Sealing edges of particle board b4 edge banding (?)

[Oldwood]

We found when banding solid wood banding we milled in the shop, the hot melt adhesive did not adhere well to the wood.

After some trial and error, we ended up priming the strips with PVA glue. Titebond 1 is what we used, thinned about 30% with water. The hotmelt adhered very well to the primed wood. PVA will activate with heat.

If you used one of the water-resistant types as in Titebond 2 or 3 to prime, that may work for your job.

 

[Distinctive Interiors]

You can get Polyurethane (PU) hot melt adhesive. It is a far stronger bond than normal hot melt adhesive and is renowned for having far more waterproof capabilities.
Festool offer a PU adhesive puck for the Conturo, so I'm sure it is available in other formats to suit other types of edgebander.

 

[Banana]

[member=7143]Oldwood[/member] - great to know.  That's my go-to on mdf edges if I'm painting.  For some reason, because of heat applied, I just associated PVA with possibly getting gummy in my mind but if you've had good success I'll give it a test along with the shellac.  Thanks.

[member=14860]Distinctive Interiors[/member] - That reminded me of hot melt adhesive shelf life.  I always forgot it gets old, maybe also time to refresh.

 

[xedos]

No love for a powder coated metal drawer system ?

That would solve your dilemmas and the project could be finished already.

 

[Gregor]

Half-thought-through idea: what about using epoxy to 'glue' the edge band onto the exposed cuts?

Wouldn't that give a permanent seal, with the edge banding only lift when it'll take a good part of the board with it...?

 

[Packard]

We found when banding solid wood banding we milled in the shop, the hot melt adhesive did not adhere well to the wood.

After some trial and error, we ended up priming the strips with PVA glue. Titebond 1 is what we used, thinned about 30% with water. The hotmelt adhered very well to the primed wood. PVA will activate with heat.

If you used one of the water-resistant types as in Titebond 2 or 3 to prime, that may work for your job.

You can make your own hot melt by brushing on some Titebond to both surfaces and letting it fully dry.  Then apply like any iron on edge banding.  I’ve done this once.  I recall that it worked, but I don’t recall any details.

 

[Oldwood]

"You can make your own hot melt by brushing on some Titebond to both surfaces and letting it fully dry.  Then apply like any iron on edge banding.  I’ve done this once.  I recall that it worked, but I don’t recall any details."

I have done that with veneer. Hammer veneering is what I have heard it called. It is usually done with hide glue but it does work with PVA. It works well for spot repairs but I found it finicky for large projects.

The gable end in the attached picture has the veneer wrapped around the radius front edge with PVA and an iron. We did both the shelves and the gables this way. We made up a piece of veneer wide enough so we did not need to seam it. We just glued down the back edge and continued to heat and bond around the front edge to the back on the other side.

 

[Banana]

No love for a powder coated metal drawer system ?

I should have been more specific and said '...door & drawer fronts'.  The issue is some end users splash more water out of their sinks and / or like to leave wet dish rags hanging over the counter edge in front of sinks.  I don't see the boxes and trays suffering as much from this as the door & drawer/dead fronts under the counter top lip in front of sink.  These fronts age quickly.  Feels bad leaving the job knowing they won't last (due to user).  So if I can perform some quick economical treatment to these 3~4 fronts it seems like due diligence is met even though I'm handing off econo fronts.  But even if sealing is as simple as de-waxed shellac or diluted PVA I'm now wondering if in reality the edge banding & glue is performing admirably and it's the Melamine coating itself that allows the moisture to pass (slowly) in and edges are just a weak point of the coating.