I currently buy cut and edged 18mm mfc boards, but am going to start buying the boards in to cut and edge myself. I haven't got a huge budget and would ideally like a portable unit that I can use on site if neccesary. I've seen this virutex thing online, which seems quite expensive for a hot air gun with bolt-ons. http://www.caldertrade.co.uk/virutex.htm Has anybody used one of these? Are they any good?
Virutex make some quite nice stuff, and as far as I know the unit you are looking at is the only thing on the market that will fill your requirements. If you need to edgeband on site then it's either that or an iron. How are you going to cut the melamine, you will need a good clean edge
The company supplying the board have a large panel saw for hire £30/hour, or my Festool TS55 on site.
yes i have one, it is quite good. I used it a lot when I ,used to make my own units, but now I buy buy melamine in lengths already edged in pvc edging. I would recommend it,very handy
yes I have, they are really good,used to take best part of a day to edge and trim a kitchen , now I could do it in a couple of hours. Do'nt use it much now but I always carry it in the van for emergencies. I would go for it as it sounds perfect for your situation. I first saw it at exhibition in Dublin and was impressed, I think you will be too.
I've bought myself a trimmer, the edge bander's gonna have to wait til I'm really p*ed of with doing the ironing.
If as you say you will be doing a lot of edging it would be silly not to get one. The time saved would be worth it alone,while your at it get the end trimmer as well. By the way I do not work for Virutex, I just found this a blessing.
I'll probably be doing between 5 & 20m of edging a week, but I've got about 4 weeks before I need to decide what to buy. I've been looking at the table top edgers aswell, they are a bit cheaper but less portable.
I've just picked up a second-hand Freud EB100 bench top edge bander off e-bay, after a few test runs I think I've cracked it. I'll leave the iron in the van for any on-site work. The double sided trimmer is fantastic, quick, clean and easy. Thanks for your advice Jake, I'm getting an end trimmer too.
* do a couple of edgebanders including a handheld version, quick service. I've used it a couple of times and alls great!! Message was edited by: Screwfix Moderator