Technical Field

The invention relates to a configuration of a hand held edge banding device for the field of cabinetwork, particularly for edge banding of furniture, furniture shelves etc.

Background Art

At present, stationary, so-called large edge banding machines are usually used for edge banding in the field of cabinetwork and cabinet making. These machines are relatively very heavy and large. Bands of different materials, particularly veneers, laminate edgings, or plastic strips, so-called ABS bands, can be glued on various objects using the abovementioned machines. These machines are configured as presses. In some types, no glue reservoir is contained, they comprise only pressing device. At first, the operator must apply glue to the banded area, followed by pressing the band on this area using the edge banding machine. Other types of known edge banding machines are also large stationary machines, however they contain a glue application unit allowing machine- application of glue to the pasted band before pressing it on. Glue application units of these machines include a melting chamber and a bearing sleeve placed below the chamber. Melting chamber is equipped with a discharge cavity, in which a rotating glue applicator cylinder is located. The bearing sleeve located below the glue applicator cylinder contains namely bearings and the glue applicator cylinder shaft connected via a gear box to the motor for driving the glue applicator cylinder. The melting chamber is equipped with a glue container situated above or below the glue applicator cylinder. Glue is applied to the band with a wiper blade, situated vertically along the glue applicator cylinder in the gap between the applicator cylinder and the wall of the discharge cavity. If the glue container is located below the glue applicator cylinder, glue is discharged upward during the machine operation, in the gap between the wiper blade and the glue applicator

cylinder. Disadvantages of both abovementioned types of edge banding machines are particularly their large mass and dimensions resulting in stationary character and immobility of these machines during operation limiting their applicability. The operator must turn the object around the machine during edge banding, which

5 means that in the case of edge banding of larger and heavier objects, such manipulation is physically very demanding or even impossible in the case of high mass or large dimensions of the banded object such as the edges of a table top. Other disadvantage of these machines is a limited transportability due to their high mass and large dimensions, which makes their use in the on site repairs, it) installations, and assembling difficult or even impossible. Storage and distribution ability of these machines is difficult as well. Miniaturization of the said devices to the portable form by simple minimization of construction elements is impossible. At the given construction, the glue melting operating temperature of 170 ⁰ C or more and the application mechanism require proper sealing preventing accidental

15 leakage of glue into the bearings located below the glue application cylinder, where good sealing can be reached only by using large electric motor and bulky sealing device. Other disadvantage of existing machines is that in the case when the glue container is located below the glue applicator cylinder, the efficiency of glue discharge is low and the cylinder must be longer than the height of the wiper 0 blade limiting width of the used band, resulting again in the impossibility of a small dimension version.

There are also portable hand edge banding devices, but these are designed as hot-air guns, alternatively combined with an iron. These devices contain no glue application unit. Therefore, these devices only allow using of so-called self-

25 adhesive laminated bands, which are pre-coated with adhesive. However, the quality of laminated bands is relatively low. Therefore, the aforementioned hand held devices are usable by hobbyists, in a small-scale cabinetwork, and only for heavily limited assortment.

30 Disclosure of Invention

The above-mentioned disadvantages are eliminated by the invention described hereinafter. New edge banding device containing a glue applicator unit is invented,

which allows creation of hand held portable device. The device according to the invention contains a glue applicator unit with a melting chamber and a bearing sleeve, connected via at least one gear to a drive unit, where the melting chamber is equipped with a discharge cavity, in which a rotating glue applicator cylinder is located, whereas the melting chamber is provided with a lower glue container and where the bearing sleeve contains bearings and a shaft of the glue applicator cylinder. The essence of the invention, by which a possibility of the device optimisation and creation of the device as a hand held portable tool is allowed, is that the bearing sleeve is situated above the melting chamber. The lower glue container means a container located in the lower part of a discharge cavity or emptied into the lower part of a discharge cavity.

The device is finally solved preferably so that the melting chamber has a wall of its discharge cavity equipped with at least one helix for discharge of glue.

The helix is preferably created only in the lower part of a discharge cavity. This means that it starts preferably in the discharge cavity approximately at the lower end and does not reaches to the upper half of the discharge cavity.

The helix is more efficient and advantageous when executed as a projection on the wall of the discharge cavity rather than executed as a recess in the wall of the discharge cavity. The melting chamber is preferably equipped with at least one draining channel for excess glue.

