laminate and baltic birch plywood

Tuna1 | Posted in General Discussion on September 29, 2009 07:48am

Welcome feedback on prospect of using contact cement to join Formica to Baltic Birch plywood. Manufacturer’s tech guy said not to do but to use MDF or particle board due to different movement of the two materials. Any suggestions will be helpful. It’s for a table saw outfeed table top surface. Thanks

Replies

Scott | Sep 29, 2009 08:12am | #1
Either will do.

I used MDF, which is plenty stable, and cheap, as long as the ambient environment is reasonably dry. Save your bucks for when Baltic Birch is warranted (jigs, sleds, drawers, etc....)

You'd no doubt hear more about this over at Knots.

Scott.

IMERC | Sep 29, 2009 08:17am | #2
a sheet of VIR would work...

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

WOW!!! What a Ride!

Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!

"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"

Scott | Sep 29, 2009 08:25am | #3
Sorry, VIR?Scott.

IMERC | Sep 29, 2009 08:32am | #4
it's that vynal covered cabinate board used on the carcases......

at least that's what I know it as...

1/8" tempered hardboard rubber cemented to a table top would work too...

cheap table top replacement in the advent of damage...

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming

WOW!!! What a Ride!

Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!

"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"

fingers | Sep 29, 2009 02:36pm | #5
What thickness Baltic birch?
I've only used 1/2 " and that might not stay flat like MDF will but maybe the thicker stuff will. You could always use a corian sink cutout.
junkhound | Sep 29, 2009 04:40pm | #6
Have laminated lots of 1.5 cm thick baltic birch to laminate.

Never had a problem, everything from bath countertops (including with undermount sinks) to work surfaces. I like to edge the BB with oak or maple first, or color matched epoxy in the case of undermount sinks.

Have seen LOTs and LOTS of MDF and particle board laminate coming apart (mostly office furniture tops) .
RichardH | Sep 29, 2009 05:49pm | #7
I like 3/4" MDF soaked with several coats of Watco oil followed by several coats of MinWax wipe-on polyurethane. (Now that I can get exterior-grade MDF, I can skip the Watco.) The final product is flat, hard, waterproof, and smooth. Periodically, a light sand followed by a quick coat of the wipe-on keeps it nice. (I don't use the wipe-on stuff for anything else, but in this case it is fast and I don't have to spend time cleaning a brush.)
mike4244 | Sep 30, 2009 02:56am | #8
I used 3/4"mdf with a shellac sealer on both sides. Did that a dozen years ago,might need another coat or two of shellac pretty soon.

mike
cowtown | Sep 30, 2009 07:14am | #9
not a problem in my books. Contact cement/formica/baltic birch work just fine in my experience

1/2" BBirch ply is substantially more stable than 3/4" GIS which is an approved substrate for HPL.. but that is in a "supported" mode on top of countertops.

Vinyl covered stuff? well most vinyl covered cab doors don't rate much more than a 5 year warranty, why even bother with the stuff.

For that matter, if water ain't in the equation, a plethora of folks install HPL on K3 or some other form of chipboard or MDF on countertops. at substantial cost savings. Moisture ain't likely on a TS outfeed table, , but I'd likely ramp up the thickness to 3/4" baltic birch for extra flatness?/strength achieved for only a few dollars more. I often find myself standing on a ladder on top of my TS outfeed table to reach the uppper levels of my shop (10' ceilings) and I've got a 3/4" gis fir ply outfeed table, and it does sag.....

For a TS outfeed table of any length, you gotta look at supports, maybe 1" angle iron, and in that case you could get away methinks with the 1/2" birch.

scope out what I did on my outfeed table to save floor space...

hopefully there's an attachment. (two identical attachments it seems!!)

Eric in Calgary