Membrane presser targets HPL and melamine business with durable 3D laminates

CENTRAL POINT, OREGON — “I'm a wood guy,” says Don Casebier, president and co-founder of Bierson Corporation. “I never expected to use plastic.” But when Casebier traveled to Europe in 1989, searching for a technology that would enable him to apply wood veneer over MDF raised panels, he found manufacturers surfacing panels with “3D laminates,” also known as “rigid thermofoils.” Unlike wood veneer, the film conformed to three-dimensional shapes and complex profiles. Impressed, Casebier ordered a membrane pressing machine and began using 3D laminates to surface kitchen cabinet door and drawer fascias.

In the late 1990s, the kitchen-cabinet company was sold, and Don, along with his brothers David and Dan, and Peter Tronquet, founded Bierson Corporation with the intention of developing a more diversified business. As an OEM supplier, Bierson Corporation manufactures parts for consumer electronics, musical instruments, office furniture, closet systems, store fixtures and commercial interiors, as well as kitchen cabinets.

Casebier notes that designers outside of the kitchen-cabinet industry are frequently unaware of 3D laminates. “For many people, this is still a new concept,” he says. “They'll send us drawings or sketches, then we'll help with the design to provide the most cost-effective solution.”

Because 3D laminates conform to routed 3D substrates, designers can eliminate square shapes, sharp corners and visible seams required with surfacing materials that bend in only one direction. Instead, they can design with compound curves, smooth edges and recessed profiles, rout lips around the edges of shelves, and build pencil trays into countertops. For point-of-purchase displays, they can emboss product logos into the display and create recessed pockets to enhance product samples.

According to Casebier, one constant in Bierson's history has been the use of American Renolit 3-D laminates. “More than giving designers free rein to create in three dimensions, the colors and patterns of these laminates is a selling point, because customers can count on consistent matches lot-to-lot,” he said, adding, “horizontal grades of the film offer greater scratch and mar resistance than high pressure laminates, allowing us to use it on components of store fixtures and other commercial interiors, which are subject to a lot of wear.”

The company's cabinet doors are reportedly popular in medical and dental environments because they allow infection control. “Doors laminated with traditional materials require seams where germs can collect, but Bierson's three-dimensional doors are seamless, allowing spills and grime to be removed with disinfectant. The only seam is at the bottom edge, between the film and the melamine backing, which is seldom touched,” he explains.

Similarly, retail shelving and tables having seamless, rounded corners and edges may reduce injuries associated with children running into sharp outside corners and edges of components surfaced with two-dimensional laminates.

While parts surfaced with three-dimensional laminates can incur higher initial costs, Casebier contends long-run costs are always lower because parts last longer, claiming, “Traditionally surfaced parts commonly fail due to chipping, cracking or delaminating of high pressure laminates.”

His personal experience is that stores using three-dimensional laminates for fixture parts tend to start by ordering a few small specialty items, such as point-of-purchase displays. Once these fixtures are installed, clients are usually enthusiastic enough to specify 3D laminates for commodity items like shelving, which represents a great opportunity for parts manufacturers, because stores may contain thousands of shelves as well as moldings and other types of parts that are readily membrane pressed.

Bierson, which works primarily on a project basis, specifies Renolit film in whites, solid colors, woodgrain patterns, marble patterns, metallics, and abstract patterns. The company must be able to find the appropriate laminate for any project, and match it to traditionally laminated parts made in other shops.

He says, “Being able to order rolls of laminate as short as 50 linear meters enables Bierson to remain competitive and avoid being saddled with hundreds of meters of excess inventory.”

The company buys melamine board directly from mills in large quantities and contracts with local suppliers to pre-laminate melamine to the back of MDF on a custom basis. CNC routers produce three-dimensional parts that are free of blemishes and dust, which is essential, he explains, because the tightly adhered film will reveal substrate imperfections.

Parts are sprayed with adhesive and rolled into a membrane pressing machine with Renolit film suspended above. Vacuum from below the film and pressure from above cause the heated film to conform to all top and side surfaces of the parts, after which excess film is trimmed at the bottom edge.

Bierson Corporation
386 Bateman Drive
Central Point, OR 97502
(541) 664-7355
davidc@bierson.com
www.bierson.com