How chipboards are made: equipment and manufacturing technology

• May 21, 2019
• Production
• Tatyana K

Among practical and multifunctional wood materials, particle boards or simply chipboards occupy a special place. Their production can take place both in large wood processing plants and at home.

Purpose

Chipboard is an environmentally friendly, easy-to-process, functional material, and also a high-tech alternative solution to solid wood. It is used to sheathe walls, roofs, make wall panels, create carpet or linoleum flooring, flooring, various partitions, make a wide variety of furniture, packaging, construct enclosing arrays, and decorate interior spaces. What is the production technology for chipboard? How is it made at home? Let's look at these questions later in the article.

When will the investment pay off?

The payback of the enterprise will depend on the capacity of the chipboard production line that will be purchased for the workshop, on the prices of raw materials and the finished product. In your business project, provide all the necessary profitability calculations. To find out when the costs will pay off, you need to know the size of the initial investment. They will amount to at least 10,500,000 rubles. This may include:

• Purchase and commissioning of main and additional equipment – ​​10,000,000 rubles.
• Creation of inventory – 500,000 rubles.
• Registration of an enterprise – 50,000 rubles.
• Preparing the premises - 300,000 rubles.

Monthly costs (rent, wages, tax deductions, transportation costs, utility bills) will be approximately 600,000 rubles. The chipboard production machine will produce up to 100 sheets (1830*2440*16 mm) of material per shift (3000 sheets per month). By selling all manufactured products at a price of 750 rubles per sheet, you can earn up to 2,250,000 rubles per month. Taking into account monthly costs and production costs (450 rubles/sheet), the net profit in this case will reach 300,000 rubles. These are excellent profitability indicators, since all costs will be recouped after 3 years.

What is chipboard made of?

The basis for the production of particle boards is a process in which sawdust is mixed with a special adhesive mass and the resulting mixture is pressed under high pressure and high temperature. The great advantage of making chipboard is the use of sawmill waste.

Pressed slabs have good strength, created by mixing the sawdust mixture with glue (resin) hardened to the state of stone. To produce environmentally friendly types of material, an adhesive mass of minimal toxicity is used.

The production of chipboards can occur on a small scale. In general, only the size of the produced slabs is limited, which should be no more than 50 x 50 centimeters.

The production of chipboard at home is the same process as on an industrial scale, but in miniature. All stages where automation should be involved are replaced by manual work.

Marking

Each plate must indicate :

• dimensions in mm (1.2);
• variety (3);
• manufacturer's name and country of production (4.5);
• surface type, strength and water resistance class (6);
• formaldehyde emission class (7);
• end processing (if any);
• compliance with standards (8);
• number of sheets in a pack (9);
• release date (10).

All data is inside the rectangle and takes up a small space in one of the corners of the back side. Moreover, for slabs that are legally produced at Russian enterprises or legally supplied from abroad, all information , except for the manufacturer’s brand, is indicated in Russian .

How to make chipboard at home

Let's consider the sequence of chipboard manufacturing:

• first, the sawdust mass is mixed in a medium-sized container (from 10 to 15 l);
• then the adhesive solution is added, you need to make sure that the sawdust is completely saturated;
• shaped into tiles under high pressure;
• Then, using high temperature, the workpieces are pressed; this process requires special equipment;
• The manufactured slab is cooled in air, and its edges are trimmed.

Surface lamination is carried out in the same baking press that is used in the production of uncut blanks. You can purchase a ready-made special laminate for chipboard, which can be “baked” to the surface in a certain way using an iron. Such coatings have a beneficial effect on the appearance of wood boards, but are not considered a full-fledged laminate layer.

What it is?

Chipboard is a sheet composite material produced by pressing sawdust and shavings at high temperatures with a non-mineral binder and the introduction of various additives, which are necessary in various cases to improve certain properties of the resulting sheet. The production of this material is quite expensive, but at current prices for the finished product, the purchased equipment pays for itself in 1-2 years.

