Panel Bonding Explained

Woodworkers and furniture makers in the UK are a creative bunch, making beautiful furniture and interiors from scratch, every detail considered and made to suit the application. It’s this freedom in design which gets the results you and your customers come to you for.

Whilst the melamine sheet material market is jam-packed with 18mm thick materials, the downside is the variety of thicknesses available, the supply of other thicknesses is very limited, which restricts the design options for those making furniture, but there is an answer.

Panel Bonding Explained

One technique which is becoming increasingly popular is panel bonding. Bonding involves joining two or more panels together with a seamless and structurally strong bond, to create a thicker panel. When completed correctly and after edge banding, the panel appears as one.

Tips For A Better Bond

As with every element of bespoke woodwork, the quality of the final product relies on the techniques used to make the furniture, and panel bonding isn’t any different. When bonding Melamine boards it’s important to use a Melamine-specific adhesive. Whilst this seems obvious, it would be tempting to try other general woodworking glues, but this is not going to provide a sound, long lasting bond. Most standard woodworking adhesives work best when they can soak into the grain of the wood, melamine boards don’t have grain to soak into as they are non-porous, and after all, you don’t want a panel failing after it has been built into a finished cabinet.

Tip: On glossy or flat boards without any texture, gently ‘key’ the bonded surface before applying the glue, as this will give a stronger bond.

There are a few melamine adhesives on the market so it pays to look around for one that suits your requirements. Spray application is the preferred method, where a think coat of adhesive is applied to both faces of the panels before they are pressed together for the lasting bond, just like contact adhesive.

Tip: Cut your panels 20mm oversize, then bond together before re-cutting your bonded panels to their final size. This will ensure perfectly sized panels and aligned edges.

Technical Specification

Whilst there is no theoretical limit as to how many boards you can bond together, there are some things to consider.

It’s no surprise that the more you bond together, the heavier your boards get. When making larger panels, lifting and carrying your materials can be an issue during construction, especially if you’re working upstairs!

Next, it’s important to consider balancing the boards. Just like when you veneer an MDF panel, you should always veneer both sides, this practice ensures the board stays flat and balanced because the ‘pull’ of the veneer will be equal both sides. The same principle should be used when bonding melamine boards, only using two of the same board thickness and type for each half of your panel. In other words, its not recommended to glue an 8mm MFC to an 18mm MFC together because bowing may occur, stick to 18mm and 18mm or add an MDF centre panel.

If bonding two 18mm boards together to get a 36mm board isn’t enough, you can always add an MDF sandwich centre to go thicker still! Just remember the weight issue, because these layers add up!

It’s very common to see boards bonded up to make between 36mm and 50mm thick.