Weldwood contact cement won't stick

[Peter M. Spirito]

building new router table and fence. applied wilsonart laminate using weldwood waterbased contact cement. (new can, never opened). I have used both the wilsonart product and the weldwood contact cement before with no problems. yesterday covered half of the fence and the edges and one side of the top. ALL WENT PERFECTLY. this morning i applied the contact cement just like always.........the laminate won't stick. the contact cement was shiny and tacky just like before. but when you put the laminate and the plywood together nothing happens. NOTHING.....I am at a total loss and at this point its all going into the garbage and i will start all over again. BUT NEVER AGAIN WITH WELDWOOD WATER BASED CONTACT CEMENT. my only guess is that the lid on the gallon of cement was not hammered on well enough last night and it "spoiled" over night ????????? i have no clue.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Peter,
I have built many kitchen countertops and vanity tops. I won't use waterbased cement for very reasons you're having now. However, I must admit, I never seen 'zero' adhesion right from the start. Hopefully, somebody knows a solution to clean that stuff off so you can reuse the parts.
-Jeff

[Brent Beelby]

Thanks for the info Peter

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Peter. I just finished installing a 24"x114" piece of Wilsonart laminate using the Wilsonart brand contact cement. I followed the recommendation that you apply 2 coats of cement on a plywood surface. (Was that noted on the Welwood product?) A lot of roller action followed the mating of the two surfaces.

Some things just need to be made with volatile chemicals. What would you think of water based Jack Daniels

[Norman Hitt]

Peter, your experience is Exactly why I will not use ANY brand of waterbased cement anymore, as my experience was basically the same, except that only maybe 5% or less was EVER satisfactory for me. I don't know how anyone gets that stuff to stick properly.

[Dave Fifield]

What would you think of water based Jack Daniels

Whiskey is about 60% water.....

[Peter M. Spirito]

I was at a site for HP laminates and the comment was made that those who transition from solvent based to water based contact cement generally put it on too thick. It further recommended that it be sprayed on as a roller usually puts it on too thick. OOOPS. in the past.....like yesterday......i did my usual one THIN coat, not shiny, second coat, shiney, stick it together......BUT TODAY.......today i was "thinking" why not just one thicker coat ???.......enlightened with this new knowledge i went back in to the shop and got a scrap of HPL and some plywood, did the old 2 thin coat routine and SUCCESS............The plan now is to let it set for a couple of weeks to truely dry out. I will throw out the HPL with all of the goop on it and i have enough new HPL left to finish it off. If the plywood has cured enough to take a light coat of cement and stick the new HPL that we are good to go. Otherwise it all goes in the dumpster and i start all over again...........thanks to everyone for our input Tomarrow i am going fishing.

[Steve Cox]

Maybe I'm the exception but the only contact cement I've ever used is Fastbond 30 by 3M and I have never had any problems with it. I apply it using a foam brush with one coat for most things but two for particle board surfaces. It is more expensive than solvent based cements but I have no problems with fumes wherever I use it.

[Randy Mack]

One thing to check is the date the contact cement was manufactured. Most are only good for one year. Unfortunately retail dealers don't have enough turnover to have fresh stock on hand. Recently I ran into this using the Wilson Art H2O product. I followed instructions but no stick. I researched the problem and found out about the one-year limit. I checked the can that I had just purchased and found it was several years old. Rather than throw away my work, I hunted down a fresh can and applied one thin new coat on both substrate and the laminate and had success. I also noticed that the original contact adhesive coat was sticky and bondable after several days of drying. Good luck.

[Peter M. Spirito]

There is a number stamped on the lid (55067). The label on the weldwood can says it has a shelf life of one year. I called the weldwood help line today and they said that number was not a date code and there were no date codes on the can which i find hard to believe. The 3M Fastbond 30 contact cement was well spoken of on the forum where i got the tip about putting on a thin coat. Its available for $ 52.32 a gallon at www.woodworkershardware.com