What is used to bond a furniture edge band? Rules for choosing a hot melt adhesive
Furniture makers often use cost-saving materials: chipboard or MDF. After being cut, the edges of parts look unattractive and require further finishing. Furniture raw edges are finished using a process known as edgebanding. This is a method for finishing an exposed edgeofa workpiece. It protects the surface from mechanical damage and moistureand reduces the liberation of formaldehyde from the base material of furniture parts.
The most common edgebanding materials are as follows:
- melamine-impregnated paper;
- wood veneer;
- PVC strips;
- ABS plastic or PP;
- acrylic edge bands.
The accurateness and quality of the bonded edge band affects the final appearance of a finished article. A hot melt adhesive has no small part in edgebanding.
Which hot melt adhesive to choose for furniture edgebanding
A hot melt adhesive is the most common glue used for edgebanding furniture parts. The hot melt adhesive composition can include ethylene vinyl acetate, polyamide, metallocene, or polyurethane. Most often, a hot melt adhesive based on EVA – ethylene vinyl acetate – is used. Apart from the basic polymer, the adhesive can include special filling agents whose purpose is to increase adhesive viscosity for better tacking of surfaces and to reduce product cost.
Two basic kinds of hot melt adhesives exist: filled and unfilled ones.
A filled hot melt adhesive has high viscosity as compared to that of an unfilled one. This adhesive characteristic affects the glue consumption rate. For a filled hot melt adhesive, it is higher than that of an unfilled one. Advantages of filled hot melt adhesives: longer open time combined with high heat resistance,easy reactivation, and no residual tackiness. Filled adhesives are recommended for gluing thick polymer materials.
Unfilled adhesives ensure better adhesion than filled ones because they contain only “active” components. Based on this, thehigh adhesion of an unfill edadhesiv ereduces the amount of an adhesive to be applied, thus cutting production costs.
Advantages of unfilled hot melt adhesives: faint odour, better functionality, transparency and enhanced gluing capacity, high cohesive strength, high moisture resistance, low viscosity, excellent wetting properties, instant bonding, and the glue does not squeeze out in the joint.
A hot melt adhesive for edgebanding is used for working with different types of high-speed equipment. It is intended for gluing colored edge band materials to the piece being worked.
To bond, an edgeband, Lux–Х LLC specialists recommend using the hot melt adhesive by BeardowAdams Ltd., Great Britain. The line of ВАМ™ adhesives includes a wide variety of brands for edgebanding. The ВАМ™ hot melt adhesives are used for edgebanding various cabinet furniture, countertops, doors and other articles.
Besides, in furniture making, BAM™ adhesivescan be used for working with different materials for softforming, postforming,and precoating.
Among unfilled hot melt adhesives, BeardowAdams Ltd. offers a line of BAMFutura products. The pearl–whitecolour of ВАМFutura hot melt adhesives emphasises fineness during application. The adhesives do not evaporate under the effect of temperatures. They run without fouling, gel forming and stringing, and are smear-resistant.
The BAMFutura line of hot melta dhesives for wood is a novel approach to creating hot melts that can be applied neatly and are characterised by enhanced functionality. The technology based on using new raw materials has helped develop innovative products that have boosted the quality level of the hot melt adhesive used in woodworking.
Properties and advantages of BeardowAdams hot melt adhesives for edgebanding:
- adhesive heat stability at high and low temperatures;
- optimal melt rate;
- enhanced functionality;
- tested on all basic woodworking machines. The hot melt adhesive can be used on high-speed equipment. The speed of edgebanding machines is up to 90 m/minutes, and for dense and intricate edges, it is lower;
- environmental stability;
- environmental friendliness;
- high adhesion properties;
- avaricolouredpalette – from transparent to amber.
Recommendations for using an edgebanding hot melt adhesive
- The hot melt adhesive is applied onto chip board or MDF using a vertical spreading glue roller. The compression assembly applies pressure to a straight or profiled edge band by using a set of changeable rollers for different types of profiles. The next operations are trimming and edge finishing.
- It is essential to control the adhesive temperature in the machine. Keep the temperature conditions at the level specified by the adhesive manufacturer. A low temperature reduces the adhesive tack time, and a high one degrades the bonding properties.
- The glued surface should be dry to prevent bonding defects. Prior to being used, the adhesive should be tested depending on production conditions and specific features.
How to choose quality hot melt adhesive for edgebanding applications
When choos inga proper hot melt adhesive for wood consider the base of the edge band material and the technical properties of the adhesive because the physico-chemical properties of the glue ensure the required consumer characteristics of the finished product.
For the edge band to be securely attached to the surface during the production process, one should pay attention to the temperature of the hot melt adhesive, the edge band-to-surface hold-down pressure, and the shop environmental conditions.
Depending on the workpiece feed rate in the machine, appropriate equipment is used: low-speed or high-speed. For high-speed machines, the typical high working temperatures of the hot melt adhesive are 180-210 °С, and low-temperature 120-160 °С adhesives are used for working with low-speed machines.
Store a hot melt adhesive in a closed dry container in clean premises at temperatures of 5 to 30 °C.
Where to buy a hot melt adhesive in Kharkiv?
Since the quality of edge band bonding, and respectively, of the appearance of the finished product depends largely on the quality of the adhesive used, it is best to choose proven products from trustworthy manufacturers.
Lux–ХLLC is the official distributor of BeardowAdams Ltd., the hot melt adhesives manufacturer based in Great Britain. All ВАМ™ products are certified to international standards, guaranteeing superior product quality.
Delivery in Ukraine is free-of-charge when ordering 20 kg and more of hot melt adhesives from Lux–Х LLC.
To be sure that you have chosena suitable adhesive, our specialists will visit your enterpriseand test the adhesive in production conditions.
To get a preliminary consultation on prices and the product range, as well as to order an adhesive, click the “Order” button or call by telephone +38 (057) 766 06 36 and our managers will call you back in short time
