# How to assemble melamine cabinets?



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

I am just starting to build a sewing room for my wife.
She decided that she wanted everything made of white melamine (not my idea).
I shall have a counter/bench in a corner, about 10" long on each side, to install two sewing machines with two or three cabinets full of drawers under. 
In one corner I shall have shelves and in the center of the room I shall a 4'x8' work table with more large/long (48') drawers under to store the fabric.
All that should be fairly easy to build but I have a question on how to assemble everything with no screw showing.
What do you recommend?
Thank you.
Bert


----------



## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

If you have some maple or oak boards, you could show her a piece of melamine with an oak border. This 
makes a nice contrast, and gives you a strong border to make cabinet assembly easier. This is not my idea
I borrowed it from a local cabinetmaker, who borrowed it from a book he saw. If she will not go for the
border with the melamine recessed in, then the easy way would be to use the wood as a backing piece
routed so a thin strip would cover the exposed edge on the melamine for the thinner door panels. I would
use 1/4" or 3/8" thick melamine for the doors. The cabinets could be built with 1/2" or 3/4" sheets in
the same manner particle board cupboards are built. Hope this helps.


----------



## DLCW (Feb 18, 2011)

You could use pocket screw joinery or mortise and tenon joinery. I use these two methods all the time. I would suggest picking up a bottle of the glue that is formulated specifically for working with materials like particle board and MDF.


----------



## childress (Sep 14, 2008)

I do as bently suggests and will add that I've found that pocket screws along with Roo glue works the best with melamine. If you design it right, you can get away without having to put end panels on because the pocket screws will be on the bottom of the bottom panel and on top of the top rails. Hope that makes sense.


----------



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Thank you for your replies. In the past I always edged my plywood or particle boards with a strip or real wood, this is not the issue. 
The issue to assemble the front and side panels in such a way that no screw show.
I have had several suggestions: use biscuits and no screw, use pocket holes and screws, I am thinking about using false tenons.
Some one else suggested that I use screws and that I hide them with a plug.
None of these ideas real please me.


----------



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Can I use Titebond III for glue?
I read that I should not use dry wall screws but only melamine screws, what do you think? ( melamine screws are crazy expensive)


----------



## Earlextech (Jan 13, 2011)

Without a pockethole jig I would agree with BentlyJ
With a pockethole jig I would agree with childress


----------



## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Dowels.

You can put a nail in here and there to help hold while the 
glue sets. Good melamine is real flat, though, so in many cases
you can just glue and hammer/push the joints together and the
geometry of the dowels will hold it together while the glue sets.

Pocket screws aren't really appropriate for melamine. They'll hold,
but they aren't as clean and sturdy as dowels for particleboard. Lots of 
unsightly holes with the pocket screws too.

Biscuits and melamine glue can work too, but you'll need to clamp
thoroughly or use nails/staples to help hold the joints while
the glue sets.


----------



## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

My wife went out and dropped 600 bones on the stuff she wanted, which happened to be some melamine $&*. It was her money, earned at her job. She loves nice stuff, but to get her to spring for it is like pulling teeth. Guess who got to install all that Chinese melamine sh…tuff, anyway? At least it's mounted to the wall properly.


----------



## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Bert,

Wish I could help you with the melamine, but I can't…..I've never used that stuff for anything, and frankly I don't like it at all…..To me, it's just particle board or MDF with a paint-like finish on it. But that's just me..
Good luck in your endevors. Hope your wife likes it when you're done…....


----------



## LeeBarker (Aug 6, 2010)

Biscuits and glue (yellow) and melamine glue where appropriate is my formula. I make a story stick with the biscuit layout and stack the parts and mark them all (bottoms/tops; sides) at the same time.

The nice thing about biscuits or dowels is the alignment is automatic. This is helpful when you want no fasteners showing.

Once you have the box assembled and clamped, glue (Roo glue) and staple the back on (back being precut) to square the box. Then you can ease back the clamps and the box will set up strong.

Oh and nailers go inside first before the back.

You'll likely be getting into edgebanding here, and that's a good skill to have. Virutex makes a portable machine. Lots of guys go to the local thrift store and buy an iron. You'll become an expert at trimming and buffing the EB.

If these boxes get shelves and doors with euro hinges you might as well leap in and get the simple Rockler lineboring jig and do it right.

