Automating contour banding has a number of advantages over manual banding. The first issue with manual banding is there is no way to consistently produce high-quality product. This is unlike many other wood-working operations which can be done accurately and to a high standard through the use of jigs and fixtures.
What this means is that by automating the contour banding process, you will either reduce rework drastically, or your customers will notice the huge improvement in the quality and consistency of your product.

As businesses look to differentiate their products from competitors, shaped panels are making up a greater proportion of components manufactured in the joinery industry.  This is evident by the high number of new manual machine manufacturers in the world as demand for entry into this field increases.

The opportunity to create new products and designs with contoured panels means manufacturers have many new possibilities to present a range, which takes them away from the commodity areas of box based components, and differentiates them from competitors.

It’s also common to hear that ‘cut and clash’ component suppliers (those supplying to other manufacturers), who invest in contour edge-banding equipment, win contracts they couldn’t win before, because they had now overcome their inability to reliably produce shaped components.

Contour banding is a whole new learning experience but worth the effort as it opens up new market opportunities with increased margins.

To read more on this topic, read our article: Contour Edge-Banding - The Batch Size 1 Story

There are three main categories of contour edge-banding machines:

1. Manual
2. Semi-automatic
3. Fully Automatic

Manual Machines

Manual machines have a rotating roller and a glue application system. 

The advantage of these machines is low cost.

Disadvantages are:

• The machines are very operator dependent
• Quality of output can vary significantly depending on the operator and operator tiredness.

Semi-Automatic Machines

Semi-automatic machines use pinch rollers to rotate the panel around a fixed banding head.

The advantages of this system are:

• Low cost
• Simplicity

The disadvantages are:

• The edge pressure is very low, which means semi-automatic machines typically require the use of Flex Edge to bend banding for anything other than large radiuses.
• Radiuses less than 50 mm external, and 100mm internal, are typically not possible.
• As with manual machines, they require the operator to apply extra pressure and assist the machine to manipulate the panel around tighter radiuses.
• They also do not vary speed according to corner radius, which significantly limits their ability to handle complex shapes.

For these reasons semi-automatic machines are also very dependent on operator “feel”, which means quality can vary between operators.

Fully Automatic Machines

There are 2 types of fully automatic machines:

• The patented Vector Revolution principle banders
• The CNC hybrid contour banders

Patented Vector Revolution Principle

The Vector Revolution machines use a patented pressure system utilising artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to automatically analyse the shape of the panel as the head progresses around the panel. It requires no programming.

The advantages of this system are:

• Simplicity – no programming is required, which means a significant cost and time saving
• Separation of the banding process from the shape cutting, which means high productivity for both the shape cutting and edge-banding machines
• Very high edge pressure. Which makes for the best possible glue bond and glue line thickness. This feature of high edge pressure (and strong glue bond) is particularly important to overcome band memory with contour edge-banding.
• Full compatibility with nested based manufacturing.

The disadvantages compared to CNC hybrid contour banders are:

• The need to transfer the cut panel from the CNC shaper to the specialist edge-bander.
• It’s not possible to perform secondary machining processes after banding, such as notching or drilling through the banded edge.

CNC Hybrid Contour Banders

The CNC hybrid contour edge-banders use a CNC program to first cut the shape then, because it knows the position of the panel, use a second CNC program to carry the edge-banding head around the panel.  This is followed by trimming and scraping.

The advantages of this system are:

• The panel is placed on the machine and not handled until complete.
• It is also possible to do multiple processes on the panel, such as applying different band thicknesses to the same panel, notching and drilling, all in the same setup.

The disadvantages are:

• Machine cycle times are generally quite long for each panel since they have to both cut and apply the edge-band
• Capital cost of the machine is high.
• Operators need to have high skill levels to setup and operate the machine.
• A skilled CNC programmer is needed in the office to do the separate CAM process for the banding process.

For more on this topic, read our article: What Is The Best Type Of Edge-Banding Machine?

The biggest hurdle to overcome with contour edge-banding over straight line edge-banding is band memory.

Band memory is the the edge-band's natural tendency, when release, to spring back to a near straight state. On a contour edge-bander, the glue must provide a much higher grip than that of a straight line edge-bander in order to bond the band tightly to the panel contours.

One of the most important details is how close the glue unit is to the first pressure roller.

This is because tight corners mean the feed rate must be slower to allow the glue to tack-off to overcome the tension of the band memory. The longer the distance between the glue application and the first pressure roller (pressing the band to the panel), the greater the effect of variations in air temperature, feed speed, band characteristics, etc.

To read more about contour edge-banding machine design, read our article: Why Contour Edge-Banding Machine Design Is Critical For A Quality Finish