Looking for the best way to fasten melamine. I want to build some shelves for my kids to put their Christmas haul on. I found the melamine pieces and the instructions say to use a bugle head screw. According to the picture, it kind of looks like a phillips trim head screw and the guy at the store didn’t know.
Are screws the best way to fasten uprights to the top and bottom (shelves will be movable on 3/16″ dowel pins)? They did have screw head covers but no screws.
Gotta love the Big Boxes,
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Replies
You can use a standard screw but you will need to counter sink on the outside and the inside since the stuff mushrooms as bad as mdf. By the way, don't use drywall screws or piffin will be after yah :o).
John, If you're building from supplies at a big box I always like to put a backing on any melamine shelving, screwing from the back thru the backing board into the stem walls and the top and bottom shelving boards with 1 1/4 inch coarse drywall screws about 6 inches apart around that perimeter. Sometimes I'll glue before screwing it but it depends on the use of the shelves.
Both Belowes and the Hometeapot have a coated, line embossed white 4x8 tileboard product that cleans easy called white ice or jubilee. There is also a primed only ready for paint version.
You probably know as well as any the structural valve of melamine being not far from zero, so pilot holes and counter sinking for the heads of the screws are necessary if the screw is over 1 1/4 inch in length or she'll split on you now or later.
Adjustable shelving boards of melamine over 3 foot will want to bow on you if there is no center support in the back center like steel strips and clips or a support trim piece under each shelf front for strength.
If you're building an 8 ft wall monster I like to make a screwed in center shelf in the middle cause the sides of the unit will want to bow out.
Touch of adhesive caulk on the screw heads before the placement of the screwcap covers help keep them from popping loose by snags and prying fingers.
If it doesn't have to be adjustable and you can screw in the shelving boards from the back you can make a fairly durable shelf using standard drywall screws and it can be moved around pretty easily without falling apart.
'Course kids are usually pretty easy on furniture...:o)
I haven't quite figured out what I'm building yet.....or rather I haven't been told what I'm building yet. I know that it'll be built in the basement, it'll be white, hold lots of toys, and has to be kidproof.
So it sounds like I need to:
- either look at confirmat screws or get a countersink bit
- stay away from 8' monsters
-predrill everything
I'm kind of new to melamine so it'll be a little bit of a learning curve. I'm just getting the hang of mdf.
Thanks,
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com
Making it adjustable is a whole 'nother animal.
Unless there is an already a planned use for the adjustable shelving, my discovery is that once the unit is in use it'll usually stay the way it was set-up.
Creating different heights in the plan can provide different size cubbyholes for stuff if you decide to go with non-adjustable.
I lean towards non-adjustable 'cause kids can be rough on stuff. Those pegs in the holes aren't indestructible and metal pins can grow that hole larger then you got a wobbler.
An 8 ft wall monster x4ft can have vertical supports between the shelves under each other, make it a strong bear, and hold a whole bunch of stuff up in that high area where nothing but warm air usually lives.
And if the kids have a slew of little toys that always get spread all over the floor, on the bottom floor shelf screw a 4 or 6 inch board across the width making a bin of sorts, and you'll have a place they can put the little stuff up quick and still have easy access to them without spilling out.
Edited 1/3/2004 12:24:59 AM ET by rez
you are right, predrilling for any screw is a must for any sheet goods
when building cabinets myself, i biscuit join them together, clamp, and then use confirmat screws, they really are strong and easy
only problem is on exposed ends of the cabinet, an extra panel can be used to cover them and stiffen the whole unit
a back of some kind must also be used to prevent racking of the unit, 1/8 hardboard will work fine or a piece of 5/8 melamine cut to fit snuggly into the backcaulking is not a piece of trim
I'll probably order some confirmat screws. And to avoid racking, I'll either use a sheet of 1/8" melamine backer or as suggested use a sheet of the beaded white panelling.
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com
A minifix stud with its camscrew is used to fasten finished sides, with biscuits or dowels between for alignment. Rockler sells the hardware and a drilling jig for placing the holes. I used about 50 of them in putting together my RTA cabs from Scherr's Cabinets and Doors.
My hands are still healing from the cuts made from handling all the melamine-faced particleboard edges. Watch out when grabbing that stuff!
get some comfirmat screws and the correct stepped drill bit
I was going to say that, too. I just put together a whole big house full of KD cabs and built-ins that came from the supplier all bored for dowels, confirmats, minifixes for exposed cab ends, etc., etc.
But really, where does the casual one-time builder of stuff made our of melamine-faced particleboard get the small quantities of screws and the bit he needs?
I know! Rockler has it!
Seriously, I think that biscuits and glue in the slots, augmented by drywall screws (drill lead holes of appropriate size and depth) will do fine for this project.
very true, biscuits and any screw would work well but confirmat screws are designed for the purpose
the bit and screws are available from lee valley in small quantities
caulking is not a piece of trim
From Rockler's site, here is a pic of a minifix in action.
Hey John,
You ready to blow it off and go buy a ready made yet?
Roar!
They don't make what I want to build. I wanted to build out of wood, but the wife wants something with a more durable finish (ie. laminate or melamine). She's afraid that if we build out of wood...which I still may....the finish will look bad in a short time with a 5 year olod, 2 year old, and #3 on the way.
I didn't really want to build laminate furniture.....melamine looked like and easy way out. I ordered the screws from McFeely's yesterday.
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com
How are you going to hid the nasty cut edges of melamine?
one way is to laminate the edging on each piece and trim extra before assembly. This is not a short process.
there is an edge trim that looks like melamine and is heat activated. I believe you use an old or cheap iron to put it on.
that said.... three coats of an oil based marine poly over a nice oil based stain, will last for years and years.
If or when this melamine project pans out, I was going to use the edgebanding.
The stain and marine poly are for wood (not melamine) I assume?
John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
http://www.lazarobuilders.com
Dado, rabbet, glue and air nails or staples.
Standard crapola big-box-grade melamine has about as much structural inegrity as a piece of lasagne. You cannot expect any melamine shelf to stay straight unless you attach a 1¼ trim apron under the front edge; the back edge must be inserted into a dado or supported by a full-length ledger.
If your kids try to climb up the face of it, bad things can happen.
Forget the stuff is my best advice; go buy some 1x8 or 1x10 pine boards and make 'em a nice unit. If you want it infinitely adjustable, just buy a buncha bricks or concrete blocks and pile it all up Greenwich Village 1960's style....
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Industrial grade melamine (not necessarily, in fact, probably not the stuff you find in home centres.....buyit where the cabinet shops do) is a fine building material, as long as you know the rules, and design for the material. For you, Confirmats or particle screws (NOT drywall screws, these are designed to join particle boards and are much, much better than wood screws or drywall screws) would probably be your best choice; biscuits second. Dados/rebates are not good practise with melamine; they will work, but they weaken the material, and unless you have the right equipment, good luck getting clean cuts and not making a mess.
the cam fixings are great, but again, they work best when you have the right equipment.....doing it with small saws and hand drills is just frustrating. The companies that are seling the KD cabinets are using very precise saws and accurate boring machines to get everything where it should be....you don't have to be off much to have a cabinet that won't go together.cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S