Method for manufacturing floor elements and floor element.

This invention relates to a method for manufacturing floor elements, as well as to floor elements obtained by such method.

In particular, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing floor elements, which may be composed to a floating floor covering. Herein, these floor elements or floor panels are provided with coupling parts at their edges, by means of which coupling parts they may be coupled during installation. Herein, either a classical tongue and groove connection may be established, wherein this tongue and groove possibly are glued into each other, or a mechanical coupling may be established, which provides for a mutual locking of the floor elements, for example, in horizontal as well in vertical directions. Such mechanical couplings are described, for example, in the international patent application WO 97/47834, which also describes a method for manufacturing such floor elements, wherein these floor elements, by means of a machining treatment, are provided with profiled edge portions comprising the aforementioned coupling parts. In the case of WO 97/47834, the machining treatment relates to a milling process by means of rotating milling tools. Another document in which such method is described is, for example, WO 2005/068747.

With such method, up to now it was assumed that the upper side or the decorative surface of the floor element had to be used as a reference for the machining treatment, as applying coupling parts in this manner may result in a precise joining of the upper edges when the floor elements cooperate, and such in particular without

or almost without any height differences between the respective upper edges of these floor elements. However, this method requires that the upper side, or at least the portion of the upper side that is used as a reference, is made flat or almost flat, which imposes a restriction on the possible structures which may be present or can be applied at the upper side or decorative surface of the floor element.

Generally, the present invention aims at a method which allows manufacturing floor panels, wherein the adjoining of two of such floor elements is less or not at all affected by the structure of the upper side or the decorative surface of the respective floor elements. To this aim, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing floor elements of the type having at its upper side at least a decorative surface and having, at least at two opposite sides, profiled edge portions, which profiled edge portions both comprise coupling parts, wherein said coupling parts allow that two of such floor elements can be coupled at the respective sides, and the method comprises at least the following steps :

- the step of producing a semi-finished product, the latter comprising at least a decorative el-ement which forms at least a portion of said decorative surface; and

- the step of forming, at said semi-finished product, at least a portion of said profiled edge regions at least by means of a machining treatment with mechanical tools, wherein this machining treatment is at least applied for forming at least a portion of said coupling parts, and preferably for forming the complete said coupling parts; with as a characteristic that the underside of the floor element is used as a reference for said machining

treatment. Preferably, the method also comprises the step of modifying the upper edge of at least one of said profiled edge regions.

With a method according to the present invention is obtained that the reference for said machining treatment is uncoupled from the upper side of the floor elements. As the underside is used as a reference for the machining treatment, the position of the coupling parts is not or almost not affected by the possible structure and/or the location of the upper side or the decorative surface of the floor elements. So, for example, floor elements may be realized having a so-called aged appearance, as they are provided at their upper side with a decorative surface with a very pronounced structure consisting of recesses and projections. Another example of floor elements, which can be manufactured by the method of the present invention in a beneficial manner, are floor elements with a decorative element of stone, such as ceramic tile, natural stone, artificial stone or any other stone-like material, such as, for example, also terracotta, the decorative surface of which as such may have a very pronounced structure and wherein, for example, such decorative element then is coupled to a substrate structure, in which the coupling parts are formed.

By "the location of the upper side", in the above and hereinafter, the location of the upper side in respect to the portion of the underside that is used as a reference for the treatment is intended.

In floor elements, of which the coupling parts are obtained at least partially by performing a machining treatment for which the underside has been used as a reference, there is a higher risk that, when two of such

floor elements are coupled to each other, there will be a height difference between the respective upper sides at the location of the upper edges. With the intention of hiding or preventing this height difference, in a method according to the present invention preferably, as aforementioned, a modification is performed at the upper edge of at least one, and preferably both, of the profiled edge regions. The aforementioned step of modifying the upper edge may be realized in a variety of possibilities.

According to a first possibility, said step of modifying the upper edge includes at least forming a chamfer at the upper edge of the respective profiled edge region, wherein preferably also at least a machining treatment with mechanical tools is applied, wherein a material portion of said semi-finished product is removed in order to form the surface of the chamfer. In said step of modifying the upper edge, such chamfer is preferably formed at both opposite edge regions. Said chamfer provides for that a less good adjoining of two of such floor panels is concealed to the common user of the floor panel in that the location of adjoining is situated below the global surface of the floor covering.

