Manufacturing Cabinets in Mass Amounts-Production methods of fabrication
The name of the game is automation if you are interested in producing cabinets in mass amounts. Cabinet production methods that yield large quantities are sustained by the use of machines. A small cabinet shop that only has one traditional style table saw, a few other machines and a limited amount of space, cannot efficiently complete a large production type cabinet order.
Manufacturing cabinets in massive quantities, in a small shop, can be accomplished by relying on large supply companies to help produce many of the parts that are required for building kitchens, bathroom vanities or office cabinetry in great amounts. If bundles of materials are ordered pre-cut and edged in the rip sizes that are needed, producing great amounts of cabinets in a small shop is possible. Countertops, doors and drawers can be ordered from companies who produce them in bulk quantities.
The thing is, large cabinet manufacturing facilities have machines that do everything in huge quantities. In the long run they can keep costs low because they have eliminated having to pay other companies to provide so many parts.
Some Shop Machines For Building Cabinets in Large Amounts
Pneumatic table panel saw-This machine works great for cutting large amounts of cabinetry parts. An entire bundle of wood can be loaded into the saw and a computer operator programs the machine to cut the bundle of wood into cabinet parts.
Sliding Table Saw-These are great for producing large amounts of cabinet parts and also for cutting accuracy. It’s easy for the saw operator to cut boards square as well. The saw has a sliding table on it. Once the mill man gets the material on the table the amount of muscle that it takes to cut the cabinet parts is reduce significantly. Good sliding saws are equipped with two saw blades. The large blade is for cutting all the way through the material and the small blade underneath is for pre cutting the underside so the top blade does not tear out the finished material on the bottom of the board. They are great for clean cutting melamine boards.
Edge Bander-A production machine for placing edges on boards is called an edge bander. High production cabinet shops use these all day long. Wood, plastic laminate and pvc edges are adhered onto boards with hot melt glue. A board is fed into a conveyor system and the machine is set up to apply the edging, trim it off and buff the edge flush and smooth with the board’s surface. If done properly only minor cleaning and filing is required on the edges.
In-line boring machine-You must have one of these in order to pre drill all of the cabinetry parts to accept shelf pins, knock on drawer slides, press in hinges, dowels and special fasteners that are used to assemble the cabinets with. You will never be able to mass produce kitchens, office furniture, or vanity cabinetry without an in-line boring machine.
Hinge hole drilling machine and hinge inserter-This is a machine that can be filled with hinges. When a door is ready for this stage it is inserted into the machine and a computerized program will drill the cabinetry door for the European style hinge and insert the press in hinge into the door.
If one takes a tour through a large production cabinet shop, the common thread seen will be machines everywhere. Kitchen cabinetry, or any kind, can only be manufactured in massive quantities if the shop has the right equipment. The next key to mass manufacturing cabinets is being set up on the thirty two (32) millimeter system for cabinets.