Wood finishing solutions

One of the most common substrates to undergo a surface finishing process is wood. There are many varieties of wood and also a huge diversity of products that are made of wood. There are also several derivatives of wood, such as fibreboard (MDF), chipboard, plywood etc. And many industries will use these materials: furniture manufacturers and the construction industry are prime examples.

Products By - Materials

What is meant by wood finishing?

Wood is natural, a mix of cellulose fibre and lignin, and even its derivatives are fundamentally natural, despite a minimum content of non-natural substances. After being processed from raw material into the pre-manufacturing state, the wood is cut to the size of the semi-finished product.

This then undergoes a series of finishing operations which may include one or more of the following: sealing, gluing, impregnating, wrapping, laminating, staining, brushing, wiping, sanding, coating, drying, curing, matting or may receive a decoration performed on an industrial digital printer.

Processes

Why is wood finishing so important in so many industrial sectors?

Wood and its many derivatives are used extensively in important industrial sectors and in nearly every case, they are subject to a finishing process: either to enhance their physical characteristics or their aesthetic appeal. Whereas the results of the former process may remain invisible, in the case of the latter reason the decorative stage is able to determine varying degrees of personalisation. Examples of these processes are:

  • Impregnation: this is performed to protect the wooden substrate from infiltration of water or humidity, thereby prolonging its lifetime.
  • Coating: numerous layers of basecoat and topcoat are used to decorate the substrate, using spray, roller, vacuum or curtain coaters.
  • UV curing: performed to harden the external layers of a coating, UV curing not only dries the lacquer, but performs cross-linking at a molecular level.
  • Industrial digital printing: enables an exceptionally high degree of customisation and batch one management as well as being able to reproduce natural wood grains and haptic effects.
wood

In which industries are wood finishing solutions used?

Integrated finishing lines for wood and its derivatives can be found in diverse sectors and several different technologies can be used:

Sectors

Technologies

Campi di utilizzo

Here is a selection of wood finished specific products:

APPLICATIONS

01

Musical instruments

From pianos to harps and cajones, a musical instrument that requires a coating process always represents a challenge, not only for the aesthetic qualities, but for the acoustic ones too.
02

Windows

Windows can be coated as assembled or non-assembled elements. Depending on this condition, we advise overhead spray-coating lines or vacuum coaters and impregnation solutions for non-assembled parts.
03

Parquet

Finishing techniques for parquet differ according to their use once laid. Curtain coaters to add abrasion-resistant materials, industrial digital printers for a haptic effect are just 2 possible technologies.
04

Drawers

After applying glue to a drawer, it can be wrapped with previously decorated PVC materials to embellish an MDF substrate and thereby make it an attractive element of a piece of furniture.
05

Flat panels

Flat panels can be of many different substrate materials, from wood to plastic, metal or ceramics. Usually coated on roller coating equipment, curtain coaters, industrial digital printers, vacuum coaters and spray coaters can also be used.
06

Coffins

High-quality finishing of wooden funeral caskets and coffins adds a dignified touch, either with a matt or glossy finish, or one that enhances the natural grain.

Wood finishing technologies and processing stages

Wood finishing requires a series of different processing stages, each of which contributes to the functional characteristics or aesthetic appeal of the finished product. Here are the most commonly found finishing operations used on wood and its derivatives:

For excellent transfer efficiency, this technology is used for flat panels and panels with shallow grooves, performed on specially equipped roller coaters. For ultra-high-gloss surface finishing, a Laser roller is the perfect solution. 

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A flexible solution which ensures coating consistency, controlled consumption and which applies lacquer to all sides of a panel. Spray coating is also the ideal technology for irregularly shaped products.

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High-quality coating with almost 100% transfer efficiency using 100% UV acrylic lacquers for flat surfaces and edges, especially if the edge needs to match perfectly with the surface finish applied to the panel.

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Suitable for all coating types with different viscosities, and the ideal technology for polyurethane lacquers, curtain coaters provide high-quality finishes on flat surfaces, whenever large amounts of coating are required in a single application phase. 

The ideal solution for personalised decorative finishing or batch one requirements, this technology also achieves tactile haptic effects for parquet flooring and can be integrated into lines using other coating technologies.

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Where lacquer coating is not used, wrapping of profiles is performed on high-tech, automatic equipment which accomplishes a complete process at up to 100 m/min. including winding, unwinding, slicing and glue application.