Depending on different indicators, there are several classifications of chipboard. Some classifications are given below.

Main types

The CIS GOST documentation identifies the following characteristics for classification:

• Based on the number of layers, chipboard is divided into single-layer, two-layer, three-layer and multi-layer. Moreover, the trend is this: the greater the number of layers, the more dense and durable the resulting slab.
• By emission class. Emission determines the amount of formaldehyde that, when added during production, is released into the air from 100 g of slab. There are 2 classes: E1 and E2, while the first is more environmentally friendly, harmless to people, the content of harmful substances in it is less than 10 mg. Another class contains more than 10 mg of formaldehyde. Boards of this class are suitable for use in construction and production with good ventilation or outdoors. There is also a certificate for chipboard that confirms its emission class. The certificate is issued by a special body, has an established model and is distributed throughout the CIS. The current standards for assessing the toxicity of formaldehyde in Europe differ from those adopted in the CIS countries.
• Based on the density of chipboard, slabs are distinguished with low density (550 kg/m³), with medium density - 550–750 kg/m³, with high density - more than 750 kg/m³.

Equipment list

The full list of equipment for chipboard production includes:

1. Mixers, which are needed in order to obtain a homogeneous mixture made from sawdust and an adhesive (usually a resin with special impurities to create a solid structure).
2. Forming devices are necessary to impart viscosity and shape to the mixture.
3. High temperature pressing equipment and machines.
4. Coolers are used to make hot chipboards cool faster.
5. Edge trimming devices that remove the edge from slabs.
6. Grinding machines make the formed surface smooth.

The functionality of all equipment in large-scale production is ensured automatically. The quality of work is controlled by maintaining the mechanism settings at the required level.

All of the wood-based panel manufacturing equipment listed earlier is suitable for the job, assuming ready-made raw materials are available.

If you plan to use your own raw material in the manufacture of chipboards, then the equipment must be supplemented with auxiliary equipment, such as cutting machines, chopping mechanisms, mills and planing machines.

Among other things, additional equipment that will improve the manufacturability of wood-based panels includes conveyors, tables equipped with lifting mechanisms, ventilation systems necessary to remove sanding dust, drying chambers and conveyors. Let's look at how chipboard is made.

Manufacturing sequence

The manufacturing steps are as follows:

• first you need to find raw materials, sawdust and wood chips in the warehouse;
• then the raw materials are prepared for work by grinding;
• the materials are dried to obtain a suitable consistency for gluing;
• chips are sifted using automated sieves and sorted depending on size;
• larger and smaller chips are mixed with each other;
• a resin adhesive is added;
• the viscous mixture is sent to a molding machine, which forms wood boards;
• Chipboard is pressed under high pressure and high temperature;
• the plates are cooled;
• the edge is trimmed, and the resulting workpieces are sawn into pieces of the required size.

So, we looked at how chipboard is made. Sanding this material is necessary as the final step in the manufacturing process. It is the level and quality of grinding that directly determines what grade the finished product will be classified as. First grade chipboards should not have scratches, stains, insufficient sanding, or waves on the surface.

The necessary parameters of wood boards are controlled both during production and after the chipboards are ready. The manufactured sheets are stored in blocks, which are laid on special wooden pallets - pallets.

Features of choosing slabs

The best option for a laminated block for furniture production would be slabs with the following parameters:

1. Density 650-780 kg/m³. If the slab is looser, then it is impossible to make high-quality furniture from it. Greater hardness indicates that a lot of resin was used to glue the wood chips, which is not safe for health.
2. The coating should protect the panel from moisture and contamination. Thin paper with a resin layer does not have such properties.
3. Gloss, type of decor and texture do not affect the quality of the workpiece. But when choosing a furniture design, you need to compare different samples and settle on the most suitable one.
4. Products with a strong odor contain an increased amount of phenol. It is better to refrain from purchasing such products.
5. Laminated chipboard for furniture production has a smooth surface without chips or cracks. The ends are covered with a protective film.
6. To increase moisture resistance, paraffin is added to the adhesive composition. The base of these blocks is slightly greenish.