This draining channel is preferably made so that it leads downward and has its input for excess glue created as a spillway, which is situated in the upper part of the melting chamber. Outlet of the draining channel preferably leads to the container.

Hand edge banding device according to the invention is preferably created so that all its elements are used so that together they are creating a single portable body. For the presented invention allows using of relatively miniature elements as well. These can be selected from the market offer and when sensitively selected and properly combined according to the constructional conditions given above, it is possible to create the device according to the invention as a hand held tool in the form of a single body with relatively small total mass and dimensions. Then, this

portable body is preferably provided with at least one grab handle for grasping and manipulation of the complete device at once.

Portable hand edge banding device is preferably created, which is equipped with two grab handles having such dimensions and distance that allow grasping by both craftsman's hands and manipulation of the complete device including transporting.

The invention is suitable for constructional arrangement of edge banding machines designed primarily for cabinetwork and cabinet manufacture, however, it can serve for other fields as well. It allows creation of edge banding machine with a glue applicator unit, which is hand held, lightweight, usable anywhere, and in a portable version. Using this device, it is possible to comfortably band particularly large pieces of furniture parts and other objects. Significant advantage of this device is that it can be created in a portable form, which represents wide range of utilisation in assembly works and repairs. The device allows use of all materia\ types of edge bandings to be glued, i.e. laminated edge bandings as well as plastics or veneers. The device is most suitable for edging thickness up to approximately 2 mm and edge banding width up to 45 mm. Control and manipulation of the device are relatively simple, which means that besides professional use, the usage by craftsmen from other fields, in households and by hobbyists is not excluded as well as.

Brief Description of Drawings

The invention is illustrated using drawings, where Fig. 1 shows overall spatial view of the hand edge banding device according to the patent, Fig. 2 shows overall spatial view of the same device from the opposite side, Fig. 3 shows detail of the glue application unit alone, Fig. 4 shows detailed configuration of the draining channel and helix in the melting chamber as a spatial angular top view of the melting chamber disassembled in the A-A line indicated on the previous figure, where the glue applicator cylinder is removed, Fig. 5 shows top view of the same configuration illustrated on the previous figure.

Carrying Out the Invention

Example of the best mode for carrying the invention is the hand edge banding device according to the Fig. 1 to 5. Hand edge banding device is equipped with a glue applicator unit 1, whose main parts are a melting chamber 2 and a miniature bearing sleeve 3 placed above it. The bearing sleeve 3 contains bearings 4 and a driving shaft 5 of a glue applicator cylinder 6. The glue applicator unit 1 is connected via a gear 7 with gearing chain to a drive unit 8, which is in this specific case a motor for connection to the 230 V mains. The melting chamber 2 is equipped with a discharge cavity 9. In this cavity, the rotating glue applicator cylinder 6 for application of glue to the glued band of edging material is located. Lower part of the melting chamber 2 is equipped with a glue container IfJ in the form of a small resealable tank. The glue container IQ is shown without a lid on figures, for vivid description. Discharge cavity 9 has its wall equipped with a helix H, facilitating efficient discharge of glue. The helix V\_ is created preferably as a projection located only in the lower part of the discharge cavity (9). It starts in the vicinity of the bottom and ends still in the frame of the lower part of the discharge cavity (9).

In this specific case, the melting chamber 2 is created as a two-piece body; however, it can be made as a single or multi-piece body as well. It is equipped with a draining channel 12 for excess glue. The draining channel VZ has an input 1_3 from the discharge cavity 9 in the form of a spillway and it leads downward, where it has an output 14 leading preferably back to the container IQ. Spillway is located in the upper part of the melting chamber 2, where it works as a limit for the reached glue level. It is created by interconnecting recess or opening in the upper part of the discharge cavity 9 wall, in the point where this wall creates a partition between the discharge cavity 9 and the draining channel 12.

All elements of the edge banding device are selected in small size and low mass version and assembled in such a way that the whole device creates a single portable unit. It is provided with two cylindrical grab handles 15 of suitable size and distance for grasping, carrying, and manipulation of the complete device at once. The device containing just one grab handle 15 could also be well functional and portable according to the invention, e.g. in the case of arch shape of size and