Edging of boards is a very common practice used by furniture manufacturers, who seek perfect finishes and resistance in their products. A quality guarantee provided by hot melt adhesives such as those manufactured by Productos Colcar. Choosing the right glue will depend on many factors that we detail below.
And the fact is that a well-sealed edge provides extra value and differentiation to any piece of furniture. For its application, manufacturers use state-of-the-art technology and glues adapted to each specific objective. However, not all of them use the same processes or the same adhesives when carrying out this practice, which has been consolidated by furniture manufacturers for several decades.
There is no doubt that fixing the edging of the pieces that make up a piece of furniture improves, not only the aesthetics of an item, but also its resistance, helping to protect the finishes of the boards and finishing off its decorative finish.
Edgebanding with hot melt
Board edging process consists of the application of glue on the edge and the subsequent fixing of a tape or molding. Adhesion is influenced by both the quality requirements relative to the final appearance of the furniture, as well as those related to the technology of the machinery used, without forgetting, of course, the variety of materials available for processing -PVC, melamine, sheet metal, ABS, etc.-.
Adhesion can be done by applying different types of glue, although hot melt adhesives provide the best performance. In fact, although it might seem easy, edging a board is not an easy task if what we want is to achieve a perfect and quality adhesion, showing invisible and flawless joints in the piece.
Covering exposed chipboard on a board after being cut or simply improving the appearance if the board is solid is a delicate job that requires a lot of experience and knowledge.
At Productos Colcar we have launched a new range of hot melt adhesives ideal for fixing the edges of tables, kitchen doors, office furniture …
This new and revolutionary catalog is made up of various queues developed to satisfy any type of need. C-024, C-054, C-084, C-194, C-564 and C-974… you can discover all of them in our product catalog.
Choosing perfect hot melt adhesive
Two of the aspects that you should take into account when making a final evaluation of edge banding gluing are stability and resistance. In kitchen furniture -tables, doors … -or for wet rooms, these variables are achieved with hot melt adhesives.
Therefore, what should we take into account when choosing the adhesive to make a perfect gluing? The answer is simple. We only have to take into account a series of aspects on which the final result will depend, such as:
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Temperature of hot melt glue must be as indicated by manufacturer in TDS (Technical data sheet). In the long term, a high temperature could alter the properties of the adhesive, while a low temperature will increase the viscosity of the glue, preventing adequate wettability of the support. In both cases, the result might not be what you expected.
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High humidity will make gluing worse. On the contrary, low humidity will always improve it.
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Pressure in the gluing of wood and its derivatives must be sufficient to allow the formation of a continuous gluing line with a defined thickness. Hence it is vitally important to know thickness of the edges to adjust the rollers and obtain a homogeneous pressure over the entire surface.
Tips for Edge-banding
To avoid problems with edge-banding, here are a series of recommendations:
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Hot melt adhesive storage must be in a cool, dry place, protected from warm. In this way, we will preserve all its qualities.
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Open edges packaging just before use and remember to clean them properly.
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You have to adjust temperature of adhesive application, rollers pressure and aplication grammage.
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Don’t forget to periodically clean the adhesive application channel.
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Make sure that temperature of the materials is around 18ºC. If it is less, open time of the adhesive will be reduced, which will affect the effectiveness of the adhesion.
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It is important to control the humidity of the wood, which has to be between 8 and 10%. High humidity could deteriorate adhesion and show false sticks.
If you need more information, you can contact us through marketing@productoscolcar.com.