When this first possibility of modifying is applied at the upper edge of only one profiled edge region, it is preferably combined with effecting a coloration and/or applying a separate color layer at the upper edge of the opposite profiled edge region, such that the risk that the common user will observe a possible height difference is small.

In a preferred form of embodiment of this first possibility, the underside of the floor element also is used as a reference for forming the surface of said

chamfer. According to this form of embodiment, said location of adjoining of two of such floor elements may always be referred correctly to the underside of the floor elements. In this manner is obtained that the location of adjoining is independent from a possible structure and/or location of the upper side or the decorative surface of the floor element.

In the most preferred embodiment of said first possibility, said modifying consists in that at the upper edges of both aforementioned profiled edge regions, the surface of a chamfer is formed by removing material portions of said semi-finished product by means of a machining treatment, for which the underside of the floor element is used as a reference. With this embodiment of the method is obtained that the risk of the floor elements showing height differences at the location of adjoining is minimized, irrespective of the fact that the coupling parts are realized partially or entirely by means of a machining treatment using the underside of the floor element as a reference. In this most preferred form of embodiment, the maximum and average height difference between two floor elements at the height of the location of adjoining can be restricted to 0.15 and 0.1 millimeters, respectively, by which, for example, the standard EN 13329 in respect to height differences in laminate floor panels is met. These values may be restricted still further to 0.1 and 0.07 millimeters, respectively.

Preferably, said chamfers are formed as bevels, which, due to their inclined walls, are adjoining each other in an unobtrusive manner. Of course, it is not excluded that also other forms of chamfers are applied, such as recesses at the upper edges, the surface of which is formed by hollow and/or straight walls.

According to a second possibility, in said step of modifying the upper edge of at least one, and preferably both, of the profiled edge regions, a separate layer or coloration is provided on the respective upper edge, more particularly at the side of this upper edge and/or at a chamfer at the height of this upper edge. This second possibility is particularly interesting with floor elements of which the profiled edge regions have another appearance and/or color than the upper side of the floor elements and wherein a less good adjoining of these floor elements may result in a seam that is visible in a disturbing manner. Said coloration then preferably is made in colors or tints matching the upper side or the decorative surface. Typically, profiled edge regions with a deviating appearance and/or color may occur in floor elements constructed at least from a substrate and a decorative element provided above this substrate, said element showing the decorative surface, for example, in a floor element having a wood or wood- based substrate and a decorative element, consisting of a top layer based on synthetic material, provided above this substrate. It is clear that it is not excluded to apply said second possibility also for floor elements of another construction.

It is noted that combinations of a method according to the first possibility with a method according to the second possibility also may lead to very good results. With such combination, said color layer preferably is provided on the surface or on the surfaces of the obtained chamfer, chamfers, respectively.

The machining treatments applied in the method of the invention preferably relate to treatments in which rotating milling tools are applied, although it is not

excluded that other machining treatments are applied, too, such as treatments by means of planes and/or other mechanical cutting tools and/or so-called unconventional tools, such as a laser.

Said coupling parts preferably are performed as a male and a female coupling part. The coupling parts, as this is the case with the coupling parts known from WO 97/47834, may be provided with vertically active locking portions, for example, substantially in the form of a tongue and a groove, which, when the coupling parts of two of such floor panels cooperate with each other, effect a locking in vertical direction perpendicular onto the plane of the floor elements, and are provided with horizontally active locking portions as well, which, when the coupling parts of two of such floor elements cooperate with each other, effect a locking in horizontal direction perpendicular to the respective sides and in the plane of the floor elements. So, for example, may the method of the present invention be applied for manufacturing floor elements, wherein the aforementioned coupling parts thereof are of the type that allows to connect two of such floor elements at said sides to each other by one or more of the following three possibilities:

- by providing one of these floor elements with the associated male coupling part in the female coupling part of the other floor element by means of a turning movement; - by pressing one of these floor elements with the associated male coupling part in the female coupling part of the other floor element by means of a lateral shifting movement;

- by pressing one of these floor elements with the associated male coupling part in the female

coupling part of the other floor element by means of a downward movement.

