Manufacturer and Distributor of a wide variety of V-Grooving Machines for the Solid Surface, Fixture & Display, Architectural Millwork, Engineered Stone, Drawer and Speaker Manufacturing Industry

The Star V-Groover presents a cost & time saving alternative to the conventional method of 90 degree or other angles corner production. Instead of cutting individual pieces and connecting them via dowel, lamello or butt joint construction for a build-up front edge, a sheet of solid surface, veneered or laminated MDF or particleboard material is fed into the machine face down.

An automatic tape applicator dispenses a continuous strip of plastic tape to the face of the sheet, centered in the area where the edge is to be fabricated. The tape applicator automatically starts, applies pressure for optimum adhesion of the tape and cuts it off automatically from the bottom up, thus no adjustments are necessary for different material thicknesses.

A carbide or diamond tipped cutter head then machines a precise V-groove into the back of the sheet. The very tip of the cutter head cuts through the material but does not penetrate the plastic tape. A massive, solid 6" aluminum roller, positioned exactly underneath the cutting area assures a wear free reference area for this delicate cut, which needs to be performed within 10/1000" or better accuracy.

The plastic tape acts as a hinge and perfect alignment for the subsequent gluing and folding process. The tape prevents any excess seam compound from oozing onto finished surfaces. This feature also enables the use of less seam compound and the need of fewer clamps spaced at 16" to 24" apart versus 3-5" with the conventional method.

Once the compound has cured the tape is easily stripped off and the edge is ready for any required profiling. This totally eliminates the need to scrape off excess seam compound, align a straight edge and route the front edge. This will also help to free up valuable floor space and streamline the production flow.

The STAR V-Grooving Method can be used for a one pass cove back splash profile, for 3 or 4-sided aprons as well as rectangular L or U-shaped peninsulas or even angled countertop or island configurations. However there are also limitations to this method. Since only straight runs can be performed it will not work on round, curved or arched countertops.

On a deeper solid surface countertop with a cove back splash profile, the standard 30" wide board is often not wide enough to allow for the front edge fold down and the cove back splash profile. In that case we recommend accomplishing the task with two boards in two steps. The upright piece is machined in one pass cutting the 90 degree miter cut as well as the 7/16" radius cut. The horizontal part is machined with a rabett cutter 1/16" deep or deeper depending on the cove radius. This production method, even though more time consuming, will eliminate the hole in the corner altogether as well as the 45 degree bottom back bevel in the case of an open side view.