Embrace the euro system and it will reward you with nice, clean, strong, true cabinets. Try to make a lot of compromises, and you'll compromise the results.

Kindly,

Lee


----------



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Thank you all for your replies


----------



## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

Not sure if you have worked with melamine before. 
The inside is SOFT . Spend the money and buy the course thread screw, careful when using any power tool to put screw in. (I run my drill slow then tighten by hand,)
Building these were a different approach than I am used to doing. Lots of dust when cutting, chips easily, hard to hide mistakes, heavy as heck !
I used dowel pins for my project. No dados with melamine.
I really do *NOT* like working with melamine. Clients wanted it so we used it !
Enjoy your experience !


----------



## ScottN (Jan 24, 2011)

I was at a fellow woodworkers place yesterday picking up some hardware being he is a HDL distributor.
I was talking to him about the melamine carcases I was building for my hickory cabinets. He said hes worked with melamine before and was telling me what worked well for him. He said the best glue he found for melamine was Roo glue (http://www.rooglue.com/which.htmlhttp://) And he said he would also do dadoes an 1/8" deep.

Just relaying info…I haven't tried it. All of my cabinet carcasses are hidden so I was able to just use screws.

If I were you I would make up a few samples and let them dry over night and do a stress test on them the next day to see which method will work for you. Keep us posted on this project I would be interested in how it goes.


----------



## jjerman (Jan 10, 2011)

I would recommend using biscuits and melamine glue, if you do not want any fasteners showing.
It works well, automatic alignment and a strong joint.
John Jerman


----------



## DLCW (Feb 18, 2011)

Another option is mortise and tenon joinery. Cut your panels to size, mill up mortises in your side panels and tenons in your horizontal panels, add some melamine glue and your off and running. I build cabinetry all the time using this joinery (CNC and cabinet design software makes it really easy) from many types of materials and never had a problem. Before the CNC I used my router (downcut spiral bit) to create my mortises and the tablesaw with dado blade to make the tenons. Fairly quick once you get the assembly line working. This gives you a LOT of glue area and makes for a strong joint. I make it a habit to scuff sand the part of the tenon that still has melamine on it after the tenon machining. You can also scuff sand the 1/4" area just outside the mortise to get a good bond there as well.

I've done the RTA cabinets and the only downside is the cost of the RTA hardware and the time to get everything perfectly aligned.


----------



## mdcatro57 (Mar 4, 2011)

Hi Bret,
I did a costume cabinet job for a lady and she wanted them built from white melamine because she wanted the room to be bright. I assembled all of the cabinet boxes using pocket screws with the Kreg Jig. I also made all of the face frames for the cabinets from mapel and these were also attached using the Kreg Jig.

I used Titebond Melamine glue on all the joints. I also used maple to edge finish all of the doors and drawer fronts and did those using biscuits. The cabinets turned out really well. I did not stain the maple wood I just used clear poly on it and my customer was really pleased with the way the cabinets looked.

I really like using the pocket jig technique, and by using the solid maple as a face frame it makes the cabinets a lot stronger. And it does not take as long to assemble the cabinets as you think that it would.


----------



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

Thank you all for taking the time to answer my question, I truly appreciate.


----------



## lewis62 (Mar 6, 2011)

I have worked with melamine for about 15 years now. The cabinet shop way of using it is for finished insides, joining sides with dado or rabbett joints and any wood glue, staple , brad nail, screw together , then it gets laminate for all face sides to hide fasteners, one way, and gets expensive. Biscuits with Roo glue or Loctite Fastgrab in chaulk tube hold to melamine finished face very well. Have used biscuits with fast grab and clamping till set with good luck so far, for not showing fasteners. Use 1/2 inch backs to give case some strenght, add cleat inside for extra holding power for screwing upper cabinets to wall. Iron on tape for edge finish works , it helps to seal raw particle board edge with alittle yellow glue first ,let set up for about 20 min then use iron on. Some of the iron on tape has so little glue on it , it soaks in to edge and and tape fails to hold, or contact cement . Try a couple samples which way is easier for you. M & T on particle board , bad idea to me to weak, never tried that. Hope this helps. Good luck.


