Dealing with Oversize Edge Banding
If your edgebanding is a little wider than the thickness of your panel stock, you have several options. October 26, 2012
Question
I'm quoting a job that calls for 3mm edgeband on 5/8" melamine. I haven't had a chance to do a test run, but I would guess that I'll need to somehow rip the 15/16" banding down closer to the 5/8" thickness for things to work. Has anyone done something similar? If so, how did you handle it?
Forum Responses
(Cabinetmaking Forum)
From contributor J:
I have done this - just slow your feed rate down. Trying to cut 3mm banding is a chore.
From the original questioner:
I have a Brandt KD-55, no feed rate adjustment.
From contributor K:
Assuming that you are applying this with an edgebander I'm guessing that you're concerned with the 3 mil exceeding the recommended 3/16" wider than your panel. Edging that is more than 3/16" wider than the panel usually will hit the dust collection shroud around your top trim router. Cut a notch in the dust shroud to allow the edging to get to the cutter head. We just got a brand new bander and had to do this exact same thing. I just wish I'd have thought of this fix with our old edgebander.
From contributor D:
I have lowered the plate that sets the height of the banding at times when the band was too wide, that way you are trimming the extra off with both top and bottom trimmers. I used to do this all the time on our KD56. It seems like it was easier on that machine than on my current Holz-Her.
From contributor F:
Find someone with a master roll and get it sliced to the width you want (ESI).
From contributor N:
I’ve been down this road several times and researched it pretty exhaustively. Here is what we have tried:
1. Laminate slitter: works okay but very hard to cut to a consistent width - overall poor solution.
2. If you have a two trimming stations on your edgebander, set the first trim to take off 20% or less of the excess edgeband and then let the second trim station complete the finish cut before the edge is scraped. If there are not two trim stations, run your parts twice by taking off excess material in phases. Overall this solution has worked well for us.
3. Set up a jig on your tablesaw to cut the banding to the desired width. This takes a well situated jig and two sets of hands to process. We have done this many times, and if you go slow enough you can rip the banding down to whatever width you need quite successfully.
