Just a trim
The quality of finish required when trimming veneers
and laminates can only be achieved by using precision
router cutters designed specifically for this purpose.
ost of the furniture that we
come into contact with
today, in the home or at
work, is made of faced sheet
materials. That is, a veneer or facing
of real wood, plastic, metal foil or
resin impregnated paper glued
to a base or core of MDF, plywood,
chipboard or other stable material.
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Whichever facing or laminate is used,
it will need to be trimmed flush
with the edges of the base
material. This is where the
router and tungsten carbide
tipped trimming cutters come
into their own. Light and
portable, the router can be taken to
the ‘job’, or inexpensively built into
laminating machines and presses
where the board can be faced,
edged and trimmed, in one
continuous process. It is not
only veneers and laminates that
can be trimmed in this way, selfguiding trimming cutters can also be
used for producing and finishing
template and pattern work, saving
both time and cost over traditional
hand finishing methods.
Template Profiling
Veneer and Laminate
Trimming Bonding
To produce a smooth square edge, the
edges of the board itself must be cut
true and finished square and smooth.
The reason for this is that the
trimming cutter is guided by a flush
guide bearing that follows the board
edge, reproducing the exact contour,
straight or curved. All trimming and
profiling cutters follow this simple
basic concept, however they do vary
in some aspects. In particular, the
number of cutting edges and the
cutter profile. Bearing guided
trimming and profiling cutters are
fitted with guide bearings that are
marginally oversize to minimise the
effects of surface scoring and to avoid
any cut-back of the veneer edge to
produce a sharp, square corner when
jointing or facing the trimmed edge.
Adhesives
Whichever adhesive is used to bond
the facing to the base material, two
important points must be observed.
The first is that the adhesive must be
allowed to dry or set thoroughly
before trimming