In case the method is used for manufacturing floor elements which are provided with coupling parts having at least vertically active locking portions, it is preferred that at least these vertically active locking portions are formed by means of a machining treatment, for which the underside of the floor element is used as a reference.

The method of the present invention is particularly useful with floor elements, wherein the underside of the floor element globally is made more flat than the upper side of the floor element. Apart from this, it may preferably be applied for manufacturing floor elements with an underside showing at least one of the following features :

- the underside is free from recesses; - the underside is free from recesses along said profiled edge regions;

- the underside, along said profiled edge regions, is free from recesses extending along these edge regions over a distance of more than 10 centimeters, and preferably is free from recesses extending along the edge regions over a distance of more than 5 centimeters;

- the underside shows a flatness with a maximum deviation of less than 1%, and still better less than 0.5% as measured according to EN 13329 Annex A.

As mentioned above, the method is of particular importance for manufacturing floor elements having a very pronounced structure at their upper side. Thus, preferably it is used for manufacturing floor elements

of which the upper side shows at least one of the following features:

- the upper side, apart from a possibly removed material portion for forming a chamfer, shows further recesses and/or unevennesses;

- the upper side, apart from a possibly removed material portion for forming a chamfer, shows further recesses with a depth of more than 0.3 millimeters, and still better of more than 0.5 millimeters;

- the upper side, apart from a possibly removed material portion for forming a chamfer, shows further recesses, wherein these recesses extend along said profiled edge regions; - the upper side, apart from a possibly removed material portion for forming a chamfer, shows further recesses, wherein these recesses extend along said profiled edge regions over a distance of more than 5 centimeters, and still better of more than 10 centimeters.

For the determination of the aforementioned depth of the recesses, according to the invention reference must be made to the average upper surface of the respective floor element.

It is noted that it is not excluded that the upper side of the floor elements, apart from a possibly removed material portion for forming a chamfer, shows further recesses, wherein these recesses have a depth of more than 2 millimeters.

The method of the invention may be appli-ed for any type of floor element. So, for example, it may be applied in a useful manner for manufacturing laminate floor panels of the type comprising at least a single- or multi-part

wood-based substrate and wherein the decorative element comprises at least a print. Such laminate floor panels may have a top layer on the basis of synthetic material, which top layer is composed of one or more carrier sheets soaked in resin. Preferably, the aforementioned print is provided on at least one of these carrier sheets. For manufacturing such laminate floor panels by the method of the invention, in the step of providing said semi-finished product, it is preferably started from a larger board of laminate material obtained by a press treatment, wherein, by means of this press treatment, impressions are formed in said top layer. This larger board of laminate material then may be divided into panels having approximately the dimensions of the final floor panels, after which, whether or not with the performance of intermediate steps, the step of forming at least a portion of the profiled edge portions may be started.

Herein, said impressions may remain present at the upper side of the floor panel as recesses and may be performed such that the floor panel has an upper side with the herein above-mentioned preferred features thereof.

Impressions, which remain present at the upper side of a floor element, may also be performed on other types of floor elements than laminate floor panels. An example of another type of floor element with impressions is known from WO 2005/054600.

Therefore, it is clear that the method of the invention may also be applied in a useful manner with other types of floor elements or floor panels than said laminate floor panels. So, it may be applied for manufacturing floor elements, of which at least said decorative element is formed by real wood, either by a thin layer

of wood, such as veneer, or by a layer of solid wood, for example, with a thickness of 1 to 15 millimeters, or in that the floor element is substantially formed by a solid wood panel preferably made in one piece. Another example relates to the application of the method for manufacturing floor elements, of which at least said decorative element is formed by stone, such as natural stone or ceramic tile. Floor elements with a decorative surface of stone are known, for example, from EP 1 441 086. Still another example relates to the application of the method to floor elements of the type known from the herein above-mentioned WO 2005/054600.

Of course, the present invention also relates to a floor element with the characteristic that it is obtained by applying a method according to any of the preceding claims.