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These stages use infrared lamps or UV, which include mercury, gallium or LED lamps, to dry or cure the coating applied. Hot air ventilation is also used and some ovens take care of flash off, drying and cooling.

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Flat or raised panels can be given a deep matt finish, below-5 gloss on a 1 to 100 scale, using excimer matting technology in a sustainable solution featuring exclusive patents which also drastically reduce nitrogen consumption and relative costs.

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Thin Sheets

What is the best way to coat extremely thin sheets made of wood or wood derivatives?

The main issue when coating substrates that are very thin is related to their lack of rigidity when undergoing the finishing process. A thin wooden sheet or panel needs to be held firmly on the roller coating machine while it is coated.

For this reason, we have a solution which uses an upper application roller and a lower support roller, also featuring a cleaning mechanism which keeps the underside of the wooden sheet free from lacquer. These specially equipped roller coaters fit seamlessly into an integrated finishing line including our drying solutions or excimer matting technologies.

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wood sheets

We have created several solutions that accomplish surface finishing of products made of wood and its derivatives

Machines

iGiotto

Materials:

  • Plastic
  • Metal
  • Wood

Machine Type:

  • Spray coating

iBotic

Materials:

  • Plastic
  • Metal
  • Wood

Machine Type:

  • Spray coating

Smartcoater PRO

Materials:

  • Plastic
  • Metal
  • Ceramic
  • Wood
  • Paper
  • Fibre Cement
  • Glass

Machine Type:

  • Curtain and Roller Application

J-Print TD

Materials:

  • Plastic
  • Metal
  • Wood

Machine Type:

  • Digital Printing

MultiWrap Wood

Materials:

  • Wood

Machine Type:

  • Wrapping

Smartedge

Materials:

  • Ceramic
  • Wood
  • Mineral Fibre

Machine Type:

  • Brushing and Sanding
  • Ovens
  • Curtain and Roller Application
  • Handling
  • Vacuum Coating

Exydry

Materials:

  • Plastic
  • Ceramic
  • Wood

Machine Type:

  • Ovens

Case studies

Case study

We have helped hundreds of companies around the world achieve their quality, efficiency, and productivity goals. Here are their stories.
We have helped hundreds of companies around the world achieve their quality, efficiency, and productivity goals. Here are their stories.
01

Finishing efficiency for the crafted complexity of Salvi Harps

02

New-generation finishing technologies for Di Canosa

03

High-tech solutions for hand-crafted percussion instruments

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MAGAZINE

Explore the topic on our blog. You can find articles on technologies, innovative techniques, and tips to improve the efficiency of your finishing line.
Explore the topic on our blog. You can find articles on technologies, innovative techniques, and tips to improve the efficiency of your finishing line.
01
    Wrapping

Which is the best way to wrap #drawers?

02
    Ovens

Why matt doesn’t have to be flat

03
    Coating Technologies

More doors, better coating, lower costs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

01 What are the advantages of roller coating?

High flexibility in terms of output rate and choice of cycles/processes according to the line make-up.

Zero solvent emissions thanks to 95% use of products with high dry residue (UV) content.

Possibility of using the roller technique for any application on all flat surfaces.

02 What are the advantages of spray coating?
Firstly, spray coating ensures all sides of the piece are covered. Secondly, the product shape is unimportant and, since it is not a contact-type coating, different tolerances between products are compensated for automatically.
03 Which materials are suitable for roller coating?
All materials are. The only requirement is to have a flat surface.

Examples of products suitable for roller coating:
  • cabinet doors
  • parquet
  • doors
Examples of materials suitable for roller coating:
  • wood and wood-based materials
  • glass
  • cork
  • plastic
  • fibre cement
  • metal
  • roll-to-roll for edges etc.
04 What are the advantages of drying?
Let's talk about the advantages of the whole finishing process, which includes lacquer application and drying. The "finished" item ends up with improved resistance and protection from external agents, as well as a better aesthetic presentation.
05 What does profile-wrapping mean?
Profile wrapping is a process by which a decorative surface is laminated onto a substrate in linear form. This is done by means of a profile-wrapping machine.
06 What are the advantages of vacuum coating?
This technology has many benefits. To start with, transfer efficiency reaches an astonishing 99%. Vacuum coaters have a limited footprint, so they occupy little factory space. Production efficiency is optimised because by using a vacuum coater, 360° sanding, coating and curing of a profile is dealt with in a single pass. Overspray is absent and the process is environmentally friendly. Coating thicknesses are high and, for example, can reach 700 µm on glass wool panels.