Hiding nail holes in Melamine

[Dengue]

If I was to use a C1 nail gun on Melamine coated particle board ( standard Laminex Whiteboard) when fitting shelves to a 16mm Melamine carcass, is there any way of filling and finishing these holes so that they are not visible?

regards,
Jill

[Claw Hama]

Magic!! sorry Jill, not that I know of.
Well other than just a little white poly filler,but it's not something you would want on the front anywhere.

[Master Splinter]

Not to a true definition of 'invisible'.

The white Timbermate filler is a cheap/easy solution that I've used, but its one of those filling options that may discolour over time and cleaning. It's not an exact white match (sigh...who knew there were so many shades of white) but it's near enough for government work, as they say.

I've been meaning to try a pigmented epoxy (a much better match for melamine in terms of stainproof-ness and surface durability) - I saw a tip somewhere where you shoot the brad through a layer of sticky tape, fill and smooth off the hole and then remove the sticky, giving you a neat, no smear, no cleanup required finish, which sounds like the best way to go if using epoxy.

[fubar]

I've given up trying to match and now just use screws and the white plastic button caps

[Dengue]

I saw a tip somewhere where you shoot the brad through a layer of sticky tape, fill and smooth off the hole and then remove the sticky, giving you a neat, no smear, no cleanup required finish, which sounds like the best way to go if using epoxy.<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

This is an excellent idea - thanks MasterSplinter.

regards,
Jill

[soundman]

there is a laminate filler available in small tubes...it aint cheap....but it works well on small holes.....not so good on larger ( screw sized holes).

white adhesive spots are better for screws.

if you have a nailer that can set consistently...carefull adjustment and white topped nails might be OK too.



cheers

[Bazzmate]

I used to use the laminate filler waaay back in my cabinetmaking days but have never come across it in the shops since so I just get an small artists paintbrush and use it to fill the nail holes with white gloss paint. I find the paint easier to apply anyway.

It looks every bit as good as the laminate filler when it's new (IMO) but sorry, couldn't tell you what the paint looks like over the long term. Possibly the same as the laminate filler?