Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Concrete: The New White

Friday, February 14th, 2020

Concrete is a sought-after material for many applications but it’s only recently become more commonplace in the kitchen. Here’s how to incorporate this luxurious look into the heart of the home.

Hand-troweled concrete has a unique and instantly recognisable appearance. Its slightly rough texture gives each panel a unique textural form. While concrete is now used for all manner of interior applications, it is still associated with an industrial aesthetic.

This in itself is a drawcard for designers and clients alike, as homes – and kitchens in particular – are re-envisaged with a freer palette of both form and colour. The traditional stark white kitchen is a concept that’s firmly rooted in the past as a more natural and free-flowing aesthetic, of both hue and texture, now represents the contemporary kitchen. Natural undertones and softer forms are key, along with a preference for multiple materials and tones to create deep, dynamic forms.

Bringing concrete into the kitchen

Just over a year ago, Sage Doors launched a product unique to the New Zealand market; a product that offered a new take on kitchen cabinetry. “While the concrete benchtop has long been a feature of many kitchens, concrete cabinetry is something more new,” says Sage Doors’ Lydia Posthuma.

“When we launched Lookcrete, it was the first authentic concrete-look melamine product of its kind in New Zealand. It meant designers and clients could choose to create kitchens incorporating vast ‘concrete’ forms.” While Lookcrete is a melamine product, its likeness to real concrete allows for a natural look and feel – complete with the irregularity of texture that can be seen in a hand-troweled concrete surface.

What is Lookcrete?

Lookcrete is the perfect concrete alternative for interior use, Lydia says. “The realistic look, along with the durability and ease of use has led to it being used by many designers throughout home and commercial spaces. We’re seeing it used for kitchen doors, bathroom cabinetry, feature islands, waterfall end panels, wall panelling and other furniture, including bookcases, desks and reception counters.”

Versatile size options

Lookcrete sheet sizes are 2800mm x 1800mm and are available in either 18mm, 36mm or 60mm thicknesses. “These different thicknesses give lots of options when specifying the product. Doors are made at 18mm, but the 36mm and 60mm options are perfect for floating shelves, thick end panels and waterfall ends on an island.

“The unusually large sheet size is fantastic for wall panelling and feature walls, as it creates a seamless look. On the flipside, some people prefer to make block-work-looking feature walls with smaller cut panels,” Lydia says.

What materials work best with concrete in a kitchen?

Available in three colour options, Lookcrete can be specified to suit any project’s tonal requirements and will work with a range of different materials and surfaces.

Loutro is a light, soft grey with white tonal hues while Matala offers a more natural concrete colour and Chania is a much darker offering with a slight metallic finish and hints of blue. “Chania is ideal for feature panels due to its depth of tone and texture.

“Lookcrete, in general, works particularly well in combination with wood grains and solid colours – such as matt black or white surfaces – to create a sleek, contemporary design with a dynamic sense of depth and texture.”

 

Words by ArchiPro Editorial Team

Introducing: Timbalook™

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2018

Timbalook™ is an all new melamine woodgrain… with a difference:

The picture and texture are synchronized to create a realistic and modern look and feel. The textured surface imitates that of a wire-brushed veneer; however, with a consistent colour, durable melamine surface, and no lacquering involved, Timbalook™ is an easy veneer alternative.

The finer details:

– 4 unique colours: Rangitoto, Taranaki, Hokitika and Waiheke 
– Extra large sheet size: 2800L x 1830W
– Like the rest of our doors, Timbalook™ features our special Invisedge
– Timbalook™’s synchronized grain on the face only. The back is the same colour, but slightly flatter texture.

 

Visit the Timbalook™ page for more information.

Mitred Handle

Tuesday, August 8th, 2017

Mitred Handle

With the handleless look all the rave in modern kitchen design, Sage Doors decided it was time to develop a mitred handle for their Laseredge door range.

Sage Doors’ new Mitred Handles are ideal for creating that sleek and modern handleless look.

 

Fully Laseredged… and easy to fit!

The discreet new Mitred Handle is fully laser-edged with one single piece of edgetape, providing a tough edge that won’t chip like lacquer or fall off. It’s durable, and, thanks to Sage Doors’ special Laseredge technology, is more seamless than doing it yourself.

