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Presses
Presses, as discussed under previous categories, are available in either hot or cold. Presses can be either fully automatic through feed presses, or manual style presses. Presses can come in various sizes, the most common being 4x8 or 5x10. Standard presses are normally 4x8, 4x9, 4x10, 5x8, 5x9, 5x10, and 5x12. Hot presses have a heated platen that can be heated by electricity, hot water (steam) or oil. A manual press is similar to an ironing press for shirts. The panel to be pressed would be inserted between the platens manually. The reason for pressing is to get a smooth finish when applying a laminate or veneer to the pre-glued substrate (example particle board). The heat allows for quicker curing time so the part can be sent to other operations quicker. Electric is the most expensive press to run; oil and steam heated platens require a separate boiler system to keep the water or oil hot. Some presses are tremendously large machines taking up entire buildings; as an example, in the manufacture of particle board these press lines could be 200-500 ' long in total with fully automated loading and unloading systems.
The normal manual press that we see in most shops has cylinders that either come from the top down pushing the platens together, or from the bottom up. Presses can have numerous daylights (openings); therefore a multiple daylight press, for example a six daylight press, would have six openings and seven platens, in this case the machine could press six panels at a time. In most cold presses, cylinders could either be opened or closed by air or hydraulics. Some cold presses have a very large daylight (opening), example 30-60", whereas in the multiple daylight press, the daylights (openings) are only three to four inches. In these cold presses with a 40" daylight, multiple panels can be pressed at the same time. This would normally be for low glue curing speed, which can be a couple of hours. For companies that have large production in cold pressing, they would normally have a number of these types of presses side by side. In this type of press, which is manual, the operator will determine how long the platen must stay closed.
Through feed presses are mainly hot presses and are for high production such as in the manufacture of particle board or the production of full panels that are laminated with either veneer, high pressure laminates or sometimes paper or vinyl that will eventually be cut up for furniture parts.
Most of the presses discussed so far are for the production of flat panels. There are presses called membrane presses, which allow the application of a laminate to a non-flat product. As an example, a door that has been routed and has grooves in the surface can have a laminate attached on top of it, which can be either a special veneer or vinyl. The membrane press pushes the laminate into the pre-routed grooves and crevices using a rubber type platen that is either oil or air filled and heated in some manner. This membrane, under pressure, will find its way into all these nooks and crannies at the same time, pushing the veneer or vinyl into these contours. These types of presses can be manual or again fully automated feed through presses. The rubber membrane platen will stay closed for a pre-determined time, depending on the material. Many items today are made with this type of press; for example, in the auto industry, some dashboards of motor vehicles as well as household doors that have shapes in the surface or certain post formed doors. This system is quite fast and very effective.
MANUFACTURERS OF THESE MACHINES INCLUDE:
Activa, Black Bros, E P Industries, Ferguson, Interwood, L & L , Newman, Pathway, Radio Frequency, Rosenquist, Tyler, Williams & White, Interwood, Italpresse, Joos, Orma, Ott, Pagnoni, Simiipianti, Steton, Taylor, Newman, Pistorius, Raytherm, Torwegge, Burkle, Diffenbacher, Fjellman, Friz, Italpresse, Orma, Ott , Sennerskov, Siempelkamp, Simi, Wemhoner.
Copyright © MLS MACHINERY INC. 2008 All rights reserved.
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