----------



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

lewis62,
Thank you very much for your recommendations


----------



## LeeBarker (Aug 6, 2010)

Just a word about Melamine glue, which has been mentioned several times here. It has a strange quality: It bonds a raw edge (particle board, or MDF) to Melamine but is not formulated to glue two Melamine surfaces together. You will get some grab, but it's not what we call a glue joint.

Just info.

I personally prefer yellow glue to MM glue for biscuits because they don't seem to swell up so fast. YMMV.

Kindly,

Lee


----------



## trainwreck (Jan 12, 2011)

I'm a newbie with zero cabinet making experience, and it sounds to me like you aren't completely thrilled with using melamine, and it may require the purchase of extra tools or extra material for the stuff that chips. My guess is she probably doesn't know this and just wants that smooth white finish. She's probably seen sewing rooms that use this stuff and doesn't have a clue that it's a pain in the rear to build with it AND she thinks your skills are so full of awesome that you can do anything.

If I wanted a white sewing room and wanted my hubby to build it, I'd want to know that it would cost a lot more to build it the way I want it and that it will result in cursing up a blue streak. I'd also want to know that you could make it look better using different materials. If you could build the cabinets out of something that will take a nice painted white finish (like the smooth Pottery Barn type of paint finish, which is what I'm thinking she wants) and find a nice white countertop for less money, wouldn't that mean more money for sewing supplies for me and woodworking supplies for you?


----------



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

trainwreck,I did work with melamine in the past.
This is not my favorite stuff to word with but it is OK.
I was checking if someone had a better ideas to put the cabinets together and I received several very good ideas.
Yes, I bought more tools ( my wife always encourages me to buy more tools) ;a fantastic Freud blade which cuts with no chip at all (very highly recommend),a Freud biscuit joiner and a Rigid trim router.


----------



## misbeshavings (Feb 28, 2011)

I use confirmat screws (7×50) and butt joints, and have had zero issues. I built several banks of shop cabinets from some melamine faced particle board, and they are solid. 
Edge band your melamine, and then assemble your cabinets. There is no reason to get carried away with biscuits and glue. For any oustide panels that show, use pocket holes.


----------



## b2rtch (Jan 20, 2010)

misbeshavings,
Thank you for the suggestion


----------



## Brohymn62 (Mar 23, 2012)

Bert, I'm curious, what method did you use and how did it come out? I'm in the process of planning a cabinet build with PB and am surprised at all the options for putting the stuff together. Thanks.


----------



## ssnvet (Jan 10, 2012)

yes… please tell us how it turned out


----------



## REO (Sep 20, 2012)

I have always used the full thickness of the panel as the tenon. since there is no end grain glue is a terific fastner all by itself. I use the foaming type glue. Tape all kerf line before cutting. I tape off and scuff the melamine laminate off thtennon engagement area and use a coat of paste wax on all surfaces to shed the glue where i dont want it to stick the excess foam out almost falls off and when the tape is stripped it leaves a nice crisp joint No screws at all. if the glue joint breaks a screw wont help the damge is already to severe for a screw to help.


----------



## reedwood (Jan 27, 2011)

edit - just noticed how old this thread is - Ha! An update with a picture of the finished unit would be cool.

I'll leave the comment anyway:

48" drawers? hopefully not made of melamine too. They would be extremely heavy.
How are you going to mount these massive drawers? have you seen the price for 48" drawer slides?

I imagine you could go without hardware but then, why do you need a drawer for rolls of fabric in the first place?
How about deep open cubby holes like you would see in a fabric store?

The biggest problem with melamine is getting a good cut on the table saw that you can finish with vinyl tape. If you're not using a really sharp 80 tooth blade, you will blow out the back side and it will never look good, even with touch up paint. And white melamine doors with stained oak edges are…....so…....80s. UGH.

The second problem is it's so frickin' heavy and easy to chip or strip out the screws when assembling.

I use this product with one FLAT, factory finished edge for fancy closet organizers only. It comes predrilled for shelves in widths of 12" or 16". That's what it's good for.

If you want melamine furniture, check out IKEA. The materials will cost the same as something already made!

It seems like you could sell the better idea of a well made piece of furniture that you could hand down to a family member, made of clear varnished maple or cherry, even oak would look nice. Give her a white Formica top with a real wood edge, maybe (if you must) make the boxes, backs and shelves out of melamine, but make the outside sides, face frame and doors out of real wood.

Dat's what I'd do.


----------