With the intention of better showing the characteristics of the invention, hereafter, as an example without any limitative character, several preferred embodiments are described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein

- figure 1 represents several steps of a method with the characteristics of the present invention;

- figure 2 represents a cross-section according to the line II-II represented in figure 1;

- figure 3, at a larger scale and in perspective, represents a view of the area indicated by F3 in figure 1;

- figures 4 to 6 represent cross-sections according to the lines IV-IV, V-V and VI-VI, respectively, represented in figure 1;

- figure 7, at the same scale as figure 3, in perspective represents a view of the area indicated by F7 in figure 1;

- figures 8 and 9 represent a floor element obtained by means of a method according to the invention, in a view of the area indicated by F8 in figure 7;

- figures 10 and 11 illustrate the disadvantages of a prior art method;

- figures 12 to 14 represent variants of the floor element of figure 9.

Figure 1 represents several steps S1-S2-S3 in a method with the characteristics of the present invention. By means of the represented method, floor elements 1 are manufactured showing a decorative surface 3 at their upper side 2 and showing profiled edge portions 6-7 at least at two opposite sides 4-5, said edge portions comprising coupling parts 8-9.

In the represented example of figure 1 and as further is evident on figure 2, the method of the invention is applied for manufacturing laminate floor panels 1 of the type that comprises a wood-based substrate 10 and wherein the decorative element 11 comprises at least a print 12. It is clear that the invention is not limited to such floor panels.

Herein, the final laminate floor panels 1 are formed, in two steps S2-S3, from semi-finished product 13 in the shape of panels, which have been obtained in the first step Sl by dividing a larger board 14 of laminate material provided by means of a press treatment.

Figure 2 clearly shows that for providing said larger board 14 of laminate material, one or more carrier sheets 16 soaked in resin 15, in this case, three

carrier sheets 16 soaked in resin 15, together with a base plate or substrate 10, can be brought in between a lower press plate 17 and an upper press plate 18, where they can be consolidated under the influence of high pressure and temperature and form the aforementioned board 14 of laminate material. In this case, the laminate material will show a top layer 19 on the basis of synthetic material or resin 15, wherein said top layer is adhered to the base plate 10, said top layer being composed of carrier sheets 16 soaked in resin 15 and forming said decorative element 11. Herein, the appearance of the decorative surface 3 is determined by said print 6, which in the example represents a wood pattern. It is clear that such prints 6 may show any pattern. For example, this may also relate to a stone pattern or a fantasy pattern. For the top layer 19, here, on the one hand, a so-called overlay 20 is used, which will be situated highest in the top layer 19 of the final laminate floor panel 1, and, on the other hand, a decor layer 21 situated below the overlay 20 is used, said decor layer carrying the aforementioned print 12. At the underside, the formed laminate material will have backing layer 22, which also consists of a carrier sheet 16 soaked in resin 15. Such overlay 20 is applied with the intention of imparting a certain wear resistance to the final floor element 1. Such backing layer 22 is applied with the intention of compensating the tension forces occurring in the top layer 19 as a result of the press treatment and of counteracting a possible warping of the resulting board 14 of laminate material .

By means of said press treatment, the impressions 23 represented in figure 3 may be formed, which are present as recesses in the top layer 19 of the laminate material. These recesses or impressions 23 may be

applied, for example, for imitating wood pores 23A, as herein, on the one hand and, on the other hand, for imitating larger recesses 23B in real wood, such as it may be the case, for example, when imitating stripes 24 in hand-scraped wood.

For applying said recesses or impressions 23 in the press treatment, the upper press plate 18 is equipped with a relief 25 representing the negative of the structure of impressions 23-23A-23B to be formed on the decorative surface 3.

After the semi-finished product 13 has been provided, the step S2 of forming the profiled edge regions 6-7 is performed. According to the present invention, this step S2 is performed by means of a machining treatment with mechanical tools 26, in this case a so-called continuous treatment machine 28. In such continuous treatment machine 27, the semi-finished product 13 is moved with its first pair of opposite sides 4-5 as well as with its second pair of opposite sides 28-29 in a flat position over the tools 26, in this case, rotating milling tools.