Supplied ready to fit, Sage Doors Mitred Handles make manufacturing handleless kitchens easier than ever. Eliminating the time you spend in the factory installing extrusion handles or manufacturing them yourself also saves you valuable time and money.

 

Availability

Mitred Handles are available in a range of our Acrygloss®, Acrymatte® and Invisedge® melamine colours.
NOTE: Acrygloss Mitred Handles will have a satin finish edgetape on the mitred edge.
Quoting and ordering are available online – just select ‘Mitred Handle’ in the dropdown box on the left-hand-side of the ordering portal.

Invisedge™

Tuesday, August 8th, 2017

Future proof yourself with Sage Doors Invisedge™

Sage Doors is excited to announce their new trademark brand name – Invisedge™ (pronounced ‘envisage’)

Invisedge™ is Sage Doors’ melamine Laseredge doors.

What makes Sage Doors Invisedge™ different to other melamine doors with laseredge clashing?

  • It’s the materials used
  • It’s the machinery involved
  • It’s the men employed
  • It’s Invisedge™

Without these 3m’s, Invisedge™ wouldn’t be Invisedge™.

 

What’s different about our materials?

Our polypropylene Alphatape™ is custom made by MKT in Germany. The hard functional layer on the back of the edgetape (the bit that gets melted) is essential to creating a seamless edge that will stay that way long term. It also completely welds to itself in the corners and is colourfast.

 

What’s different about our machinery?

Our Homag edgebanders have been specially spec’ed and custom made to suit our (and your) requirements.

They are regularly maintained and adjusted to ensure the best edge possible. Machine setup greatly influences the final look. An expensive machine is worthless if not properly set up and maintained.

 

What about our men?

Our clever MMM (Machinery Maintenance Man!) constantly tests and analyzes our machinery and finished product to ensure a high standard is maintained.

The doors are cut, clashed, checked and packed by our hardworking team.

Our friendly team are always here to answer any questions you may have, and are happy to guide you through our process and help you in any way possible. Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Our aim is to supply the highest quality product available in New Zealand – you can rest assured that we will stand by our product with our 10 year warranty.

 

With Laseredge technology fast becoming the future in edge banding, future proof your business with Invisedge™ today!

Can you Invisedge™ the ultimate door in your next design?

Senosan Acrylic

Friday, August 4th, 2017

Senosan Acrylic

Senosan GmbH, an Austrian based, plastic sheeting company has achieved worldwide recognition for their high gloss acrylic films. Senoplast GmbH (Senosan’s mother company) has been manufacturing acrylic sheeting for cabinetry finishes, as well as formable car and shower linings, for a long time. In 2011, they added AM1800TopX to their high gloss cabinetry finish range which Sage Doors have chosen to use for their Acrygloss® surface.

Sage Doors gets this special acrylic pressed onto MDF on world-leading equipment in European factories with high standards. We’ve personally visited the factories to ensure we are completely happy with the product they are producing, to ensure we continue to manufacture the highest quality doors we can.

 

The Structure

This AM1800TopX (‘1800X’) high gloss finish differs from other materials on the market due to its depth of gloss, unique scratch resistance, and easy maintenance. It consists of a .5mm base layer of ABS, with .2mm PMMA (a type of acrylic), topped with a scratch resistant hardcoat on the surface. ABS gives better resistance to cracking than straight acrylic, and acrylic creates a better reflection than ABS. The combination of these two raw materials, united by co-extrusion, gives our Acrygloss increased strength, better colour stability, and higher cracking resistance than a straight acrylic option.

 

The Cherry on the Top

The cherry on the top – the scratch resistant hardcoat – is to make your job easier and stress free! This hardcoat adds durability, while not affecting the quality of the mirror-like finish. It also means you do not need to worry about accidentally scratching a panel while you pull off the protective film.

