Bending Laminate Bevel Edge With Heat Gun

Keep working down the curve this way heating small sections and then attaching them.

Bending laminate bevel edge with heat gun.

The best thing to do is learn about how laminate reacts to heat. Heat the laminate with a heat gun. Steam carries the heat but soaking in hot water would get the wood too wet so that hydraulic forces would develop when bending. Tutorial for how to.

Purchase a commercial heat gun for about 100 to 125 we have used bosch for years but there are other good brands on the market and cut some scrap laminate edgebanding to the width that you normally use. If you want a fancy ogee bevel or bullnose edge this is something you might want to look into. Ideal for perspex acrylic plexiglass polycarbonate. There is another way to do the edges of a laminate countertop that i just recently found out about.

We over cut the width by 1 8 of the actual core thickness. Make sure nothing is under the strip so you re sanding flat. Heat small sections and then attach them right away. When putting edging on use a heat gun to make the strip easier to.

Keep the gun moving as edgeband softens bend on desired radius keeping it tight to the top with roller or block stick. A countertop shop will use a postforming machine and post grade laminate to do a bullnose edge. However the forming temperature will be approximately 170 c 338 f. Make sure when sticking the edge you ve got the thinner section lined up with curve.

The exact temperature to which you must heat your laminate depends on the manufacturer and grade. Run your heat gun or iron over a section of formica that is 2 3 inches 5 1 7 6 cm long. I think it s a great idea and it actually looks easy to do. Once you can feel that the area is flexible push it firmly onto the curved surface.

Preparing hot air gun w. Wilsonart and others make solid surface edges that you can apply to a laminate edge. Heat only the section you need to bend and keep the heat gun moving over that section without focusing on one spot too long. When the tension forces get too high and the wood might break we add compression forces push on the ends to offset the tension forces.

Bending shaping plastic with hot air gun heat gun. The machine is a bit like a sheet metal brake with a heater bar that heats the laminate at the bend point. Heat and moisture together allow the wood to bend without breaking. Belt sand the back of the laminate where it will bend around the corners.

Clamp the laminate strips to your table before sanding. They sell special pre made edges that you can glue onto your countertops. The way to bend a 1 1 2 radius is to apply a wax carnauba on the edgeband then file top and bottom face side of edgeband on 45 degree angle to stop cracking and apply heat with heat gun.