Neatly joining melamine tops

[michelle2008]

Hi everyone,

I am interested to know if anyone here knows of a nice, neat way to joing melamine tops? I mean where they butt up against each other when making a long benchtop from two bits of melamine. It doesn't have to look wonderful, just something to hide the ugly, rough melamine edges (not edged).

Thanks in advance
Michelle.

[journeyman Mick]

Melamine is not actually meant to be used for "tops" as in kitchen benches etc as it's not a thick enough layer to wear very well. However, you need to have two perfectly straight and square clean edges for them to butt up neatly. Use a router with a straight bit running along a straight edge clamped to the board to trim a few mm off the edge and get it straight and square. Do the same for the edge it will marry up with. Join, probably with a cleat underneath, screwed to both pieces. You should finish the exposed raw edges off somehow, either with some edging tape or with some thin strips of solid timber.

Mick

[michelle2008]

Thanks for your reply Mick.

They are not actually going to be used for a benchtop - it was just the best way to explain what I need. There will be two bits side by side, though, that need to look ok. I was of thinking something that didn't involve too much work (or machinery, as I don't know how to use any of it!). Something like some sort of joining strip - from very vague memory I seem to remember ikea had something like this.. plastic maybe. Can't find it on their website. It's not for strength, just looks.

Thanks again.

Michelle.

[Master Splinter]

If all you want is a neat-ish finish, then you should be able to find a plastic joining piece (a T piece) at your local hardware. No work greater than cutting it to size with a sharp knife.

Secure it in place with some silicone sealant.

However, if there is going to be any weight on it. I'd want to dowel the pieces together to stop uneven deflection...and if I were doing that, I'd end up gluing the two pieces together... so I would use epoxy and mix some talc in the last bit of epoxy (to make it white and opaque) so that it would fill any chips in the melamine.

But that is rapidly heading towards a lot of work...why not just buy a large enough square sheet and cut an "L" shape out of it and apply iron-on edging?

(actually you could use iron-on edging instead of a plastic T piece).

[michelle2008]

Thanks for your reply

Both great ideas - I think what I had in mind was something like the T piece you mentioned but I wasn't sure if they actually exisited! (I had only ever seen metal ones).

Thanks again