McKye's speeds up gluing with Lamont

McKYE’S BESPOKE FURNITURE, based on the Wirral, has been producing beautifully crafted free standing and fitted furniture for the past decade. Tim McKye combines traditional cabinet making skills with modern technology, such as computer aided design, and is always on the lookout to invest in equipment that will further enhance the quality of his products. During 2013, Tim invested in a Woodwelder RF gluesetter, purchased from Alan Lamont of Lamont.

“We manufacture fitted furniture: we buy in timber and it goes through the machining processes. Doors, panels, mouldings: everything is made on site, nothing is brought in,” Tim told PW&SS.

“Gluing is an important part of our work,” he continues. “Without an RF gluesetter, what you do is join two pieces of wood together, put the glue in, then clamp it and wait for the glue to cure: which is fine if you can wait hours. In the winter, we do have heating in here, but when the doors are open you lose a lot of heat, so gluing times can become ridiculous. And if you rush the drying process, you don’t get a proper join.”

Tim has found the Woodwelder to be a valuable time-saver. “What used to take two or three hours to set is now ready in a minute … no, less than a minute,” he told PW&SS.

“It also saves time in other ways. A classic example: last night as five o’clock approached we had a short run of a dozen doors to glue up. In the old days, I would have worked late so that they could be clamped and set overnight: with the Woodwelder, we could leave it until the morning, when we were able to glue them up in half an hour. It’s a cracking little device!”

Tim had spoken to Alan Lamont previously and, from there, it was a simple process to find Alan’s phone number on the internet when the time came to purchase. Tim is also impressed with the back-up service Alan provides: “That peace of mind is important. Alan is just on the end of a phone if you want to speak to him.”

He continues, “We were using certain glues and we have changed that since Alan brought the woodwelder. He recommends different brands that work better with his machine: we have swopped over to these brands for general use as they are better quality glues.”

Asked if he would recommend it, Tim replied, “Absolutely! We would not have bought it otherwise. If you want to save time and are into production, I think it is a very, very useful tool.

“It is a luxury as you can still glue up pieces of wood and wait, if you don’t mind waiting, but there is always another way of doing things.”

He concludes: “We are very happy with it: there are only three of us in the workshop, but everyone says that we just take it for granted. We call it ‘the zapper’ …"

This article first appeared in the February/March 2014 issue of Panel, Wood & Solid Surface.