Has anyone curved MDF kitchen cabinet doors?

[liam n]

I am a kitchen fitter and I need to make curved doors from MDF. I have tried making a press and gluing together sheets of 3mm MDF using a polyurethene fast set glue and have found the finished door thicker in some places than others due to foaming effect of the glue. The curve also springs back slightly and I am dubious about the long term retaining of the shape. Does anyone have any advice? If so I would be grateful.

 

[big-all]

any material with inbuilt stresses will try and resume its origional shape if heated or subjected to moisture

the only way i can see this working is layers with no inbuilt stresses

or with curved shaped batton strait at the back fethered to zero at the edges to hold the stresses in check

so in actual fact the battons will give a flat back edge that could be coverd by a back skin for the door

depends on tightness of the curve weight ect

the back skin or the cross battons could accomodate the hinges

 

[Jasonb]

You are probably not getting even pressure over the whole door. You should use both male & female formers unless you are using a vacuum press then only a male one will be needed.

Even with a lot of clamps you can still get gaps and uneven thickness of the finished item. A veneer press will give a good even pressure with no voids

I tend to prefer 1.5mm birch ply for laminating as it is a bit more flexible than 3mm MDF but once the glue has set is very rigid. It also has a more glue friendly surface. I tend to use Titebond on smaller areas and Extramite on large ones as it has a longer working time. The apron under this sink is 9 layers of 1.5mm ply, the rest was made with MR MDF

Jason

 

[Scrit]

Spring-back occurs even with the best of cauls and vacuum presses as Jason says - it is a part of the problem with using any material originally pressed as a flat sheet, however I'd also avoid using using PU glue (D4) as it will tend to foam in any voids and cause unwanted extra distortion. Instead go over onto a good D3 (exterior grade) PVA with a short setting time (try Strongbond Adhesives Ltd in Bury, Lancashire) - or better still an RF glue like Extramite and live with a longer setting time. The setting time can be considerably reduced if you add heat (and/or vacuum) to your caul by using either a low voltage/resistance rig as discussed in W.A.Lincoln " The Complete Manual of Veneering" (Stobart-Davis) or by resorting to a an old electric blanket of all things.

An alternative approach might well be to laminate two layers of bendy MDF over a caul with the kerfed sides inwards and glued together (again with a cross-linked PVA or RF glue). I'm not sure how rigid this would remain and how likely telegraphing of the kerf would be. I've used this for exhibition stands and it worked fine, but they are hardly long term products.

BTW, did you know that there is now one trade supplier of foil-wrapped MDF doors who has recently started to offer curved doors?

Scrit

 

[liam n]

Thanks for all the advice, much appriciated. Would you happen to know the name of the company that supplies the MDF foil wrapped doors? It would be handy for future ref. Thanks again. Liam

 

[Scrit]

Hi Liam

Contact me on <[email protected]> and I'll let you know.

Scrit

 

[hermes]

I use 1.5mm mdf or 1.5mm 'bendyply' for curved doors. I usually allow a bit of extra curve to allow for the springing back. I do not use pva adhesive as it has a tendency to 'creep' over a long period of time. I have used cascamite, extramite and polyurethane. I don't think that the foaming effect of pu adhesive is going to create gaps, it will only foam into gaps that are already there, but it can be a bit fast setting if you have many layers to work with.

 

[Scrit]

I do not use pva adhesive as it has a tendency to 'creep' over a long period of time.

D3 (cross-linking/waterproof/exterior grade) PVA doesn't creep. D2 (interior grade) does. I've tried lamination with PU and if you don't get sufficient pressure on the laminae quickly enough any air gaps will result in foaming in the interlayer space(s) because of the fast setting nature of the glue. Obviously not an issue if you are vacuum bagging, but clean-up may well be.

Scrit

 

[lippyzippy]

Hi I need to urgently find a company that will make me a made to measure desk in high gloss white ( like the kitchens are nowadays). I noticed that scrit and swampydrill or anyone else who may be able to help me,. please can you email me on [email protected] and leave me your contact details or email, so that I can speak to you further or send me some companys contact details who will be able to help me. It would be really really appreciated.

 

[Jasonb]

How urgently do you need the desk, and do you want curved of flat highgloss white. I may be interested but have a waiting list of several months.

This is the type of high Gloss I do.


Jason

 

[^woody^]

I may be interested but have a waiting list of several months.

Is that all I'd have thought it would be much longer going by those images

Out of interest, how is the gloss finish attained - is it sprayed on or is it some sort of glued on material?

 

[Jasonb]

Its a solid acrylic called Parapan, can be bent to a radius. If you scratch it then the mark can be buffed out.

http://www.parapan.co.uk/gallery/in_the_home/index.html

Jason

 

[lippyzippy]

How urgently do you need the desk, and do you want curved of flat highgloss white. I may be interested but have a waiting list of several months.

This is the type of high Gloss I do.


Jason

Hi Jason, thank you so much for replying. I love your curved desk .The pictures of the white kitchen work top does not look like high gloss white....does the photo not reflect how high gloss it is????
Please could you email me with your contact details so that I could discuss price and other things with you.?