Making furniture with your own hands brings considerable savings. Basically, laminated chipboard is used for this purpose – a material glued from sawdust.
After cutting, its edges have an unattractive appearance and require further processing.
Content
Types of finishing
At the moment, there are several ways to give the ends of the tabletop an aesthetic look. Only 2 of them are suitable for making the edge at home:
- Pasting with melamine tape. The glue applied to the tape itself simplifies the process, but the resulting edge is afraid of moisture and is unstable to mechanical impacts.
Today it is the cheapest and most accessible, therefore it is very often used in furniture production. - PVC strip trim. Requires more expense, but the edges are more durable.
Quite a popular furniture edge for facing the end surfaces of laminated chipboard. All thanks to the ideal price-quality ratio.
Applied edges
Modern technologies allow to produce various edges. However, not all are suitable for gluing at home. Melamine tapes are produced in widths of 19-54 mm. With a thickness of 0.2-0.4 mm, they allow to refine the edges of tabletops of various shapes.
A PVC strip of the same width can be slightly thicker. For gluing the ends of the tabletop, edges are produced with and without an applied adhesive layer.
Tools
If you decide to glue the edge yourself, check that you have the tools. Prepare before you start:
- An iron, which is necessary for gluing melamine edging;
Furniture edging can be glued at home using a regular iron. - A building hair dryer, if you plan to use PVC strip;
A hair dryer is the most convenient method of heating the edge. - Wallpaper roller or piece of felt;
It will become a convenient device for pressing the edge tightly. - Fine-grain sandpaper on a block;
It is used to smooth out the processed ends. - Scissors;
You will need scissors to cut the edge to the required length. - Shoe knife or stationery knife;
They trim off the excess edge hanging from the edges of the part. - Glue "88-Lux" or "Moment" (when using an edge without an adhesive layer);
Use glue if your material does not have an adhesive backing. - Solvent;
You can easily remove traces of glue using solvent. - Rags for cleaning dirt.
It is convenient to remove excess glue with a rag soaked in solvent.
To fix the PVC edge, you can use a clamp and a wooden block. If possible, use a hand router to process the edge of the edge.
Prepare your work area, taking into account the space for turning the tabletop. And, most importantly, buy the appropriate melamine tape or PVC edge.
Melamine tape
The cheapest and most accessible way to refine the edge. Does not require the purchase of glue and specialized tools. Everything you need can be found in any household, and the process will take a few minutes.
It should be used to finish the hard-to-reach edge of the countertop. At the same time, do not forget about the dampness that will penetrate under the edge and destroy the material.
The pasting technology looks quite simple.
- Turn on and heat up the iron. Select the temperature so that the paper base of the material and the glue do not burn.
- Cut the tape 2 cm longer than the edge to be processed.
- Place the melamine strip onto the end of the table top with the adhesive side down.
Therefore, at this stage it is important to align it along one edge, as in the photo. - Heat the edge with an iron until the glue softens. It will provide adhesion to the end of the part.
- Roll or rub the edge along its entire length with a roller.
The iron should not burn the edge, but rather melt the glue applied to the back side well. - Let the glue cool.
- Remove the protruding edge. Take a steel ruler and press it against the surface of the tabletop. Form a kind of scissors, one end of which is the edge of the future table, and the other is the ruler. With short movements directed towards the part, cut off the excess edge and glue.
Do not use a sharp knife, it will cut the edges of the material and ruin the whole look. - Sand the edges using sandpaper attached to a block.
- Remove traces of glue with solvent.
Using a soft cloth and solvent, gently wipe the finished edge of the countertop.
PVC strip
A more progressive and aesthetically attractive method. True, its implementation requires some skill, but after practicing on scraps, you can master this method.
When gluing PVC edging, follow the following sequence.
- Cut a strip of trim material 2 cm longer than the edge to be finished.
- Heat the edge with a hair dryer from the glue side or with an iron from the front side.
To apply the edge, use an industrial hair dryer with a heating temperature of 250 degrees. If you use material without an adhesive base, use 88-Lux glue or similar.
Apply the glue to the cut strip and wait for the time specified in the instructions. 2-3 minutes before the end of the time, apply a thin layer of glue to the end of the tabletop. - Apply to the table top and roll the edge with a roller.
- After the glue has dried, remove the protruding edge with a knife and chamfer it with the blunt side.
The knife blade should go along the plane of the part, thus evenly cutting off the protruding part of the edge. - Sand the edges.
An edge sanded with fine-grit sandpaper will be smooth and even.
Correctly selected and glued edge will give the tabletop an attractive look, and it will serve you for many years.
VIDEO: Ironing melamine furniture edging.
50 original types of countertops:
My husband made it at home himself
Trimming with a ruler? Very original. Especially if the edge of the ruler is sharpened at 5-10 degrees. I have re-glued so many edges, but I have never thought of “cutting” them with a blunt piece of iron 1 mm thick)) Why all these perversions? This is not trimming, but some kind of fragmentation. And here you just have to watch that the film itself does not chip. Then you can’t even it out with sandpaper, only in re-gluing. An ordinary stationery knife (or even better, a linoleum knife. It is more rigid and the surface is smoother) placed on the surface of the material or at a minimum angle, perfectly copes with this task in one breath without any damage.
Thank you for the useful information, we will take this into account in the future.
In principle, melamine cannot be cut, but crumbles even if cleaned with sharp objects.
But when minor burr residues remain after the first pass, it is advisable to cut with a sharp blade and then sand with sandpaper.
A slightly heated (not cold) edge cleans up much better.
Furniture makers most often use spatulas to process edges, which each person sharpens and cuts to their own size as desired.
Good day, can someone tell me where I can order a 3.5 cm wide tape? There are none in the retail chain stores. Thanks in advance.