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In This Issue

Magazine

Calculating Finish Rates of Feed for Wood Materials

The finish of the material is dependent upon the feed and speed of the machine. No matter how good the quality of the cutting tool, if you are using the incorrect speed and feed, then the cutting tool will fail. Signs of incorrect feed and speed rates include burning and high heat, causing the knives to dull quickly.

Magazine

Helmstown Cooks Up New Niche Markets

For Helmstown, a maker of high-end cabinetry for bathrooms and kitchens, expansion of its product line and entry into new markets — especially outdoor kitchen and grill displays — proved key to new sales and success.

Magazine

New Market Study Reveals Component Purchasing Trends

The cabinet industry remained in the number one position as the largest end-use market for wood component products in 2010, primarily due to the continued decline in the building products industry and slowdown in the construction markets. That information, along with other trends, is included in the 2010 Dimension & Components Market Study by the Wood Component Manufacturers Assn. (WCMA).

Magazine

A Polyester Primer

An underlying reason to use any of the polyester types is due to their ability to close grain quickly and give an extremely hard surface. While most of the other favorable polyester attributes can be obtained by using other, easier to apply, coatings systems, polyester is undoubtedly however the “king of coatings."

Magazine

Jasper Group Focuses on Finishing

Indiana-based furniture manufacturer Jasper Group recently acquired a new facility 30 miles from its plant, in Taylorsville, NC, to handle finishing. The former location of a Kincaid Furniture plant, it has 98,000 square feet and is big enough to handle future growth.

Magazine

5 Tips for Keeping a Paint Booth Clean

• Keep dust outThe simplest and most important way to prevent dust from entering a booth is to keep all booth doors closed. When opening the doors to bring in the object to be sprayed, be sure that the booth is on and running in order to draw any airborne contaminants into the exhaust filters.

Magazine

Spray Gun Tips for Operators

The best way to achieve consistency is the spray gun application is to use equipment that allows you to record your settings and then return to them very easily. For instance, be sure to use regulators with accurate pressure gauges that are easy to read — and record the pressure settings used under different conditions and with different materials in a log book. Use a spray gun that allows you to identify the exact position of the needle (via the fluid control knob) and the fan control.

Magazine

Do’s & Don’ts for Using ‘Super’ Coatings

In recent years, a number of so-called “super” high-performance coatings have been taking over the wood finishing industry. But what, exactly, are they? This will give you a quick overview, with some information about one of the most popular ones, conversion varnish.

Magazine

Favorite Woods 2011

The Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers Inc.’s (AHMI) annual “Furniture Styles and Material Use Survey” provides a snapshot of the wood and veneer being used by furniture manufacturers. Administered by the AHMI since 1934, the analysis tracks wood species and design style trends in home furnishings at the High Point market.

Magazine

Tradition Meets Wood Ripping Technology

Optimized rip sawing equipment and integration from the log to the wood parts it makes, improve manufacture at JM Champeau, a Quebec City producer of quality dimension components.

Magazine

Smooth, Steady: New Strides for Drawer Slides

Besides the ease of installation, end-users also desire special features in their drawer slides, such as soft-closing capabilities or aspects related to aesthetics, such as concealed slides or inset drawer fronts without knobs.

Magazine

The Advantages of Dowel Construction

Constructing frameless cabinets with dowels is a well-established process worldwide.The advantage of dowel construction is having all of the joints butted and that the dimensions of the box are better defined by the size of the parts. There are several points to be aware of when using dowel construction.

Magazine

Moulder Adds Texture

Keith Malmstadt, president of Great Lake Woods, a manufacturer of hardwood and laminated mouldings and components based in Holland, MI, would certainly prefer that business was humming along as it had pre-recession. The silver lining, he says, is that the downturn has created opportunities for research and development of new products.

Magazine

Automated Kitchens

The cabinets of the future are here and being manufactured in Brigham City, a little town north of Salt Lake City, Utah. These cabinets not only offer high-tech components in a completely automated system, but a sleek, tapered look as well.

Magazine

idX Goes Lean

Utilizing a large workforce, idX Corp. manufactures store fixtures and custom millwork for a client portfolio that reads like a “Who’s Who” of retail, including Levi’s, Guess, Microsoft, Marriott Corp., Starbucks, CitiGroup, Coach, Charles Schwab, Old Navy, Gap, JCPenney, T-Mobile, Williams Sonoma and more. The company has eight facilities and offices worldwide, housing more than 1,700,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space.

Magazine

Wrapping up: 4 Items to Consider

The best practices in manufacturing can help in producing the highest quality product possible, but all that can go for naught if the product does not ship safely to its destination.

Magazine

OFS: One Piece at a Time

Office and healthcare furniture manufacturer OFS Brands practices what it calls one-piece flow manufacturing, which is an emphasis on single-piece manufacturing over batch production, according to Jeff Eckert, senior vice president of the Huntingburg, IN-based company .

Best Practices Guide

Efficiency in Edgebanding at Haworth

Being a good environmental steward means Haworth Inc. of Holland, MI, must continuously review its materials and processes to eliminate waste. The company says reducing the amount of raw materials used for manufacturing products, as well as maximizing equipment utilization in production are two keys to global responsibility

Best Practices Guide

Boring Machines: Some Not So Boring Tips

Drilling panels, solid wood and composites are fundamentally the most basic requirements for manufacturing wood products, while boring and dowel insertion equipment is necessary for all casework applications utilizing dowel construction. There are a variety of factors that need to be considered when purchasing a boring or drilling machine, including quality, reliability and product support ranking among the top in importance.