MDF and painted work surface
- Thread starter Wswigart
- Start date
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If you are talking about raw MDF then you'll be better off starting by sanding to 120 or 150 grit and treating all the surfaces with 2 coats of MDF sealant. Flat back (denib) between coats and consider giving the edges a third or even a fourth coat of sealant. Doing this will stop the MDF from acting like a blotting paper and just sucking in the finish. I'd then spray with 1 to 2 coats of a high-solids undercoat and flat back to around 240 or 320 grit before applying a top coat. Polyurethanse seem to have the most consistently durable surfaces, but if you're doing this yourself you may find the range available in anything other than trade quantities limited. 2-packs can be made harder, but they are intrinsically dangerous to spray (they require air-bled breathing apparatus). Another alternative might be to find a supplier of melamine lacquer. Either way nmake sure that the sealant, undercoat and top coat are compatible - preferably from a single source to avoid finish incompatibility.
Scrit
Scrit
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If it were me, I'd:
1. Buy some plastic laminate "handi panels" sufficiently large to cover the MDF working surface. You can often find these at home centers. They're 2 foot by 4 foot panels of plastic laminate salvaged from damaged 4 foot by 8 foot panels.
2. clamp the laminate to your surface, and trace the outline of the working surface on the BOTTOM of the handipanel(s).
3. Remove the handipanel(s) and use a plastic laminate knife to score just outside the pencil outline deeply enough that you can break the laminate easily along those score lines. Go ahead and do that.
4. Now, paint both the top surface of the MDF and the bottom of the plastic laminate with contact cement, and allow that cement to dry.
5. Put sheets of wax paper over the glued surface of the MDF and carefully position the plastic laminate over top of the MDF surface. The wax paper in between the two will prevent them from bonding.
6. Clamp the plastic laminate to the MDF surface along one edge and after ensuring that the laminate is positioned correctly over the MDF, lift up the opposite (unclamped) edge of the laminate and slip the strips of wax paper out from under the laminate. Allow the laminate to come into contact with the top of the MDF. Then, press the laminate down onto the MDF with your hands.
7. Remove the clamps from the opposite side of the laminate, lift up that edge, slip the wax paper out and glue that side down.
8. Use an ordinary mill file to file down the edge of the laminate even with the MDF.
That will give you as durable a working surface as any plastic laminate kitchen counter top.
1. Buy some plastic laminate "handi panels" sufficiently large to cover the MDF working surface. You can often find these at home centers. They're 2 foot by 4 foot panels of plastic laminate salvaged from damaged 4 foot by 8 foot panels.
2. clamp the laminate to your surface, and trace the outline of the working surface on the BOTTOM of the handipanel(s).
3. Remove the handipanel(s) and use a plastic laminate knife to score just outside the pencil outline deeply enough that you can break the laminate easily along those score lines. Go ahead and do that.
4. Now, paint both the top surface of the MDF and the bottom of the plastic laminate with contact cement, and allow that cement to dry.
5. Put sheets of wax paper over the glued surface of the MDF and carefully position the plastic laminate over top of the MDF surface. The wax paper in between the two will prevent them from bonding.
6. Clamp the plastic laminate to the MDF surface along one edge and after ensuring that the laminate is positioned correctly over the MDF, lift up the opposite (unclamped) edge of the laminate and slip the strips of wax paper out from under the laminate. Allow the laminate to come into contact with the top of the MDF. Then, press the laminate down onto the MDF with your hands.
7. Remove the clamps from the opposite side of the laminate, lift up that edge, slip the wax paper out and glue that side down.
8. Use an ordinary mill file to file down the edge of the laminate even with the MDF.
That will give you as durable a working surface as any plastic laminate kitchen counter top.
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