Sliders UK installs SCM machines for Composite Door Production
6th March 2012

SCM UK have recently installed CNC machinery and an edge bander at Sliders UK Ltd's manufacturing facility located in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, for the production of Sliders UK's new range of stylish and secure composite doors.

Sliders UK are the leading patio, bi-folding door and vertical sliding window manufacturer. With this latest range of doors, retailers, installers and fabricators have the flexibility to choose from a wide selection of door designs and woodgrain effect colours.
Sliders UK customers can also benefit from reliable service and free nationwide delivery. Sliders’ complete door sets are fitted with a choice of high quality door furniture and contemporary glazing designs.

Early in 2011, Sliders UK's Joint Managing Directors, Ian Longbottom and Mike Spain, together with Works Director George Nicholls, decided to enter the composite door market. After detailed research for suitable machinery required to machine the Nan Ya door blanks supplied by Distinction Doors, George Nicholls contacted Ian McCarthy, SCM UK's local Area Sales Manager.
George Nicholls comments "We wanted to enter the composite door market and found out SCM were universally regarded as the best supplier of the necessary machinery that we required, so Ian McCarthy arranged demonstrations in a nearby composite door manufacturer. We soon placed orders for an SCM CNC Machining Centre, model Record Actionline 100 ALXL TVNP, and an SCM Single-Sided Automatic Edge Bander, model K800E."
The CNC Machining Centre was specified with a 6300mm long table divided into 2 areas, so that tandem loading and unloading of doors could take place for increased production levels in due course. The table consists of a number of moveable support bars with position indicators upon which a series of vacuum hold-down pods are located that fixes the door securely during machining operations. Two vertically moving location bars in each area assist in loading and unloading the doors without surface damage are included, as well as a number of location stops to position the door accurately on the CNC’s table.

A powerful, high speed Routing Head sizes the doors and machines glass apertures, letter box openings, etc. A separate heavy duty Universal Horizontal Machining Unit is located adjacent to the Routing Head for machining hinge, lock and multi-point locking system details using special cutters after PVC edging material has been applied to the 2 long sides of the door on the Edge Bander.

All Sliders UK composite door sets and door blanks are supplied edge-banded with an authentic woodgrain effect or plain white. As well as providing optimum aesthetics, this feature also offers customer’s better thermal performance than doors fitted with aluminium edge closures.

To apply the edging material, the SCM K800E Edge Bander applies a 2mm PVC edging material supplied in a roll to the door sides. The edge of the door has PUR glue applied using the Nordson PUR Blue 4 special application unit rather than the standard hot melt glue pellet system. Easy to clean and maintain, melt-on-demand temperature control system, maximised adhesive usage and reduction of waste ensures an excellent glue line is achieved. This is followed by the PVC being guillotined to length automatically, and then pressed on to the edge of the door by a series of pressure rollers. An end trimming unit trims the PVC exactly to the corners of the door, followed by a top and bottom edge trimming unit that radiuses the top and bottom edges, followed by scraping and buffing units to give a smooth edge to the door.

Concluding, George Nicholls states "We have been very impressed with SCM and the delivery, installation and commissioning processes, with training in SCM's dedicated classroom in Nottingham undertaken for software used to program the CNC Machining Centre. Production is currently running at 150 doors per week, but this will increase dramatically as we are receiving good orders from various Housing Associations and new and existing customers. Such is the confidence in our products, we have placed an order with SCM for a second CNC Machining Centre with a 3000mm long table to ensure we can supply all our doors to the exacting delivery requirements now demanded."

Sliders UK Ltd. Tel: 01772 698222 www.sliders-uk.com