For subjecting the semi-finished products 13 to the continuous movement or transport movement, various methods are known to those skilled in the art. As becomes clear from figures 4 and 5, in the example the panels or semi-finished products 13, by means of belts

30, so-called top belts, and press elements 31, are pressed onto chains 32 and sliding blocks 33, respectively, upon which they are taken along in a flat position by means of cams 34 present on the chains 32.

In a continuous treatment machine 27, the sliding blocks 33 serve as a reference for adjusting the cutting tools

26. The particularity of the method of the present

invention is that here it is the underside 35 of the panels or semi-finished products 13, which is used as a reference for the machining treatment, and that thus, in this example, it is the underside 35 of the panels that is pressed onto the fixedly erected sliding blocks 33 and the chains 32 by means of the belts 30 and press elements 31 or press blocks. In the example, the belts 30 have sufficient resiliency in order to adapt to the structure of the upper side 2 of the floor elements 1, whereas the underside 35 makes a flat contact with the sliding blocks 33.

Whichever transport device or whichever advancement mechanism has been used in the treatment machine 27, according to the present invention during the machining treatment preferably use is made of press elements 31 pressing the floor elements 1, at their edges 4-5-28-29, with their underside 2 onto sliding blocks 33, wherein these sliding blocks 33 preferably are fixedly erected, whereas the press elements 31 or press blocks are movably erected. When the underside 35 of the floor elements 1, or at least that portion of the underside 35 that is used as a reference, is made flat, an extremely smooth travel of the floor elements 1 on the sliding blocks 33 is obtained, as a consequence of which possibly higher passage velocities in the treatment machine 27 may be obtained. Thus, for example, it is not excluded that passage velocities of more than 200 meters per minute are achieved.

It is noted that the method of the pr-esent invention allows that the press elements 31 press the floor element 1 with a higher force onto the sliding blocks 33, as possible glossy traces as a result thereof will occur less or even not at all at the decorative surface 3, but at the underside 35 of the floor element 1 and

therefore will not hamper the use of the floor element 1. The possibility of exerting a higher pressure force provides for that higher precisions may be obtained with the machining treatment.

Further is noted that the risk that the aforementioned cams 34 move along underneath the panel or semi-finished product 13 instead of taking this panel along, is smaller with the method of the present invention than with prior art methods, wherein the upper side 2 of the floor elements 1 is used as a reference. This fact is particularly noticeable when the upper side 2 of the floor elements 1 has a very pronounced structure and the panels, for example, as a result of their production, are somewhat warped, such as this may be the case with laminate floor panels as a result of residual tension forces in the top layer 19 and/or backing layer 22.

The method of the present invention has particular advantages when said machining treatment is performed by means of a treatment machine 27 with a transport device, which uses an air cushion instead of the chains 32 described above. Machines with an air cushion are less expensive to obtain on the market; however, they show the disadvantage that they are not suitable for transporting floor elements with a reference side having large recesses or projections, such as recesses formed by impressions. In such machines, the panels are pressed with their reference sides onto the air cushion, which may result in an unstable transport of such floor elements 1. However, the method of the invention allows using the underside 35 of the floor element 1 as a reference side, as a result of which, surely in the cases when this underside 35 is made flat or almost flat, use can be made of such less expensive treatment machine for the machining treatment.

In the third step S3 of the method, as it is illustrated in figure 1, the upper edge 36 of the profiled edge regions 6-7, in this case at both opposite long sides 4- 5 of the floor element 1, is modified. As figure 6 represents, in this step of modifying the upper edge 36 also a machining treatment with mechanical tools 26, such as milling tools, may be applied. By this machining treatment, a material portion of said semi-finished product 13 is removed in order to form the surface 37 of a chamfer 38, in this case a bevel, at the upper edge 36 of the profiled edge regions 6-7.

