" in diameter came out. So, anyone have any luck gluing a chip back in with contact cement?

I think I need another glass of whine...I mean wine.... cause I'm so MAD at myself!!!!!!

[eljay]

Take a breath, take a break. Look at it again tomorrow. You are one of the most creative people I've seen here.

[SuperTrouper]

Contact cement works for me when the side trim comes off the counters. SHould work for this and allow you to re-set the chip well. If you do throw up, hit the area on the table near the chip and no one will notice the chip issue! ;-)

[Foiled Again]

Call someone who does professional installations.... If you've got a good laminate they can sometimes actually do a patch. First they reinstall the broken piece, then they use a solvent that melts the surface right at the break... it literally melds back in place. BUT this works best when you have a higher priced laminate or a "color all the way through" laminate. 50's "cracked ice" pattern was flawlessly done in my home.

paula

[webspinner]

Ouch! My sympathies are with you, Becky. The busy pattern will work in your favor with a repair. Contact cement sounds like a good start, but I know nothing about laminate.

[Land Shark]

Owned a cabinet shop for years. contact cement will limit your movement as you try to places into position. Lightly sand the back of the laminate and the sub straight. Yellow wood glue it on both surfaces and slide it into place. Dry cloth clean the edges then duct tape clamp it with medium pressure. Allow 24 hour for cure, will last forever.

[Protohyp]

Is it the walnut type laminate? or a light colored laminate? sometimes when you try to clean the glue off if your hands aren't clean (and sometimes even if they are) the glue will pick up dirt and it will be hard to clean if you don't get at it right away and then your chip will be accentuated by this wonderful black line around it's perimeter. if its walnut you might be able to make it look like the grain pattern. Times like this always make for an opportunity to just do a whole new table with better hardware. but since you have vintage maybe you want to stay vintage correct.

[tuffr2]

Ugh - feel your pain. This reminds me of many many experiences. I call this 'fix broke'. You fix one thing and break something else. In this case you fixed the hight of the table but broke off a corner. Again - classic case if 'fix broke'.

More wine will help.

[ventport]

Little dab of contact cement in the center and super blue all around the edges. It will never move again.

[Becky B.]

Originally Posted by Land Shark

Owned a cabinet shop for years. contact cement will limit your movement as you try to places into position. Lightly sand the back of the laminate and the sub straight. Yellow wood glue it on both surfaces and slide it into place. Dry cloth clean the edges then duct tape clamp it with medium pressure. Allow 24 hour for cure, will last forever.

This is the chunk that came out:





I'm afraid to use contact cement, because of the irregular edges. It'll need to be manipulated into place. I'm leaning toward Land Shark's method (I hope it's tried & true!), but when I googled the best way to repair formica, they said not to use wood glue. Anyone else ever try the wood glue method?

[Protohyp]

Yes. I would agree with Land Shark on this now that I see the piece. that black line that I was talking about might work perfectly with your design. the only problem might be small millimeter chips that might have gotten away. there are color laminate fillers that you can get like FormFill or SeamFill that might help blend it but I would go the wood glue route. wipe away any excess with a damp rag quickly and take your time. be careful with what you clamp it with. I would use a block between the clamp to apply even pressure to the laminate youre repairing but again make sure to clean away all the squeeze out of the glue as the block might end up getting glued to the table as well. It looks like an easier fix but still takes time and steady hands.

[Land Shark]

If your concerned, contact cement come in water based (don't use) and solvent based. Use 3m 90 sold at HD. Spray 3 THIN layers on both the sub straight and the back of chip. Allow to dry to touch but not longer. Place 6mil plastic in between the two and slide the lam into place. Wiggle the plastic out from under the piece, contact cement will not stick to plastic.

Lam is made up from construction/craft paper that is inpregnated with plastic then pressed. In large runs the industry lays up large sheets of lam using wood glue and places into a press and allowed to cure to the sub straight.

Cabinet shops use contact cement because of the cost and the space of a press. Along with a trying to achieve other things like radius ends, edgebanding and so on. Flat surfaces are controllable and 100% can be glued up. Cal panel (formica) Forest plywood (nevermar, wilsonart are located in Santafe Springs in Soutnern California. Give them a call and ask them, do they lay up large production runs and if so they use wood glue. ATC in North Hollywood is a custom lam supply house and do smaller but pressed runs.

Becky, feel free the call me at 818 613 8567 I walk you thru it. Stop stressing you could be done and enjoying it by now

[ventport]

"Little dab of contact cement in the center and super blue all around the edges. It will never move again."

That should have said SUPER GLUE! Not super blue. If you are worried about getting it into position just use regular super glue around the edges and put a drop of super glue GEL in the center.

[DKB_SATX]

in the absolute-worst case, at least you're dealing with a laminate you can easily get. I did the kitchen countertops in our house with the same Formica and while they've dropped the wilder colors, for now they're still making the gray.

[Janie Q]

I used Loctite Super Glue on a chip here in the house.
Worked perfect.
Jane
I was so mad at myself that I didn't prep.. just glued the back and held it in place till it was dry!

[Gene]

No glue works on everything (even super glue). Since this was manufactured a long time ago, it may be different than what you'd use today. I'd think about a professional repair because of some chips that may have disappeared and need to be filled in. This is something you'll look at all the time and it is best to have it perfect again.

Throwing up is not what I'd do. I'd be more likely to scream curses—much easier to clean up and my beloved wife is used to it.

Gene

[Becky B.]

Sadly, it's brand spankin' new......I just made it about 2 months ago. :-(
I think I'll play with it tonight. The worst that could happen is that I have to do it over....and spend another fifty bucks on laminate!
Thanks for all the suggestions! I'm not quite as po'd as I was yesterday!

[Protohyp]

Oh Becky. Don't worry. we all feel your pain. Since you mentioned now that you were actually the one who laminated it I will go with my original suggestion of doing it over. From the close up of the underside of the laminate it seems you might have been a little lenient with the contact spray? I may be wrong but usually there will be lots of visible fibers or strands of separation of the contact cement in either spray or roll on form. Spray is quick and easy but the roll on contact cement will ensure excellent coverage and under premium conditions will bond for a lifetime.

[Becky B.]

Well, I used Land Shark's method of wood glue. It took me a while to get it lined up & even then it's not perfect. I never could have lined it up anywhere close with the contact cement. We'll see what happens after I take the clamps off in 24 hours!

Thanks all.....I have bigger fish to fry now.....adjusting the stupid table height!!! That thing has been the biggest frustration for me of my whole project. Third time will have to be the charm!

[HiHoAgRV]

I think I have clamp envy