Alphatape^™

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.

They soon realised that not all laser edgetape was created equal. The quality of the edgetape used largely influences the quality of the final product. MKT, a German edgetape manufacturer was soon chosen for their high quality product.

ADVANTAGES OF PP

Less shrinkage: hot air technology (airTec, Fusion Edge etc) uses extremely hot compressed air to melt the functional layer. PP doesn’t shrink during cooling like other plastics, ensuring a seamless edge with no step.

Co-extruded – to achieve the highest quality functional layer, Alphatape™ is coextruded as opposed to post coated. The outer decor layer and the functional layer are both extruded in the same line at the same time.

RULE OF THUMB!

The hard functional layer 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.

To test the hardness of the functional layer, dig your thumbnail into the functional layer or back of the edgetape. You should not be able to make any visible mark in a good quality functional layer.

CALENDER METHOD

To minimise variation caused by changing tooling for different width edgetape, the edgetape is manufactured in jumbo rolls 450mm wide. This ensures consistency throughout the outer finish, as well as uniformity in the thickness of the functional layer and outer decor layer. The wide rolls of edgetape are then sliced into required widths such as 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 40mm, and 63mm.

CORNER WELDING

Alphatape™ is the only edgetape on the market that can fully weld to itself at the joint in the corners, which helps create an invisible, seamless joint. You can’t see which edge was applied first.

ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY

PP is more environmentally friendly than alternative plastics like PVC or ABS. Less energy is required to manufacture it, and when burned, it produces only carbon dioxide and water.

As the edgetape is melted directly to the edge of the board, no harmful glues or cleaning products are required.

COLOUR AND FINISH MATCHING

With laser edgetape, two colour matches are required – the colour of the outer decor layer and the functional layer. These two layers must be perfectly colour matched to ensure an invisible and seamless joint. A wrong coloured functional layer can look like a glue line.

The outer layer also needs to have the correct texture to match the board – MKT offer many finishes from Extreme Matte or Extreme Gloss to rustic woodgrains with about 20 other finishes in between!

But, we’ve done the hard work for you!

Sage Doors has colour matched some of the most popular colours in the melamine ranges so you can simply buy them off the shelf (check out the colour range tab).

COLOURFAST

Colourfast edgetape is more than a pigment of imagination with Aphatape™. PP is much more colourfast than PVC or ABS.