Melamine Jointery

[rick7938]

I am going to make some cabinets for my pantry using melamine for the box, poplar for the face frames since they will be painted to match the other cabinets, and painted beadboard for the exposed ends.

What is the preferred method of joining the tops and bottoms to the sides? Will dadoes and glue work on melamine like they do plywood? Are the Confirmat (?) screws the preferred fasteners over coarse thread drywall screws?

Thanks for any input or advice.

 

[DaveO]

Dados and glue will work, but you have to do one of two things. Either make your dado smaller and cut a tongue on the making pieces to remove the melamine layer, or use Roo glue, specially for bonding melamine. Confirmat screws are prefered over drywall screws because they are designed for this application and hold well in the particleboard core.
Dave

 

[Splinter]

Rick,

I used melamine for a complete set of kitchen cabinets boxes. I used biscuits and Titebond I to joint the sides of the boxes and they are still good after 3 years.

 

[rick7938]

If I use the Confirmat screws, do I need a dado, or are they designed to be the only mechanical fastener?

 

[DaveO]

I would think that the Confirmat screws alone would be good, with a dado even better. Are you using a face frame or going frameless? A face frame would add a lot of rigidity to the carcass, and in that application I think screwed butt joints would be adequate.
Dave

 

[rick7938]

Yes, Dave. I will be using a face frame to match the rest of the cabinets. I think that I will try my pocket screw jig to make the face frames and attach to the case with biscuits. I am going to try to make my own doors, something that I haven't done before.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Rick- my backbench bottom shelf and dividers are 3/4" melamine (particle core). The only place I joined melamine to melamine was the partitions to the bottom shelf. Like was previously suggested I used dadoes, but made them 1/2", thinner than the melamine, and cut 1/8" rabbets on each side of the mating pieces for a particle to particle glue surface rather than melamine to particle.

Except where the faceframe meets a 3/4 ply stiffener just under the top where I used pocker screws, I attached my faceframes mostly with glue (TB III) and a few finish nails, no dadoes or biscuits. I considered biscuits and other glues (epoxy, gorilla glue, PL adhesive, etc.) but I did a test with an 8" piece of oak faceframe material glued to the edge of a piece melamine with TB III. After an hour I could not pull it off using all my strength and I don't think the glue was fully cured either. I was only able to knock it off by hitting the back of the faceframe with a hammer.

Here is the test piece before destruction.

I think I will use ply for my upper cabinets however.