MFK 700 - How to trim corners with solid wood edge banding ?

[Bidule]

Hi everybody

This is my first post. I just bought the MFK 700 and I have a simple question, how can i trim solid wood edge banding around a panel ? I mean...
I can do it when only 2 strips are glued to the veneer, one in the front and one in the back, but how can it be done if i put a strip of solid wood on all 4 sides ?
I can't reach the corner because the base on the MFK is hitting the edge banding. 
What i did is rip solid wood 1/8 thicker than the veneer and glued it centered on the veneer leaving about 1/16 above & under it.
Ex: veneer is 3/4 and solid wood edge band is about 7/8. Sorry for my english, hope you guys understand my problem.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Brice_Arnold]

what about gluing up the front and back and trimming first and then glue and trim the sides. That's the only way I can think of. But I am sure someone more creative or experienced will chime in.

 

[ccarrolladams]

Hi everybody

This is my first post. I just bought the MFK 700 and I have a simple question, how can i trim solid wood edge banding around a panel ? I mean...
I can do it when only 2 strips are glued to the veneer, one in the front and one in the back, but how can it be done if i put a strip of solid wood on all 4 sides ?
I can't reach the corner because the base on the MFK is hitting the edge banding. 
What i did is rip solid wood 1/8 thicker than the veneer and glued it centered on the veneer leaving about 1/16 above & under it.
Ex: veneer is 3/4 and solid wood edge band is about 7/8. Sorry for my english, hope you guys understand my problem.

Thanks a lot.

First,

[welcome]

To FOG. What an interesting first post!

Available for the MFK 700 are several bases. One is ideal to position the router vertically. There are two different horizontal bases: The 1.5 degree horizontal base is part of the MFK 700 EQ set and is used when it is important to not mar the surface; The optional 0 degree horizontal base is not used as frequently.

You did not say how thick you make your solid wood edge banding. You also did not say how you deal with meeting pieces of that edge banding.

One of the services provided by my cabinet shop is custom solid wood edge treatment. I approach that in different ways, depending on the details of the banding. Our automatic edge banding machine can handle 3mm thick strips and can be set to flush trim the top only or top and bottom. Normally when banding a top I miter the edges first.

More often we are edge banding the exposed parts of European style cases. Personally I like to think of those as very narrow face frames. Since they are exposed about 10mm, they actually are a custom molding with a T or tongue on the back. We cut a slot or groove in the exposed plywood edges. The corners are usually a half lap. We use edge band clamps made by Felder to hold that kind of T&G banding in place.

The glue-ready cuts for the cases made by our pressure beam or TS55 saws work very well with the smooth inner edge of the tongue as made by our molding machines and knives. After the glue is set we trim the outside of the cases with an MFK 700 using the 0 degree horizontal base, or a longer trim bit with a guide roller in an OF1010. In that case the back of the banded case is horizontal to the floor.

Usually we edge band so that no end grain will be exposed. This is why I mention mitering the edges of thin banding as might be used around a table.

 

[Bidule]

what about gluing up the front and back and trimming first and then glue and trim the sides.

Thx for the idea Brice.  It's a little bit to late because i did glue up the 4 sides without thinking it would be a problem with the MFK.

Carol... I know there is tho bases available for the MFK, but the kit came with 1.5 degree and this is the one i am using.
The solid wood is half-inch thick, can't go more than 5/8 anyway because of the bits available.
I don't see any other option than using a block plane to do the corners and than finish the job with the MFK.    [crying]

 

[Brice_Arnold]

I was going to suggest either a block plane or  a chisel but that kind of defeats the efficiency of having the power tools. Though, with a block plane it should go pretty quickly. I would think there is some methodology that the pro's use when installing edge banding on site.

 

[Brice Burrell]

You need to pivot the router around the corner.  The horizontal base is relieved on the bottom to accommodate the raised edging as you get to an intersection.  As long as you edge band isn't above the surface more than an 1/8" or 3mm it will work.  

 

[GPowers]

Hi everybody

This is my first post. I just bought the MFK 700 and I have a simple question, how can i trim solid wood edge banding around a panel ? I mean...
I can do it when only 2 strips are glued to the veneer, one in the front and one in the back, but how can it be done if i put a strip of solid wood on all 4 sides ?
I can't reach the corner because the base on the MFK is hitting the edge banding. 
What i did is rip solid wood 1/8 thicker than the veneer and glued it centered on the veneer leaving about 1/16 above & under it.
Ex: veneer is 3/4 and solid wood edge band is about 7/8. Sorry for my english, hope you guys understand my problem.

Thanks a lot.

Post a picture of the problem to get the best answer.

 

[Sam Murdoch]

I was going to suggest either a block plane or  a chisel but that kind of defeats the efficiency of having the power tools. Though, with a block plane it should go pretty quickly. I would think there is some methodology that the pro's use when installing edge banding on site.

