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"At Salex, we have many years of experience in the production of high-quality materials for furniture and interiors. It is important to us to enable people to live a modern and comfortable life with our products. Above all, we attach great importance to ergonomics, quality and aesthetics," explains Hristo Dzheferliev, owner and Managing Director of Salex.
Since 2021, Salex has been using a state-of-the-art coating system from Bürkle, a PUR hot-melt line from the "Multi-Line" series. This is used to coat and laminate the surfaces of the wooden panels with acrylic or HPL, for example. Hristo Dzheferliev explains that the requirements for the system were varied and high. "We were looking for a machine that would allow us to react flexibly to our customers' wishes. This means that sometimes thicker, sometimes thinner panels need to be coated. Sometimes small quantities are required, sometimes very large quantities, and all in a short space of time. Of course, the coated panels must always meet the same high quality requirements. This is exactly what we can do today with the Multi-Line". The first contact between Bürkle and Salex was at Ligna in 2019. Of course, Bürkle is still in close contact with the customer today, for example when optimizations to the "Multi Line" are necessary.
As individual as the customers
The line in Burgas is almost 34 meters long with a working width of 1,300 millimeters. The heart of each "Multi-Line" is the hot melt adhesive application machine and the roller press. An external temperature control unit on the RCGT hot-melt adhesive application machine allows both the application roller and the metering roller to be heated with thermal oil, enabling a constant temperature to be achieved and maintained.
At Salex, workpieces with a width of 200 to 1,300 millimetres, a length of 500 to 4,200 millimetres and a thickness of 3 to 100 millimetres can be coated on the "Multi-Line". The line is designed for a maximum panel weight of up to 140 kilograms. Workpieces with a width of 1,200 to a maximum of 1,300 millimetres and a length of 2,440 to 4,200 millimetres can be fed and stacked automatically. As a rule, the "Multi-Line" is operated by just one machine operator.
"Ultimately, we opted for Bürkle because the excellent team was always on hand to provide us with advice and support from the outset and we were able to see the high machine quality for ourselves at other customers in advance. In our case, the technicians and developers in Freudenstadt always responded to our wishes and have thus created a largely fully automated production process at our site," says a delighted Hristo Dzheferliev.
Different film feed variants
In order to be able to operate the line as flexibly as possible with one person, it was particularly important to Salex to be able to apply the surface materials to the carrier plates with different feed variants as required. In the end, there were three different variants that enable both sheet material and continuous laminating operation from the roll. When feeding the sheet material in the transverse direction, the surface material is applied manually. The laying table is then either in a fixed position (small parts) or it is moved by motor via foot pedal. In semi-automatic operation, a cleaning and feeding unit applies the sheet material lengthwise. A sensor on the roller conveyors ensures that the carrier plate is positioned correctly.
In laminating mode, on the other hand, the line is operated at a continuous speed. The coating material is fed in as rolls and separated manually after lamination. The gap between the workpieces is created by the gantry system during placement. It is also possible to enter corresponding offsets for the speeds of the drives in order to change the gap.
Fully automatic loading and destacking
The raw and finished stacks and the different surface materials are handled by a forklift operator during everyday production. At the infeed of the line, a vacuum loading system takes over the fully automatic loading - especially for large quantities. Each finished workpiece, which has been automatically stacked, is cleaned with a moistened brush at the end of the cycle before it is transferred to the destacking area. The Sword Brush before destacking serves as additional cleaning to prevent marks from forming in the stack. This is the only way to maintain the high quality standard.
In the destacking area itself, there is a vacuum turning device for destacking the finished panels, which are turned 180 degrees and stacked after cleaning with the turning device. A new function allows the process to be interrupted if necessary in order to insert a protective film between the individual panels.
Salex attaches great importance to cleaning and cleanliness in production, and not just in relation to its workpieces. With the help of several cleaning units, several Sword Brushes and a round brush unit, it guarantees the cleanliness of its products. The laminates also undergo additional processing thanks to the cleaning and feeding system used.
"In our collaboration with Bürkle, our quality requirements have been met to our complete satisfaction and the regular exchange is always an enrichment," concludes Hristo Dzheferliev.
