I just had a question about the materials used to build the crossfire enclosure(following the instructions from: http://www.freewebs.com/crossfireenclosures/) which calls for a 4x8 Foot sheet of 3/4 Melamine. I was wondering if it is possible to substitute this with plywood or some other type of wood?
yes you could substitute it. the advantage of melamine though, is that it has a finished coating on it from the factory. no staining, painting, or sealing needed.
I'm using a piece of 3/4" cabinet grade wood I got from Home Depot. I like the way wood looks when it is stained and cutting the plywood is easier then cutting melamine.
Thanks for the info! I did want to look around for other types of enclosure options, but I'm having a hard time finding too many other free building plans, anyone know of any and are willing to share?
We're getting ready to build a crossfire for Pudge. At first I had a hard time finding melamine (Lowes didn't have it), but I eventually found it at Home Depot. I like it because of the finish - no staining/sealing, etc necessary.
I'm a little concerned about the tracks for the sliding doors - it seems that they are not readily available and we may have to improvise.
I used 3/4 inch ply to build mine. I used the same design as the crossfire. I didn't want to do the glass track thing, so I got a some cabinet hinges to help keep the doors closed better. I built a two inch wide strip for the middle where the doors meet and although I loose some viewing, it's not that bad at all. I like having the two doors versus the sliding doors because I find it's so much easier to have both doors open to clean it out.