Not all equal!

[journeyman Mick]

Here's a tip about a trap that I discovered, or at least solved today. I knock up a few kitchens etc, mostly out of melamine coated particle board. Smaller jobs I've been cutting myself but because I only have the simplest of edgebanders (one very small step up from an electric iron) I've been getting the larger jobs cut by a local service that cuts and edges board and make post form tops. I make about the same money per hour whichever way I go, so unless I'm really quiet I get them to do the bulk of the cutting and edging.

Anyway, on the last job I was getting nails blowing out the side of the board at a pretty alarming rate (usually it's about 0 - 3 blowouts on a whole kitchen). So I swapped from my new nail gun back to the old one for today's job, thinking that was where the problem lay. Still got blow outs! :mad: So I fiddled with the depth adjuster so the gun was only just driving the heads slightly below the surface, thinking that maybe excessive force was the problem - still got blow outs! :mad: :mad: . So I decided it was time to buy a new gun. Got on the phone to my supplier to check out the range and decided on a new Bostitch C-Bradder, on special for about $250.

While I was on the phone I happened to be looking at some of the board edge on, which was sitting on top of my pack of board and I spotted the cause of all my frustrations. My board, supplied and manufactured by Laminex has an inner core of coarse particles with some voids in it, sandwiched by outside layers of tightly packed smaller particles wthout any voids. In contrast the pre-cut board had an irregular mix of particle sizes, mostly coarse with larger voids occuring more often and at random throughout the board, sometimes quite close to the surface. A brad fired into this board could hit a dense pocket in the centre of the board and be deflected through a hollow pocket and out of the surface. That's why I was getting brads blowing out all the time!

I rang a mate tonight who also buys a fair bit of precut board from the same supplier to see if he's experienced any problems. It turns out that on his last job he had so much trouble that he ended up predrilling and screwing everything. They'll be getting a call from me in the morning! :mad: I'm seriously thinking of buying a more productive edgebander and only outsourcing my tops.

So if you're buying no-name particleboard check the cross section, there should be a visible difference between the inner core and the outer layers, with no voids toward the outside.

Mick, who's very cross tonight after paying top shelf prices for stuff that's only good for packing crates!

[gnu52]

Hello Mick,

Yes, same problems noted here. Have had several feral batches of board from local supplier. Now looking for a reliable QUALITY source.
Regards, Bill

[Gaza]

Mick, do you know what brand the board was, in Syd there is a company who imports cheap board, STD white melaine 16mm, they then spray the edges of the sheet with green paint so it looks like HMR, it is then sent to the auction where guys trying to save a few bucks buy a few packs of it, when they get it back to the factory and start cutting it turns out to be STD and guess what no recourse as it was brought at auction.

I only buy board from Laminex direct or carter holt product from a wholesaler, I stay away from the smaller wholesalers / resellers.

Tell us the results of your decisucsions with your supplier.

[journeyman Mick]

Gaza,
spoke to the supplier who assured me that it all came from Laminex. However, I spoke to a cabinetmaker on the Gold coast yesterday and he said that he's had similar problems. Apparently laminex wasn't able to keep up with demand amd did source some board from elsewhere.

Mick