Milling process

Creating shaped surfaces from the inside and processing corners from the outside is done during the milling process. A cutter is a cutter equipped with teeth; it usually has any regular shape (for example, a cone or trapezoid). Particle boards require processing along the entire thickness, which differs from processing harder materials. This is necessary to prevent accidental chips from appearing.

Before you start milling, you need to prepare. To do this, you need to cut out the contours of the planned figures in advance using a jigsaw or saw. They are usually processed manually or using a stationary milling cutter. In this way, cylindrical and oval-shaped holes of any size are obtained, which ensures an aesthetically pleasing appearance of the finished slab.

Marketing research

Selling products will not be a problem, but a serious approach to organizing a business will allow you to streamline its volumes and avoid possible miscalculations. Therefore, it is worth conducting marketing research on the market for similar materials in order to more accurately represent the situation in the region.

To do this, you can take the following steps:

• Determine the general need of enterprises for this type of product.
• To track offers of chipboard and its analogues already existing on the market.
• Think about building a marketing strategy for your enterprise (what will be the advantage of the product over others - quality, price, features of the advertising campaign, etc.)
• Consider additional opportunities: business combination, creative approach to advertising, system of individual discounts, etc.

Video on the topic:

Types of chipboard

What is the process of chipboard lamination?

Considering how chipboard is made, let's take a closer look at the lamination process. Any furniture, including cabinets, kitchen units of any class, is made from wood boards, the surface of which has undergone a special stage of processing and has been laminated with special materials necessary to protect the product, as well as create a more aesthetic appearance. These products are called laminated chipboard or expanded laminated chipboard.

To laminate a product, it is necessary to apply a stable coating to its surface, which improves the appearance; no additional processing is required.

The main stages of the wood board lamination process are as follows:

1. First, the highest quality material is selected, the most durable and dense products that have low humidity.
2. The chipboard is coated with a primer to ensure the best adhesion of the laminate;
3. Now several layers of paper are applied (no more than three), which are impregnated with a resin mixture. With the help of paper, the product will be more durable, and painting the outer part creates an aesthetically attractive appearance of the slab. The process of creating layers is accompanied by compression at high temperatures.
4. Next, the product is quickly cooled, sometimes with the help of watering.

The surface of the particle board must be carefully polished before it is laminated. If even small roughness and uneven places remain, this can lead to deterioration of the laminate layer and, accordingly, the product will be rejected. The process of laminating with your own hands at home is very difficult to produce with high quality, so often already processed, industrially made laminated chipboards are purchased for subsequent use.

Materials and methods of furniture cladding

Regardless of which board you choose for your future furniture, its final cost will also depend on the material with which MDF or chipboard is lined. Today, the most popular are three options: veneering (veneering), lamination and caching.

Veneering , or in common parlance veneering, is the lining of a slab with a thin cut of natural wood. This method allows you to make the product as similar as possible to furniture made from solid wood. These products will, of course, cost more than laminated ones, but they will look very status and respectable. In addition, the vacuum pressing method allows you to literally wrap the veneer around complex carved parts, which means it gives even more naturalness. However, veneer requires careful treatment and special care, just like wooden products.

Lamination is the application of a composition of paper and polymers to a finished chipboard or MDF board, which, under the influence of high temperature, literally melt into the surface of the material, simultaneously acquiring the desired texture. This method of cladding is considered optimal in terms of price-quality ratio, because is not afraid of moisture, sun, temperature changes and retains its original appearance for many years.

Caching , unlike lamination, involves the use of glue. That is, a finished film with the desired texture is glued onto an array of MDF or chipboard. This method is the least expensive of those listed, but also not the most reliable. This cladding is much softer than laminate, which means it is not as resistant to mechanical damage and air humidity. If this option is quite acceptable for the bedroom, then for the kitchen it is better to choose a more reliable coating.