Laminates for a Westfalia Cherry interior - Market research

I'd go 17.

 

Great Work ,maybe needs making a sticky in the conversions section?

 

Hey, this is mine.

Not a great match?! Tried for ages to get a decent match but i soon ended up loseing all hope so thought this would do

Formica, cherry F7759 Mat, Takes about 3-4 sheets to do the lot. Use a decent glue or this will peel off. The heat from the sun detroys the glue and it will pull away like most of the original units

Need any advice give me a shout

 

Looks fantatstic Monkpuss ,I cant tell the difference

 

Looks smashing Monkpuss.

 

That is very nice - takes a while though doesn't it...

 

What did you fellas use to cut the formica?

 

Some really helpful replies guys thanks. As well as Major's question above, did you edge with the same laminate and did you trim with a router or a Rotozip, or something else.

 

Thanks Guys,

Takes a while, i would say, give yourself a week.

I used all the original rubber for all the edges and finished the doors etc with formica, always make sure you take the edge right back on the formica, router edges then use 120 grit sand paper on a wooden block so you end up with a tiny pencil round, if you can get your fingernails behind it keep sanding other wise this will get caught and pull off.

I have a 3m panel saw, but you can use a sharpe stanley nife to get it close to the size you need and trim it with the router once its glued on.

I would buy your self a nice new TnT router bit, as formica and laminate kills router bits I used a hand held trimmer router, but any router will do.
Make sure you use masking tape on the surfaces you need to run the bearing on as this can stracth the surface.

Hope this helps?

 

how much is a sheet of this? Very tempting...

 

Thanks Monkpuss very helpful indeed

 

Think i paid £65 - £70 per sheet, sheet size 1200mm x 3200mm , 2x 1 litre tins of glue £18 each router bit £15? Job done

You will defo need a heat gun, only way to get the old Marmitee off

 

I spent ages trying to find a good match for redoing mine, but couldn't find anything that was really close. So in the end I decided to re-do everything and picked a formica that both me and my wife liked - went for Macchiato Walnut Formica. It's a bit darker than the original and less grainy than the original, but still looks 70's enough for us!

Am in the process of fitting it all at the moment and so will post some pics once done.

I decided to use the same formica for the side panels - made base panels out of hardboard, covered them in formica and put black edging round - I think they are looking really good.

Haven't got any fancy tools for doing mine - just using a stanley knife, ruler and file - and so far is going well and am pleased with the results.

Basically I'm doing rough cuts to size with ruler/knife, gluing on, trimming really close with the knife, then filing to give a good edge.

Is taking a long time but think it will be worth it.

Nick...

 

Monkpuss and Nickrhymes,
Great feedback.

 

Here are some work in progress pictures using the Macchiato Walnut Formica, with a couple showing the side panels I've made using the same formica.

 

They look really good. How long did it take you to do the rear locker ?

 

How do you remove the old formica?
Do you use heat and peel it off

Also how do you stick the new stuff on and trim the edges?

The colour and pattern on my units wont match my bus when its been painted
I was contemplating painting the units but i dont think it would stand up to the abuse over time

 

I used an iron to remove the old laminate - a cheap one from tesco. Hot air gun also does the job.
Contact adhesive to stick new on - line up the new sheet resting on dowels, and pull them out 1 at a time, smoothing out air bubbles. Use a router to trim, then file and glasspaper to finsh edges.

 

Cheers olnow i dont have a router and have never used one ever
My late father may have one left in his store of stuff though

 

Great post Lofty. Stumbled across it whilst sitting in my camper wondering what to do with my scruffy and faded old interior.

What are the possibilities of removing all the laminate, sanding down and varnishing?