Hi Tim
The problem of edge trimming, especially solid wood lippings, is that it is very labour intensive unless you invest in a glue pot edgebander/trimmer, and for that you need to budget £2k to £3k for a very basic and very old secondhand one - plus the cost of setting it up for which an engineer is well advised (new prices £6k to £60k+). The plus side is that, unlike the hot air and pre-glued edgebanders which are restricted to 3mm max. material thickness, a glue pot unit will normally handle minimum 5mm thick - the bigger units can glue 30mm or wider lippings.
An alternative approach is to use a heater bar mechanism such as the Stegherr KPp (see this
article by Terry Cain) then pass your lipped shelves through an edge trimmer such as a Holz-Her lipping trimmer or it's UK equivalent the JKO LT750 which will trim bith edges simultaneously:
Above JKO LT750 lip trimmer
Both these techniques utilise PUR glue (heat-reactive polyurethane) with a melt point in the 170 to 210 degrees Celsius, so you have to be careful not to burn yourself (and you will, I assure you........). Problem is finding a KPp. I have one (even have an LT750) but it's currently in bits and Stegherr aren't being forthcoming about parts so I've adopted another approach - use a low cost edging cramp (basically a spring cramp with a "bumper" inside the jaws) to hold the lipping in place whilst the glue - cold PU with a 5 minute set time cures.
However, the problem is still going to be trimming them. I'd possubly consider subbing the job out to a local veneering company as they generally have the gear to do lippings (even I do some sub work for other people in this area), or alternatively if you're near enough you could either come over and use my lipping trimmer, or I'd even loan you this machine for a few weeks - one problem though is that it's 3-phase.
As to the sequence, it's normally lip
both ends, trim, flush trim the ends (I have a machine for that, too, although a jig can be made for the biscuit jointer and Lamello even sell an attachment for their machines called the Nova), then lip the front, trim and again flush trim the ends. Even with melamine edging you still need to follow the same procedure, although a decent sized static machine, such as the Virutex EB15 will do the job for you.
As to what edgeing materials you use I'd suggest that for speed/quality of finish/paintability you consider using a 3mm solid timber edging roll which is available from a number of sources. Melamine edgeing tape will have a sharp edge which will tend to chip and may not take your paint too well, veneer will not have a great deal of durability in an envirinment where anything is dragged over the edge, whilst PVC or ABS edge lippings (normally 2 to 3mm thick) don't come pre-glued and require a glue pot edge bander to apply.
If you do decide to go the pre-glued route then the lowest cost effective machine to apply it is the Virutex AG98:
again, I'd be happy to loan you mine for a week or so if you need it.
If you want to chat about this, drop me a PM, as there a few more alternatives
Scrit
