29 Jul 2019

A Few Things to Know About Post Forming & Edge Banding

When it comes to the interiors of your home one of the main things that you are thinking about is post forming vs edge banding. The term post forming basically means something that has been formed after it has been laminated. This lamination can happen on plywood or any other substrate for that matter. Post forming is basically a process where laminates are applied on a surface such as plywood or MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard). In fact, post forming can be done on any surface that has edges that are specially formed. After this, the laminate can be rolled over the edges.

The purpose of post forming:

This is done in order to create a laminate that is single and unbroken. In these cases, the post formed edges are not sharp at all. In fact, they have a nice and rounded finish. Normally, the companies that manufacture such products press the laminates in a manual manner. They normally take the plywood pieces to the factories so that they can be post formed. The thing with a post formed finish is that it costs a bit more than what a regular finish would cost you. In these cases, normally the laminate is bent so that the post formed surface can be created.

Edge banding:

Normally, when plywood is cut it has a raw edge of sorts. If you do not cover the raw edge it will look bad at the very least. Apart from that it would also lead to scratches. This way, there is also a good chance that moisture can seep in the plywood and this would make the plywood lumpy or warp. In these cases, the raw edges are normally covered by using edge band, which is basically a narrow strip of material.

Some more information in this regard:

The thickness of this edge band is normally 0.5 mm at the least and 2 mm at the most. Of course, you should expect some variation in the prices. Normally the price of the thickest bands, the ones with a thickness of 2 mm, is around 3 to 4 times higher than the thinnest ones, which have a thickness of 0.5 mm. In fact, Wikipedia says that the term edge band denotes the process used to cover the aforementioned edges. As has been implied already, the main purpose here is to make sure that the edges of the laminate ply look good and are durable as well.

Normally, if you post form the laminate you do not need to use this. It is used to cover the edges that have not been post formed.This gives the laminate an appearance that is better from an overall point of view.

The different kinds of edge banding:

There are many 3 types of edge banding. These are manual, semi manual, and through fit. As the name would suggest, in case the edge band is pressed in a manual way over the edges. This normally happens when the work is being done onsite.

01 Jul 2019

How to set up a woodshop at home?

When you are trying to set up a woodshop at home there are several things that you need to take into consideration. The task is a fairly intimidating one – it is one that even professionals think twice before attempting.
Why is it so?

There is a good reason for this as well. As far as professionals are concerned her or his livelihood depends on this. The shorter span of time in which they are able to complete the project and move it out of the door the better it is for them. This meansthat she or he gets the payment for the same in an equally short span of time.

There is no pressure in such a case after all.

How does it affect the casual hobbyists?

As far as people who are into woodwork as a hobby the situation is not so critical. No matter what it is, it is always important to get the right woodshop machines to get the work done. Normally, in these cases you people have a much higher level of enjoyment from the work. This is especially true if you are able to organize your work area properly. If you have to search for your stuff it can get really frustrating and irritating after a point.

The importance of the right layout:

When you are doing your woodwork in an area that has the likes of washing machines and cars it is very important that you get the layout right as well. The good thing is that these days there are several websites from where you can get layouts for free.

Machines for limited spaces:

If you are working in a limited space you would have to use multipurpose tools such as a shop smith. Quite often it has been seen that people use this particular machine before they get started with a woodshop proper as such.

They do a lot of their first work in such machines. They do not always have the space needed for every machine that is there and can be used for the purpose of woodworking. At times, they do not have the money to buy them as well. This is where woodworking machines such as a shop smith can and do prove to be so very useful.

Using used machines:

The good thing these days is that you get used machines in this particular category nowadays as well. They are normally bought by people who thought they would like to do some woodwork themselves.

It is a lot like buying an exercise machine that has clothes, which belong to the previous owner, hanging from them. In most cases you would see that these machines have not been used for more than 10 hours.

Conclusion:

However, you need to be careful when you buy these machines and there are some good reasons for the same as well. You need to plan a lot with them. This is especially true when you consider switching them from one function to another. You can get dedicated woodworking machines as well but they need a lot more space too.