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Dimples/Pimples

4/10/18       
John G Member

We are laying up over 1000 sheets/day of laminate. Mostly onto particle board. We use a variety of laminates, but primarily Wilsonart and Formica.
I am new to laminate construction and was assigned the task of quality control.
Two out of the top 5 issues are scratching and dimples/pimples.
For the most part the scratching happens during handling. Either parts coming off of a stack or parts being put on a stack. We have reduced handling issues significantly with training and awareness, but we will see with some laminates 5x what we normally see in a normal day regardless of handling improvements.

With dimples/pimples I have found nothing that improves our ability to determine how bad it is going to be on any given sheet. We are laying up to 40 sheets in our press. Using PVA glue. We have a board cleaner. We brush off the laminate when we are flipping the sheets. There are sometime small "bits" stuck to the laminate that are difficult to see and don't come off with hand brushing. The particulate that causes the dimples can be as small as a gnat. Sometime the particulate is between the laminate and board causing a pimple and telegraphing to the opposing sheet causing a dimple. The pimples can also cause a significant amount of scratching when boards and/or parts are slid against each other.
There are guys that have been working here for years. Their view is that both the board and the laminate (although meeting NEMA specs) have deteriorated in cleanliness, rigidity, and wear resistance.

I would appreciate any and all comments that may help us to reduce or to at least be able to possibly predict outcomes for these two areas of focus in our quest to reduce scrap.

4/14/18       #2: Dimples/Pimples ...
Bruce H

I would encourage you to get a tour of Wilsonart's laminate facility and how they make it in the first place. They are laying up thousand of sheets from single paper laminations and it starts in a clean room. Each piece is brushed before it is sent to the press.

4/20/18       #3: Dimples/Pimples ...
John S

Have you tried using a peel coat on the laminate? Both WilsonArt and Formica offer it (at least they used to when I was purchasing laminate ten years ago). It's not free, but probably cheaper than your scrap/rework cost and it does help on surface related issues, like scratches and tiny specs pressed into the surface.

4/25/18       #4: Dimples/Pimples ...
door shop guy

Keep the area as clean as possible including using multiple air filtration units.
Thats all i can think of as i am not an expert in plam layups.

7/3/19       #5: Dimples/Pimples ...
John

Website: http://www.goldcoastcommercialcleaning.com.au

Agree that cleanliness and maintaining it can be a big issue. A small cost in money and time to get a good return on investment with laminate

10/1/19       #7: Dimples/Pimples ...
Matt Member

do you roll the sheets through the line or stack and press?
if rolling we use a tack cloth stuck to the application table end to catch any last bits held with static or other. amazing how much dust comes off.
only one that works was a 3m 07910 tack cloth.


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