Formic on Formica - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

im4snow · 11-07-2008, 11:42 AM

What's the best way to cut formica sheet product....with the intent on glueing the new formica over an existing formica top???

Any tips regarding best tool, blade, process, etc??

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

MALCO.New.York · 11-07-2008, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by im4snow

What's the best way to cut formica sheet product....with the intent on glueing the new formica over an existing formica top???

Any tips regarding best tool, blade, process, etc??

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

The FINEST (most teeth) circular blade that you can find. Carbide is better than regular steel.

You NEED to cut the Laminate BETWEEN a set of wood for best results. Sandwich it.

ANY high strength Contact Adhesive will do the job fine!

Ruff-Scuff the underlaying laminate prior to gluing.

dlcj · 11-07-2008, 11:59 AM

what malco said and add cut the sheet a little big and use a rotozip or router with bearing tip bit to finnish trim.

MALCO.New.York · 11-07-2008, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlcj

what malco said and add cut the sheet a little big and use a rotozip or router with bearing tip bit to finnish trim.

What he said. ALWAYS!

This is the best application for a router/Roto-Zip!

When contact cementing, cut-in the perimeter a bit heavy, then "paint" the field. It is the edges that are IMPORTANT.

You also need a Roller. Very similar to an EPDM roller.

dlcj · 11-07-2008, 12:26 PM

im4snow · 11-07-2008, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlcj

what malco said and add cut the sheet a little big and use a rotozip or router with bearing tip bit to finnish trim.

Thanks for the feedback.

Regarding the final routing.....do you recommend that after I glue the product in place? Also, just as a note, I'll need to add the front edge (roughly 2") as well....to the existing formica top.

MALCO.New.York · 11-07-2008, 04:35 PM

Glue....Let set....Route/trim!

billy d · 11-07-2008, 06:21 PM

All good advice here try using a formica cutter to cut the formica to size it looks like a bent nail but has a carbide tip.Use it to score the laminate and just bend it and it will break on the score mark, the deeper the score the easyer it is to break.When doing the face edge do it first,screw a board on the face side of the work top and set the side strip to this board.Next comes the top as said scuff the top up with the formica cutter and glue both faces.When touch dry put as many stickers on the work top that you feel comfortable with,present one edge to the other and rub with a cork block going from back to front in one movment.This is to prevent any air being traped between the two faces.when you router the edge use a formica bit with a small lip on it this takes a arris of the edge and stops any one from cutting them selves on it.Have fun.

orson · 11-07-2008, 08:01 PM

When I do countertops I laminate the edge piece on first like billyd said, but I cut the band large and let it stick up a hair on the topside.

Then take a belt sander and keeping the sander nice an flat on the countertop substrate sand the edge flush, always keeping the belt running towrd the countertop so you don't pull the band away.

This way your band piece doesn't have to run perfectly straight on your potentialy curvy substrate.

MALCO.New.York · 11-07-2008, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orson

When I do countertops I laminate the edge piece on first like billyd said, but I cut the band large and let it stick up a hair on the topside.

Then take a belt sander and keeping the sander nice an flat on the countertop substrate sand the edge flush, always keeping the belt running towrd the countertop so you don't pull the band away.

This way your band piece doesn't have to run perfectly straight on your potentialy curvy substrate.

I prefer to use a Manufacturer edge on the "upside" and router the bottom edge.

Greg Di · 11-08-2008, 09:10 AM

I just built a c-top a couple of weeks ago and was the first time I had to do one (don't do them often) while owning a Festool TS55 saw. It cut the Formica absolutely beautifully because of the anti-splinter plate on the saw.

It just saves the step of doing the plywood sandwich method. So if you have a TS55, use it! If not, plywood sandwiching is a good way to do it, or don't do the sandwich and rough cut the size good side down with a circular saw with a decent blade on it. The only real cuts that matter on are the substrate. The final cut on the Formica will be with a router.

billy d · 11-08-2008, 09:13 AM

First apologys for the long post but I thought it may help the OP. Both methods have thier merits but if the piece is in situ,it would be moor than a bit awkward to router the under side of a 2"strip.An adjustable mouthed block plane and a file may be the best solutionhere.Its just the same if there is a return in the wok top.If you miter or form a but joint in the laminate.On a miter place the laminate on the work topmark the miter cut of the excess with a laminate cutter remove the piece and router amachined finish on the laminate.Retun the piece to the work top and clamp it in situ keeping the clamps away from the joint,Place the 2nd piece of laminate on the return and under the mitered piece.mark with a fine pencil and router thi leaving the pencil mark on the piece.Mate the 2 pieces together.When happy with the joint clamp the 2nd peice in place and run pencil marks across the 2 pieces as reference points.Leave the 2nd piece clamped in place.remove the 1st piece and glue up,when you return the 1st piece of laminate line up the reference marks and fit as in previous posts.Release the 2nd piece stright away and fit the same as the 1st doing it this way I have reference points to work to the whole time.I'am not saying this is the only method just that it works best for me have fun.

mike p · 11-20-2008, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by im4snow

What's the best way to cut formica sheet product....with the intent on glueing the new formica over an existing formica top???

Any tips regarding best tool, blade, process, etc??

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

use a straight edge and a flush cutting router bit

Jordy3738 · 12-16-2008, 08:06 AM

DO NOT USE NON Flammable GLUE!

I did that once on a counter top and the heat from the sun coming through a window caused it to buckle up off of the counter underneath.

You can't really cut a full sheet this way of plastic laminate but I use dolphin nose tin snips to cut small pieces. Especially when I am scribing the edges this method comes in handy.

You can cut 4" splash pieces for you edges to length with a paper cutter as well.

Brock · 12-16-2008, 09:16 AM

We are lucky in my area. The post-form outfits here are so cheap we don't even conider a glue over because of the mess and potential for a re-do. Plus you get the rolled edge which you can't do in the field. We have had some fake granite ones built and they were pretty impressive.

Back in the day before they invented granite and all the other bs, your only choice was formica or tile. I would say 1 out of every 5 formica jobs would have some sort of problem that you would lose money fixing. Either the piece would crack at the inside corner, or the glue would fail in a spot or (my favorite) a piece of sand in the middle of the piece that got missed when glueing etc.