If so any idea of where to source it?..
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Are you looking for somewhere local or online? Couple sources found through Google, I’ve no idea about local though. It looks to be used for arcade cabinets though which, given your profile pictures, is probably what you’re looking for it for. The @Team_Vector folks might know or maybe a local retro gaming shop of some sort?
links please…im part of vector
Well here’s for instance a kit:
https://www.monsterarcades.com/product-page/27-2-player-upright-thermal-laminated-birch-diy-kit
This website (https://www.hardwoods-inc.com/products/decorative-panels-veneers/thermally-fused-laminate-tfl) refers to it as melamine which may be another search term though I feel melamine is usually just the white stuff, but maybe there’s more to it than that.
The only place that seems to use that specific term is the MonsterArcades site, so it may just be birch melamine or something just they’re calling it a different name.
Yeah i know of monstercades, im wondering where they get it done in birch
Does it have to be birch? Would any thermally fused laminate suffice? It doesn’t seem like you see the core of any TFL/melamine products anyhow except maybe on the edges.
All the sources of birch core melamine/laminates I find are not even in the US. It may not be something that’s produced over here, not sure.
https://www.morlanduk.com/laminated-birch-ply-panels seems to have what you want but they’re in the UK.
interesting, yeah it would be good to get away from using mdf, theres a spot off loop 12 that will laminate birch for you, but its 110 a sheet. I’m curious as to what this TFL birch is, is it the top layer thinner than a sheet of 1/8" laminated being glued to 5/8 birch on both sides.
found it, must be this stuff…
Are you talking about this process, but applied to birch ply instead of an engineered material core?
EDIT: In looking at this a bit further, the “TFL” term is rather loosely applied to various products including what might otherwise be called various brands of laminate or HPL. Melamine is fused directly to the substrate and HPL is “fused” to the kraft paper layer that gets glued to the substrate. So is thermally fused birch a thing or a creative marketing term?
I’m thinking the latter. The only place I can find that term is on that arcade cabinet site. It seems to just be a laminate. I’d think any laminated plywood would be just the same as long as it’s a nice ply.
I made some speaker cabinets with birch plywood and ironed on a birch veneer on the edges of the plywood. It is still holding up a couple of decades later.
It is available at Home Depot, below is the link: