Edging is a basic step in the process of manufacturing cabinet furniture from slab materials. The article about the easiest way to edge was shown - manually, using ordinary household tools. There are highly specialized tools designed for cutting edges that can make the work of a furniture maker much easier and faster.

Tool for end (end) edge trimming WEGOMA KG94.

The tool allows you to quickly and accurately cut the end of melamine, PVC or ABS edges up to 1.2 mm thick and up to 54 mm wide with one click.

The KG94 is made of durable plastic and equipped with two removable knives that work on the principle of scissors. If necessary, the lower parts can be replaced with new ones or sharpened. The fixed knife is adjustable in terms of reach and installation angle, this allows you to set a minimum, uniform gap between cutting edges knives to obtain high-quality cuts.

Photo of the KG94 trimmer from different sides.

Operation of the lever and knives.

The KG94 trimmer is installed on the part.
To perform trimming, you need to press the lever.

Pruner KG94 in the process of trimming. The lever is partially pressed.

Edge trimmed with tool KG94
In the photo, the yellow one is melamine edge, “Wenge” is ABS.

If the adjacent end of the part had a glued edge, after trimming sometimes a small amount of glue remains, which is easily removed solvent or mechanically.

Tool for longitudinal edge trimming WEGOMA AU93.

The tool is designed for double-sided longitudinal cutting of edges up to 0.5 mm thick and up to 40 mm wide. For each edge overhang, two knives work: the main knife cuts off the overhang (excess) of the edge flush with the face of the part, the other one removes an angular chamfer from the edge edge and/or cleans up possible flaws in the work of the first knife.

Structurally, AU93 consists of two mirror-identical plastic elements - half-bodies, connected to each other through two guide bushings with springs inside. Each half-body has three removable, adjustable knives, which allows you to work with the tool on either side, or adjust the sides to work with edge materials of different thicknesses. The main double knife has an adjustment for contact with the face. Additional two chamfering knives are adjustable for reach.

Photo of the AU93 trimmer from different sides.

Disassembled longitudinal trimmer. The smaller the edge width, the more the springs have to be compressed. When working with Chipboard thickness up to 18 mm, it makes sense to install weaker springs, or remove them altogether.

Half body. The main knife adjustment screw is visible.

Adjustment screw of one of the additional knives.

Set of new knives for AU93. A similar kit can be purchased for the KG94 end trimmer.

The minimum possible thickness of the workpiece is 14 mm.

WEGOMA AU93 at work. The edge is melamine (yellow) and ABS (Wenge).

Melamine and ABS edges are cut to length.

Based on the results of using these WEGOMA tools in the production of cabinet furniture from chipboard, the following conclusions can be drawn.

The WEGOMA KG94 end trimmer is a universal, useful and necessary tool. It can be safely recommended to any furniture maker who still uses a knife. The trimmer works equally well with melamine, PVC and ABS edges, as well as with HPL plastic used for edging kitchen countertops. With sharp and adjusted knives, the cut is perfect or close to perfect, requiring only light sanding with an emery block.

Longitudinal edge trimmer WEGOMA AU93 does not always demonstrate in practice excellent results. When working with melamine edges, the tool often leaves an unnoticeable but tactile step that must be sanded down. Adjusting the main cutter knives did not lead to the desired result. On an ABS edge, the step problem is virtually non-existent. Additional knives do not justify themselves at all; they work with varying success, depending on the force of pressing the half-shells to the material and the point of application of this force. An important advantage of the AU93 longitudinal trimmer is that it allows you to comfortably work with long, large-sized parts in any spatial position.

Anyone who has ever encountered laminated chipboard knows that a board made of this material has smooth surfaces with a textured pattern, while its end parts are a jumble wood shavings with glue. To give parts sawn from such a slab a marketable appearance, a process such as chipboard edging. It consists of gluing a decorative strip - an “edge” - onto the ends of the parts, which can be either the same color as the chipboard decor or different from it.

Today, two main types of edges are used:

• PVC edge
• melamine edge

PVC edge used in the factory production of furniture, it is more reliable, strong, durable, but the edging procedure when using it is quite labor-intensive. Furniture shops use special edge cutting machines. The thickness of the PVC edge is 2 mm and 0.4 mm. The width also varies depending on the thickness of the chipboard sheets.

Melamine edge less durable, but requires a minimum of tools to apply and is widely used among home furniture makers. But due to its low mechanical resistance, its use is limited. Personally, I glue melamine edges mainly on drawers. On back side The melamine edge is always coated with hot-melt adhesive, and it itself is sufficiently resistant to elevated temperatures, so a simple iron is sufficient for gluing it. It can only be thin (0.4 mm) and I have never seen it wider than 20 mm.

Since our site is mostly dedicated to working from home, let’s first look at how.

So, for work we will need the edge itself, an ordinary iron, a metal ruler, a clamp or a vice (optional), a fine sandpaper on a block.

The technique for gluing the edges is as simple as a nail:

Now let's figure out how to glue correctly PVC edge with your own hands, i.e. without using edging machine. Such an edge will last much longer than a melamine edge, and besides, it is 2 mm and looks “richer”. It is worth mentioning that the PVC edge can be as already with adhesive layer(hot melt adhesive), and without it. In the first case, edging occurs using construction hair dryer, and in the second case, you need to purchase glue. Let's consider the second method in more detail, because... it is more economically profitable.

Let's start with gluing 0.4 mm PVC edges. To fix it, it is best to use contact types of glue, for example 3M™ Scotch-Grip, Moment Crystal, Titanium or “88”. It is worth noting that it is more convenient to work with liquid glue (3M), it is easier to level and its consumption is much less. We work with glue according to the instructions indicated on the package.

Contact adhesive can be replaced with hot melt adhesive. For this you will need glue gun with a set of rods and an industrial hair dryer.

To work, we will need a roller for pressing the edge (successfully replaced with a rag or a piece of felt boots)), the glue itself, a spatula for leveling the glue or a simple brush, as you like, a wide chisel or a knife from a plane to remove excess edge, a sanding block with fine sandpaper .

An easy way to stick PVC edge

The easiest way to glue a PVC edge is to order hot melt adhesive to be rolled onto the edge from a furniture shop. Then glue it, heating it with an iron or hairdryer (naturally, not an ordinary hairdryer, but a technical one, which gives an output of 500-600 degrees). I myself have not used this method, so I negative aspects I can only tell it tentatively, based on my experience with the material.

I glue the PVC edge with regular rubber glue, which we sell on tap. “Moment” is best, “88” will do as well.

Knife and other hand tools cutting tools They are not suitable for processing PVC. Even if you manage to cut the edge with a knife, then, I assure you, neither the effort nor the time spent on this thankless task will pay off.

To process such an edge, you will need a router. Actually, a special edge router is used for these purposes:

But if you are not going to open your own production, then there is no need to buy such a machine. It is better to buy a normal, large router. In addition to processing PVC, it is useful for finishing the ends and for grooving - both at the ends of panels and on the layer. And if you work with wood, then you simply need a router!

It is not necessary to buy cool and expensive, quite good milling cutters from Phiolent - a reliable semi-professional

ABS edge cutter

To process PVC edges, the following cutter is used:

Therefore, the first thing we will need to do is slightly modernize our router by adding a step to the platform . It can be made from textolite, plywood, at worst, from fiberboard - in a word, from any sheet material 4-5 mm thick. You can secure it with screws, screws, etc., the main thing is to recess the caps or glue them!

Now you need to adjust the cutter height. This should not be done on the panel being processed. It is unlikely that you will be able to accurately adjust the height the first time. Take some scrap (but not very narrow, so that the router platform does not wobble), cover it with an edge, and adjust on it.

Usually, no matter how you set it up, there will be a small protrusion left after processing. It's not scary, just try to keep this protrusion to a minimum so that it can be easily cut off with a knife. When you finish setting up, don't throw away this scrap - you will need it next time. When it becomes necessary to adjust the height of the cutter again, simply turn it with the cutting part perpendicular to the end and lower the platform so that the cutter rests firmly on the machined edge.

The cutter is set, you can start processing the panels. You need to process in two passes. After the first pass, the cut will probably be uneven; with the second pass we level out all the protrusions and depressions:

Exactly in that order! If you change the order of passage, the cutter will knock out and chip the edge. From time to time, clean the cutter bearing and edge from adhering chips - the bearing can bounce on it and the cut will turn out uneven.

So, your panel has been processed with a router, but this is only a small part of the work. Now you have to do a lot of manual processing, which takes two to three times longer. First you need to trim off the overhanging ends of the edge. It can be done big scissors or simply break it off, after cutting it with a knife. When breaking off, do not forget to firmly press the edge at the edge of the end so that it does not come off. Do not cut to the very root, but by stepping back by about 0.5 mm. It is better to spend time sanding or belt sanding than to cut off more than necessary.

No router processes PVC perfectly. In any case, there will be irregularities that will be clearly visible in the light. In most companies that make furniture for sale, no one bothers further processing- cut off the remaining protrusion with a knife, scratch it a couple of times along the cut with the back of the knife and that’s it.

But you do it for yourself, right? Therefore, get ready to spend the same amount of time bringing the cut to perfect condition. First of all, use a knife to cut off the protrusion left by the router (if the height of the router is set correctly, you will have to cut a thin thread).

If you glued PVC to contact glue, then most likely there will be drips and smears of glue on the panel. Be careful when cutting them. It’s better to first remove them with a cloth moistened with solvent or gasoline. After this, go over the cut with fine sandpaper, smoothing out all the “waviness”, then polish it with felt.

Now you have a finished panel that is not inferior in quality to that manufactured furniture factory, and maybe even surpassing it!