In figure 6 and according to an important embodiment of the present invention, for forming the surface 37 of the chamfer 38, the underside 35 of the floor element 1 is used as a reference. Hereby is obtained that the point F, where the chamfer 38 merges into the remaining portion 39 of the profiled edge region 6-7, is always situated at the same or almost the same distance U above the underside 35 of the floor element 1, independent of whatever the structure and the location of the upper side 2 of this floor element 1 is. This effect is illustrated in figure 6 with the two upper sides 2, shown in dashed line, of floor elements 1. These upper sides 2, shown in dashed line, are situated at another, in this case higher, location than the upper side 2 of the floor panel 1 represented in solid line. With the floor panels 1 with a higher-situated upper side 2, the method results in a larger surface 37 of the chamfer 38. However, the aforementioned point F, where the chamfer 38 merges into the remaining profiled edge region 39, remains unaltered in comparison to the floor panel 1 represented in solid line. As the coupling parts 8-9 of the floor panels 1, too, are formed by a machining treatment, wherein the underside 35 of the floor element

1 was used as a reference, this point F also is always situated at the same or almost the same distance C above these coupling parts 8-9. It is clear that the floor panels 1, when they cooperate, will adjoin at the height of said point F.

Figure 7 shows the obtained result of such method, wherein can be clearly observed that the surface 37 of the obtained chamfer 3 may alter its dimensions in the longitudinal direction L along the upper edge 36 of the profiled edge region 6-7 in function of the recesses or impressions 23 present at the respective edge 4-5. In laminate floor panels 1, the possibility of realizing such chamfer 37 means a large improvement of the design possibilities. So, for example, floor elements 1 may be realized, the upper side of which, apart from the chamfer 38, shows still further recesses or impressions 23, such as, for example, impressions 23 extending along said profiled edge regions 6-7 over a distance of more than 5 and even more than 10 centimeters.

Figures 8 and 9 represent, at a larger scale, two floor elements, which have been manufactured by the method of the invention. In dashed line, the position of the sliding blocks 33 and press elements 31 during the machining treatment is represented.

Figure 9 shows how two floor elements 1, which are manufactured by means of the method of the present invention, can be coupled to each other. To this aim, the aforementioned coupling parts 8-9 are provided with vertically active locking portions 40-41, in this case in the form of a tongue 40 and a groove 41, which, when the coupling parts 8-9 of these floor elements 1 cooperate with each other, effect a locking in the vertical direction Vl perpendicular to the plane of the

floor elements 1. The represented coupling parts 8-9 are also provided with horizontally active locking portions 42-43, in this case in the form of an upstanding locking element 42 of the lower lip 44 of said groove 41 and a cooperating therewith locking portion 43 at the underside of said tongue 40, which, when the coupling parts 8-9 of these floor elements 1 cooperate with each other, effect a locking in the horizontal direction Hl perpendicular to the respective sides 4-5 and in the plane of the floor elements 1. In the represented example, the horizontally active locking portions 42-43 as well as the vertically active locking portions 40-41 are formed by means of a machining treatment, which uses the underside 35 of the floor panel 1 as a reference.

As represented in figure 9, the coupling parts 8-9 of the respective floor panels or floor elements 1 allow that they may be connected to each other in at least two possible manners, namely, on the one hand, by providing the one floor panel 1 with the associated tongue 40 by means of a turning movement W in the groove 41 of the other floor element and, on the other hand, by pressing the one floor element 1 with the associated tongue 40 by means of a lateral sliding movement S into the groove 41 of the other floor element 1, wherein the coupling is effected by a so-called snap action, which preferably is delivered by the elastic bending of said lower lip 44.

In the floor elements 1 of figures 8 and 9, said edge modification consists of chamfers 38, the surfaces 37 of which are formed by a machining treatment for which the underside 35 of the floor element 1 is used as a reference. As figure 9 shows, this results in the fact that the floor elements 1 adjoin well at the point F where the chamfer merges into the remaining portion 39 of the profiled edge region.

