Thermal smoothing
SRP means Surface - Refine - Procedure
This process is intended for the finishing of shaped MDF. The homogenous structure of this material gives it excellent shaping properties, making suitable for the widest range of uses. Until now, however, there have always been problems with the finishing of the surface, with a material- and time-intensive coating process being necessary. This is where SRP comes in.
The aim here is to greatly simplify the finishing of MDF materials in preparation for painting or varnishing. This patented process utilises the action of heat and pressure to smooth the MDF material. During the process the resinous components present in the board are activated by the heat and smoothed using light pressure applied by the tool.
The advantages of the SRP process when working with MDF are the substantial time savings compared to conventional techniques. Furthermore, considerably less paint or varnish is required, thereby the amount of solvents needed is reduced. Furthermore you benefit from no ventilation and no drying equipment that need to be supplied with power. The above features demonstrate the promise for the future of the economical SRP process.
The SRP process can be implemented on various types of machine.
Continuous feed machines
In this type of application, a carrier for the unit is mounted either on an existing edgeprocessing machine, e.g. double-end shaping machine, or on a small continuous feed machine. This method does mean that only straight-line processing is possible, however it has the advantage of allowing very high feed rates of 3–25 m/min. There is also the added advantage that the corresponding tool adjustments are very simple.
CNC processing
The carrier for the unit is mounted to a feeder carriage on the support. The SRP head is added to the control system using appropriate offset values and can then be driven as a separate spindle. The control of the workpiece contour can then be handled by the software. The advantage of this method is that it is possible to process a variety of shapes without the need to transfer the workpiece to another machine.
Robots
The carrier for the unit is attached at the front end of the robotic arm. The robotic arm provides the complete system with a very high degree of manoeuvrability, allowing it to be pivoted and turned in all directions.