“How scratch resistant is Acrygloss?” you may ask. It’s passed IHD-W-466 Method 1 Class A with a loss of gloss of <20%. Don’t know what that means? Don’t worry!
How about this: it’s steel wool resistant. Senoplast’s testing method for scratch resistance is ‘SENO company standard QPA-25-LT’. The test involves rubbing the surface with steel wool, type 00 (the kind used for buffing and cleaning golf clubs or removing old finishes on antiques) with a load of 1kg. At 20 strokes, no scratches or changes are visible on the surface of Acrygloss.

Regular co-extruded acrylic gloss sheets are soft and need to ‘cure’ for a day or two once the protective film is removed. Often a small tear created in the protective film during drilling and installation will mean a scratch in the door, only seen when the protective film is finally removed – not with Acrygloss®. No curing is required, as the surface is hard even before the protective film is removed. Even if the protective film is torn, the surface is normally un-scratched, eliminating many of the annoying surprise scratches noticed when the film is removed on site.

 

Why?

Why use acrylic gloss instead of lacquer or high gloss melamine? The depth of gloss is much greater. Look at a reflection in the distance (not your face! Look at something further away like a line in the window.) Is it a clear line? Or fuzzy? Acrylic gloss gives a much deeper reflection than most other options, more like a mirror.

Reflect yourself in your work and invest in the future by choosing Sage Doors’ scratch resistant Acrygloss ® next time you require high gloss doors or panels. You’ll thank yourself when you experience the advantage a scratch resistant surface provides!

 

Easy to Clean!

Acrygloss is easy to clean. With each order we supply a can of VuPlex, a special high gloss surface cleaner. VuPlex removes the static on the surface, making finger prints a thing of the past. The surface can easily be wiped clean using a soft, damp cloth.

NOTE: Although Acrygloss is scratch resistant, we still recommend you leave the protective film on the surface until the doors are installed.

Alphatape™

Monday, July 3rd, 2017

Sage Doors, a family owned business, has partnered with MKT GmbH from Germany to supply Alphatape™ laser edgetape to the cabinetmaking industry across New Zealand and Australia.

As the first company in New Zealand to begin manufacturing doors and panels using laseredge technology, Sage Doors needed to source a laser edgetape before they could begin production. MKT, a German edge tape manufacturer was soon chosen for their high quality product – Alphatape™.

Europe is known for quality when it comes to the furniture industry, and MKT is no exception. Sage Doors has partnered with MKT to become a leading supplier of Alphatape™ throughout New Zealand and Australia.

Running their own Homag KAL310 airTec edgebander to manufacture doors for cabinetmakers over the country, Sage Doors understands what is involved in achieving a seamless edge. Not all edgetapes are the same, and the quality of the edgetape used plays a huge role.

Laser edgetape consists of two layers: a ‘hard’ décor layer and a meltable functional layer. The ‘functional layer’ consists of polymers which enable it to melt faster than the outer surface of the edgebanding. When the functional layer is activated/melted and applied to the board, the melted functional layer fuses to the MDF to create a seamless joint.

 

What makes Alphatape™ different than other laser edgetapes on the market?

Alphatape™ features a very hard functional layer (back layer), which helps ensure a seamless edge. A soft functional layer catches dirt and looks like a glue line over time.

Rule of Thumb! To test the hardness of the functional layer, check whether
you can mark the functional layer with your thumbnail.
You should not be able to make any visible mark at all on the back of the functional layer.

Unlike other laser edgebandings, MKT Alpha-Tape Zero can fully weld to itself at the joint in the corners.

 

Why Polypropylene (PP) instead of PVC or ABS?

Hot-air and other laser edgebanding techology uses extreme heat to melt the functional layer on the back of the tape. MKT’s Alpha Tape Zero PP (Polypropylene) edgetape is the ideal material for this hot-air technique as it doesn’t shrink during cooling like other plastics, ensuring a seamless edge with no shrinkage step in the join.

Polypropylene is also much more environmentally friendly compared to other plastics.

How it’s manufactured

To achieve the highest quality functional layer, MKT’s Alpha Tape Zero PP is co-extruded as opposed to post-coated.
Co-extruded = imagine two toothpaste tubes squirting out edgetape material, one on top of the other, onto the extrusion line. The décor layer comes through the top hole and the functional layer through the bottom as the edgetape is being made.
Post-coated = regular ABS edgetape is manufactured, after which a heat activated glue/functional layer is applied to the back. This is similar in fashion to a preglued edgetape.

