Plastic laminate

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Joe Redburn
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Plastic laminate

Post by Joe Redburn »

Greetings all,
I am new to the Forum and to the software and have run into a problem i cannot find a reference to. I want to place Plastic laminate on parts of the seed cabinets I am building. Having read the entire help section three times and viewed the video's I still do find any way to do that.
Most of our work is commercial and most of that type uses PL, so I would like to be able to place cabinets in the custom design with the laminate already on them.

Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
Joe
Michael S Murray
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Michael S Murray »

Hi Joe,
I created a couple three sheet good materials for this, one is 2 sided melamine in whatever size and thickness you use, and I would actually measure it and enter the thickness exactly, like I call mine .760 2smelamine, I also create a material called 2 side vertical grade laminate . once again I enter it exact thickness, then I have a 1svert lam1s backer for doors, drawer fronts and exposed ends.
I dont worry about the exact laminate image, but this will give you a visual to check everything is what you want and machine well if you enter correct thicknesses. Of course I lay up all my sheets before I cut, if at all possible and it usually is in commercial.
Mike Murray
Versatile Cabinet & Solid Surface
mike@versatilecabinet.com
http://www.versatilecabinet.com
Mark Sams
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Mark Sams »

You can go to the web site of the laminate manufacture and download an image matching your laminate. Save the image in your ECabinet material directory. (c:\program files\thermwood\ecabinet systems\materials\laminate) You will need to add the laminate directory under the materials directory. After you get the image you can create the sheet stock in the Settings/Preferences Define sheet stock materials area. I use the newly downloaded image for the newly created sheet stock. I price the sheet using the cost of the 3/4 sheet plus the cost of the laminate plus the cost glue the laminate to the sheet. That gives me the true cost of that piece of sheet stock. Hope this helps.
Michael S Murray
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Michael S Murray »

Joe,
Another very useful feature is the change materials function. For instance you can bring all your cabinets into the layout as standard white mel carcases with whatever door, drawer choices you have made. Then when your done with the layout you can use the change materials function to change out any exposed sides to the approprite material with the laminate and backer already applied. You might get away with just skinning the exposed edges on a constrained panel, but around here all free panels such as door and drawer fronts must have a backer for balanced panel, so I just find it easier to use layed up material for anything more than a quick single or two...
Mike Murray
Versatile Cabinet & Solid Surface
mike@versatilecabinet.com
http://www.versatilecabinet.com
Joe Redburn
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Joined: Thu, May 08 2008, 7:11PM

Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Joe Redburn »

Thanks, I appreciate the information.
I was hoping there would be a function like the banding editor where I could apply laminate to the front and back of a slab door just like I do the edge banding.
I run into laminate being applied to wall surfaces a lot (stub, flat and curved walls) where the laminate is applied directly to the Gyp board and I do not want a plywood material cost associated with the laminate in these cases.
It would be a big help in the material cut list and also in the cost estimates if I had a separate printout for the laminate.
Regards,
Joe
Rick Palechuk
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Rick Palechuk »

Hey Joe, you can apply PL to anything in the program. What I did here was make up a sheet stock item, brought it into the CE and applied it to the cab door using the align items feature. If you want to add PL to the wall then start with a cab, remove all the parts except the back, make the back from PL stock, add this to your library, go to your room, load item, adjust size and install height, then place in room. HTH
Attachments
upper with PL.jpg
upper with PL.jpg (65.7 KiB) Viewed 12203 times
Std Upper Frameless PL.hsf
(182.02 KiB) Downloaded 347 times
Joe Redburn
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Joined: Thu, May 08 2008, 7:11PM

Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Joe Redburn »

Rick,
Great Idea,
Just what I needed.
Thanks again for the help, it is really appreciated.
Regards
Joe
Joe Redburn
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Posts: 18
Joined: Thu, May 08 2008, 7:11PM

Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Joe Redburn »

Rick P.
I did as you suggested on my plastic laminate problem. I took the backs out of two cabinets, made one into one inch plywood and the other into laminate. Did an align and that worked so saved it as a cabinet and brought it back in, OOps, only one of them came in so did it again and saved them as an assembly. Did an exit, and an insert and it WORKED! Only i cannot get the two to associate so that they both resize together.
The associate field is grey'ed out all the time.
Is there any way I can "glue" them together? They do stick to each other when I move them or zoom in or our or rotate them.
Regards,
Joe
Kerry Fullington
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Company Name: Double E Cabinets
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Joe,

Try this cabinet.
Attachments
laminate.zip
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Joe Redburn
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Joe Redburn »

Kerry F,
I did and it is exactly what I was trying to accomplish. I thank you and I really appreciate the effort.
What I would like to know is how you did it?
I don't want to come running to the forum every time I run into a cliff going up the learning curve. I need to understand how the program works.
Regards,
Joe
Joe Redburn
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Posts: 18
Joined: Thu, May 08 2008, 7:11PM

Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Joe Redburn »

Kerry,
Never mind. I see what you did. Pretty cleaver
Regards
Joe
Kerry Fullington
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Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Joe,

Sorry, I have been out of town for a few days.

Be sure to use an MDF door for your laminate. If you use a slab it will try to edge band it.

Kerry
Joe Redburn
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Posts: 18
Joined: Thu, May 08 2008, 7:11PM

Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Joe Redburn »

Thanks Kerry,
I am trying to turn a cabinet into a Toilet Partition for my commercial estimates. I took two base cabinets and deleted everything but the sides. Made one cabinet out of 1/2" ply and the other out of !/16 laminate. Shrunk them down to !" in width and 1 !/8' . Did an align to zero and I have what I want, with one problem. When I try to save it as a cabinet, it only saves one of them and loses the other, When I save it as an assembly, it comes back in all right but I cannot resize the assemble as one unit. I must resize each cabinet individually. Is there a way I can "glue" the two together ? I also have to make sure both are highlighted or the cut list will only list one of them.
I tried to take them into the constraint manager but the program wont let me because nothing has been edited.
Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.
Regards
Joe
Kerry Fullington
Wizard Member
Posts: 4718
Joined: Mon, May 09 2005, 7:33PM
Company Name: Double E Cabinets
Country: UNITED STATES
Location: Amarillo, TX

Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Kerry Fullington »

Joe,

If you use two cabinets then you will have to save it as an assembly and the two cabinets will have to be re-sized individually. I don't know of an easy way to get laminate on both sides of your partition and be able to re-size them. The assembly method you are using might be the best.

Kerry
Rick Palechuk
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Re: Plastic laminate

Post by Rick Palechuk »

Joe, this might work for you.
Attachments
PL 2 Sides.jpg
PL 2 Sides.jpg (5.73 KiB) Viewed 11907 times
PL 2 Sides.hsf
(128.02 KiB) Downloaded 363 times
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