Melamine

[phaser]

I am building a cabinet out of 16mm melamine particle board.
I intend to place a curve on one corner.
What is the minimum radius that melamine edging will cope with ?

[rustynail]

Melamine edging is inclined to crack much under 50mm radius. Vinyl edging can be bent to a right angle if warmed.

[malb]

Cabinet makers use a flexible plastic T moulding to edge curved shelves etc in things like corner cabinets. The stuff used where I worked was about 22mm across the top of the T with a spline about 12mm deep. The edge to be finished is grooved with a 3mm slot cutter router bit and the moulding tapped into the groove then trimmed flush with the shelf surfaces with a sharp plane blade or chisel. The moulding will handle concave curves as supplied or convex curves if you notch the spline.

[Rod Gilbert]

Melamine edging will tolerate very tight curves if applied correctly corner cabinets were always edged by hand in our shop they were cut using a 1/2" router bit so the radius was 1/4" and never had a problem fixing edge to it if you work the edging carefully heat and rub the straight section the rub the corner back to the straight so you don't stretch the tape away from the inside of the corner, go gently and definitely don't stretch the tape across the curve(work back into it) and you should have success.
Regards Rod.

[elanjacobs]

I know the 0.5mm iron-on stuff will do a 100mm radius, don't know what the limit is though

[phaser]

Cabinet makers use a flexible plastic T moulding to edge curved shelves etc in things like corner cabinets. The stuff used where I worked was about 22mm across the top of the T with a spline about 12mm deep. The edge to be finished is grooved with a 3mm slot cutter router bit and the moulding tapped into the groove then trimmed flush with the shelf surfaces with a sharp plane blade or chisel. The moulding will handle concave curves as supplied or convex curves if you notch the spline.

Yeah I thought about using T moulding and I own a router but I'm not sure I want to spend $50 to buy the cutter.

[phaser]

Melamine edging is inclined to crack much under 50mm radius. Vinyl edging can be bent to a right angle if warmed.

So by Vinyl edging, are you referring to T moulding ? or is there a flat vinyl edging ?, I haven't seen it.

[Bohdan]

This should answer your questions.

Application of PVC Edgebanding (http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Application_of_PVC_Edgebanding.html)

[phaser]

Melamine edging is inclined to crack much under 50mm radius. Vinyl edging can be bent to a right angle if warmed.

I'm guessing it must be able to do much better than that. It comes on a spool about 50mm diameter.
I'm hoping for a 20mm radius.

[rustynail]

I'm guessing it must be able to do much better than that. It comes on a spool about 50mm diameter.
I'm hoping for a 20mm radius.
Not the stuff I use. I can put my hand through the spool and Ive got bloody big hands.
That's not to say melamine edge wont bend tighter than 50mm. It very much depends on the application and air temperature at the time. 50mm is a safe bend in any conditions.
The last thing a cabinet maker wants is edging that snaps in the middle of an application. Particularly melamine, as it has to be trimmed off. Vinyl can be peeled from an edge if needs be.

[elanjacobs]

This should answer your questions.

Application of PVC Edgebanding (http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Application_of_PVC_Edgebanding.html)
Only if you're using PVC edging, which comes in 1 and 2mm. Melamine edging, which is 0.5mm, is different stuff entirely

[rustynail]

So by Vinyl edging, are you referring to T moulding ? or is there a flat vinyl edging ?, I haven't seen it.
Vinyl or PVCIt comes flat in either preglued or unglued. Its thicker than melamine. Easiest way to tell the difference is bend it. The melamine will snap, the pvc wont.