scraping glue off of formica

[dZign Tank]

hello all....

so i just glued up my first piece using formica and at the mitered edges, a thin layer of glue remains on the formica surface.

its a really thin layer. does anyone have any suggestions on how to remove it easily?

otherwise, i'll be stuck pealing each lil bit by hand, arghhhhh

also, i didn't realize till after the fact, but using formica means the edges will be outlined with the formica substrate material.... it really looks fake. is there any crazy method that conceals that? ive heard that some people actually miter formica edges.... *shutter

thanks!

[beamerweb]

Mitering the edges is about all you can do to get rid of the seam as much as possible. There'll still be a little line, but mitering them kind of hides most of it...

What kinda glue is on the surface? If it's yellow glue, a carfeful scrape with a putty knife oughta do it. If it's contact cement, a putty knife might get some of it. The rubbery-ness of the contact adhesive usually requires more force and puts you at risk of scratching the formica surface ... not something easily recovered from.

Picking at it would be my next choice :P

[TDHofstetter]

If it's yellow glue, you can also use water, vinegar, and heat to soften it to the point where it'll scrape up easily with your fingernail or a credit card.

There are some slickish tools out there that ... BACK-miter ... the Formica, cutting through barely short of the surface. It's got to be done with infinte care, but once it's done right the corner will fold at the back-miter and make a totally seamless edge.

Another approach might be to rabbet in 1/4" at the edge & lay a 1/4x1/4 band of wood into the edge.

-- Tim --

All sails
are vinyl.

[dZign Tank]

back miter? can you lead me to any of these tools? sounds tricky.

yeah, yellow glue, i'll try water / vinegar / and heat.

thanks!

[TDHofstetter]

I'm diggin' around trying to find you a good link... it may take a little time.

-- Tim --

All sails
are vinyl.

[Woody 1]

If the vinagar don`t do it try isopropyl alchol or commonally call rubbing alcohol. I have used it and it works with a wash cloth or something not real smooth. Barry

[cabinetman]

Yellow glue doesn't stick that good to the surface of the Formica. It should not be used to laminate the Formica, rather, use solvent based contact cement. To remove yellow glue from the surface, a scrap piece of Formica gently scraped on the surface will take it off. If you use heat, you may soften the glue you used to hold it in place.

An alternative to a different core on the laminate is to use a "color core" laminate that has the color all the way through the material. Or. just mitering the mating edges works too.

The system Tim talked about may be the Betterley Miter Fold:
http://www.betterleytools.com/Catalog-Page07.gif

[TDHofstetter]

THAT's the dang one! I knew it was out there, but couldn't come up with the right combination of words to get me (1) at least one hit, and (2) less than 139,000 hits, none of the first ones being good...

I'm getting old, no doubt about it.

EDIT: That's one very sweet little Porter-Cable router, too - I've got the router (just not the folder rig, which'd be fairly easy to replicate with that router).

-- Tim --

All sails
are vinyl.

[rrich]

Assuming that you want to remove the excess contact cement...

I know three methods that work.
1 - Rub the glue with your finger or eraser or sanding belt eraser. The glue will roll right off.
2 - Contact cement thinner. A little on a rag and you can remove the cement easily.
3 - Lacquer thinner works as well as the thinner but smells worse.

[cabinetman]

To remove solvent based contact cement from "mica", mineral spirits (paint thinner) works good but differently than lacquer thinner. It doesn't dissolve the glue like lacquer thinner does, rather it kinda keeps it together and makes it release. Lacquer thinner can make the glue gooey and messy. VM&P naptha also works similar to MS. If you have a lot of it to take off, you can use odorless MS. Just a warning about being careful while cleaning near an edge. Getting it too wet may allow the solvent to bleed under the edge and loosen the glue.