Don't know about tricking the MFK-700 around the corners but just a word of  caution about trying to block plane edge banding - as the edge banding is very thin it is difficult to get a read on the grain as you start to plane and could result in tearing your planed edge away from its face.
OOPS  [eek]. I hate it when that happens... [embarassed]

 

[Brice_Arnold]

I was going to suggest either a block plane or  a chisel but that kind of defeats the efficiency of having the power tools. Though, with a block plane it should go pretty quickly. I would think there is some methodology that the pro's use when installing edge banding on site.

Don't know about tricking the MFK-700 around the corners but just a word of  caution about trying to block plane edge banding - as the edge banding is very thin it is difficult to get a read on the grain as you start to plane and could result in tearing your planed edge away from its face.
OOPS  [eek]. I hate it when that happens... [embarassed]

This is if you are trying to plane the face of the trim right? If you are trimming the edge of the trim piece so that it is flush with the top of whatever surface you are trimming then it should be fine. I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying.

Or are you talking about catching the grain with the blade of the plane and pulling it from the edge surface?

Once I understand, it sounds like a good tip and something to avoid.

Anyways, the answer to the OP is in post #5 by Brice. This makes perfect sense.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

I was going to suggest either a block plane or  a chisel but that kind of defeats the efficiency of having the power tools. Though, with a block plane it should go pretty quickly. I would think there is some methodology that the pro's use when installing edge banding on site.

Don't know about tricking the MFK-700 around the corners but just a word of  caution about trying to block plane edge banding - as the edge banding is very thin it is difficult to get a read on the grain as you start to plane and could result in tearing your planed edge away from its face.
OOPS  [eek]. I hate it when that happens... [embarassed]

This is if you are trying to pain the face of the trim right? If yo uare trimming the edge of the trim piece so that it is flush with the top of whatever surface you are trimming then it should be fine? I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying.

Anyways, the answer to the OP is in post #5 by Brice. This makes perfect sense.

Why would you plane the face of veneer edgebanding?  He's referring to being careful when planing the edge of edgebanding.

 

[Ken Nagrod]

Even though I have the full MFK700 kit and planes, I can still trim edgebanding the cheap way.  If it's thin veneer, just use those plastic tools that slide along shaving the excess with a metal blade(s) and use a dedicated file to soften the sharp remainder.  You don't want to use a file that gets used with metal as you can contaminate the wood with metal shavings or metal dust.  This is the way I learned in a top quality cabinet shop years ago.  We had a massive automatic edgebanding machine that you ran multiple boards down, then we finished them by hand and because it was a very old machine that constantly required adjustments, a lot of times that meant we did some trimming manually.

If you're applying a thicker edgebanding and you have to stick to hand tools, the block plane and file are the way to go.  Go slowly and carefully until you learn what the wood and tools are telling you--feedback.

 

[Sam Murdoch]

Hi Bidule,

Here is another idea for trimming edge banding that you might find useful and would eliminate the issue of running your MFK around corners. Not what you area asking but maybe worth some consideration?? First of all, I agree with Ken's post above - for very thin edge banding (the roll stuff - rather than solid wood rips - the plastic tools designed for cleaning up edge band edges work great (I finish off with sandpaper rather than a file). Also, I prefer to do ends first, then long edges to avoid  the corner issues you ask about. For solid wood banding in the 2 to 4mm range I favor a small router.

BUT - and here is my "another idea" - if I am faced with 4 edging a panel with banding I try to plan my rips and cross cuts to favor optimizing the edge banding. For example, if I am making up cabinet shelves that are 10" x 28" I will either:

1) rip 8' lengths at 10" wide then edge band the 2 long edges, trim those edges, then go to cross cut to the 28" lengths. I cross cut my 3 shelves which, of course also perfectly trims the long edge banding to size, then I edge band the 6 short 10" edges. Trimming those requires no issues with the intersecting corners.

or 2) Do a 20"+ rip, cross cut those, edge band the ends, rip to width, then edge band the 28" lengths. The advantage of # 2 is that the front edge band completely overlays the edge of the end edge bands so that you don't see that glue line from the front. Of course this assumes that you are edge banding sheet goods. It is not a great idea to edge band 4 edges of solid wood though one might be tempted to do that with a wood of a different species to create a decorative detail. That's an entirely different subject.

Bonne chance, Sam

 

[RDMuller]

Brice Burrel is absolutely correct in his post above.  The MFK 700 pivots beautifully around a corner.  I was told by one of the trainers at Festool and could not believe it when it worked

I like to have the corners mitered

 

[Brice Burrell]

Brice Burrell is absolutely correct in his post above..... 

Was there ever any doubt? [tongue] [big grin]