For illustrative purposes, figures 10 and 11 show the result of a method wherein, for forming the coupling parts 8-9, the upper side 2 of the floor elements 1 is used as a reference, wherein this upper side 2 has a very pronounced structure of recesses and projections, which are formed, for example, by impressions 23 in the top layer 19. In dashed line, the sliding blocks 33 and press elements 31 are represented in the position in which they are applied in the machining treatment by which the coupling parts 8-9 are formed. In view of the fact that in the most practical treatment machines 27 for this application, the sliding blocks 33 are situated in the machine at the bottom, the floor elements 1 are transported through the machine 27 with their upper side 2 directed downward, which is also clearly described in the prior art documents mentioned in the introduction. As a result of the very pronounced structure of, for example, impressions 23 at the upper side 2 of the floor elements 1, there is a risk that two floor elements 1, which are manufactured in such a manner, will adjoin badly. Figure 11 represents that the floor panels 1 of figure 10, after they have been connected to each other, show a height difference HD at their upper edges 36 and that the undersides 35 of the floor elements 1 moreover are not situated in the same horizontal plane.

It is noted that a press element 31 may be erected in a movable manner, making it possible that the pressure element 31 moves vertically, in the direction of th-e cutting tools 26. In order to avoid that the press element 31, with a possible vertical movement thereof, contacts a cutting tool 26, those skilled in the art in practice will avoid applying cutting tools 26 in a position in which they possibly might be touched during a vertical movement of the press block 31. As a result

thereof, those skilled in the art in practice will avoid applying a press block 31 at the height of the groove 41, which results in that the lip 44 bordering the groove 41 in downward direction, in a method according to the prior art, will not be supported when being formed. However, in a method according to the invention, as represented in figure 8, a more beneficial arrangement of the press elements 31 and sliding blocks 33 can be applied, wherein the lower lip 44 of the groove 41 is positively supported by a sliding block 33 and wherein no press block 31 is applied at the height of the groove 41. As mentioned above, such arrangement may effect a high precision of the realized coupling parts 8-9. This possibility can be applied in a very beneficial manner in the cases when at least said lip 44 has to be machined from a flexible material and/or when said lip 44 has to be made so thin that it shows an inherent flexibility. Said flexible materials relate, for example, to materials on the basis of polyurethane. However, such flexibility may also be obtained in wood or wood-based materials, such as MDF or HDF.

Figures 12 to 14 illustrate different variants for the edge modification applied in the preceding figures.

In figure 12, the edge modification relates to a coloration 45 of the upper edges 36 of the respective profiled edge regions 6-7. This coloration 45 may be realized in a variety of manners. So, for example, it may be provided as a separate layer by using transfer print, lacquer, color, ink or other substance to be hardened.

In figure 13, a chamfer 38 in the form of a bevel is provided as an edge modification. After forming the surface 37 of the chamfer 38, for which a machining

treatment is applied that uses the underside 35 of the floor element 1 as a reference, a separate decorative layer or coloration 45 is provided on the surface 37 of the chamfer 38. This separate decorative layer preferably is provided by means of transfer print. Transfer print is a simple technique allowing to cover irregularly varying surfaces 37, such as the surface 37 of the bevel described by means of figure 7, in longitudinal direction.

Figure 14 also shows a chamfer 38, which is provided with a separate decorative layer or coloration 45. In this example, the surface 37 of the chamfer 38 is formed by straight walls. In dashed line 46, another variant is represented, wherein such chamfer 38 is provided solely on one of both opposite sides 5, whereas a coloration 45 is provided on the other side 4.

It is noted that providing a separate layer on the surface 37 of a chamfer 38, for example, a bevel, is particularly interesting when the floor element 1 has a substrate 10 with a top layer 19 provided thereon and when said surface 37 extends into said substrate 10, as may be the case, for example, with laminate floor panels .

From the above detailed description, it is clear that the method of the present invention may be applied for manufacturing floor panels 1 which are rectangular, either oblong or square, wherein the first pair of opposite sides 4-5 as well as the second pair of opposite sides 28-29 of the floor element 1 shows profiled edge regions 6-7, which comprise at least coupling parts 8-9. For forming at least a portion of the coupling parts 8-9, then machining treatments preferably are applied at both pairs of opposite sides

4-5-28-29, for which the underside 35 of the floor element 1 is used as a reference. In the sense of the present invention, an edge modification, such as a chamfer 38 and/or a coloration 45, may also be applied at both pairs of sides.

The present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described by way of example and represented in the figures; on the contrary may such methods and floor elements be realized according to various variants, without leaving the scope of the invention.