Alphatape™ is manufactured in jumbo rolls 405mm wide to ensure the functional and décor layers are a consistent thickness, colour and finish. This jumbo roll method also eliminates variation caused by a change of tooling and extrusions for different widths.
The wide rolls of edgetape are then sliced into required widths (we stock a range of 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 40mm & 63mm).

Colour and finish matching

MKT’s Alphatape™ is tailor-made to match the board on which it is applied. With laser edgetape, two colour matches are required – the colour of the décor layer and the functional layer. It’s important these colours are very precise to create an invisible, seamless joint.
One huge advantage MKT has in their precise colour matching lies in their sister company – Printec GmbH. Printec manufacture and supply a wide spectrum of plastic dyes and inks to many market sectors in Europe.

MKT puts quality first; during the manufacturing process, the edgetape regularly undergoes manual and electronic inspections of various characteristics, including the colour and/or printed image to ensure a high quality material.

Sage Doors stocks a range of colours and finishes, from velvet and textured woodgrain to  Extreme Gloss™ to Extreme Matte™.
The Excellent Gloss ™ finish features an exceptional high gloss level, like that of an acrylic gloss material. (Most high gloss edgetapes are dull compared to the board they are applied to).

 

If you have a laser edgebander and would like a free sample of MKT’s Alpha Tape Zero PP edge tape to try, contact us and we’ll courier a sample pack to you.

The Special Edge

Monday, February 13th, 2017

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Creating a seamless finish with Laseredge™ consists of ‘seeing what everyone else has seen, but thinking what no-one else has thought’ (Albert Szent-Gyorgyi) – it’s not as easy as it looks!

 

Many cabinetmakers understand the struggle to achieve a seamless edge on high gloss panels. Sage Doors invested in the world-industry-leading brand of edgebanders, Homag, to achieve this. A lot of on-going research and development goes into improving the finished product of Acrygloss® and Laseredge™. Modifications and adjustments are regularly made to the edgebander to improve the finished quality. By having their own onsite technician, Sage Doors can fine tune their edgebander whenever required to keep the quality of the edge consistent.

 

Most edgebanders are set up with 2mm radius tooling (corner rounding). However, using 2mm tooling on 1 or 1.2mm edgetape creates an uneven radius that is almost sharp on one side. The expense spent on the HotAir technology is wasted with sub-standard machining on the finished product/edge.

Sage Doors realized that they would achieve a better finish if their edge bander was set up exclusively for 1.2mm laser edge tape; therefore, all aggregates in their machine are fitted with special 1.2mm radius tooling.

With edgetape dimensions varying between brands, Sage Doors chose to use just one brand of edgetape to get a consistent, quality finish. After trying many different brands of edging, Sage Doors found that MKT laser edgetape was the best quality in the market, and spec’d out their machine specifically for it.

 

A bad corner rounding unit can make even the highest quality edge tapes look ugly – creating a seamless edge isn’t as simple as it looks.

Why is MKT laser edgetape so much better than other laser edgetape?


The incredibly hard functional layer (the back side of laser edgetape that contains polymers to help it melt faster) on MTK’s Alpha Tape Zero PP helps create a seamless edge. A soft functional layer catches dirt and looks like a glue joint over time, defeating the purpose of using laser edge technology.
Rule of Thumb! To test the hardness of the functional layer, check whether you can mark the functional layer with your thumbnail. You should not be able to make any visible mark at all on the back of the functional layer.

Unlike other laser edgebandings, MKT Alpha-Tape Zero can fully weld to itself at the joint in the corners.

MKT has many different finish options for their edgebanding. One of them, their Excellent Gloss ™ edgetape has a very high gloss level; you can barely see the difference between Acrygloss® board and the edge banding.  Most high gloss edgetapes are dull compared to the board they are applied to.

Polypropylene shrinks less than PVC or ABS, making it ideal for laser edgebanding where extreme heat is involved.

Sage Doors realized they would need to use MTK’s Alpha Tape Zero PP laser edgetape  to be able to produce a product to the standard that they wanted to achieve.

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