Jianlong BY214×8/30(5)H five-daylight hot press

Jianlong lists the press at 300 T nominal pressure, 2600 × 1370 × 42 mm platens, 100 mm opening, five daylights, eight cylinders, 140 mm plungers with 500 mm stroke, 8.5 kW hydraulic power, 55.5 kW heating power, about 14 t weight and about 4200 × 1700 × 2700 mm overall. The company uses its hot presses for wooden doors and door skins, plywood, block board and secondary lamination of wood-based panels.

The model code follows the usual Chinese pattern for multi-daylight presses: BY214 is the press type, 8 the number of cylinders, 30 the force in units of 10 tonnes and 5 the number of daylights.

Spread over the full 2600 × 1370 mm platen, 300 tonnes gives roughly 0.83 N/mm² (about 8.3 kg/cm²). On a 2440 × 1220 mm panel it rises to roughly 0.99 N/mm². These are calculated from the published force and areas, before hydraulic losses. Compare them with the pressure your adhesive supplier specifies, because too little or too much pressure causes delamination or glue bleed.

The 100 mm opening limits the assembly you can load, including cauls or carrier plates. Five openings of 100 mm match the 500 mm stroke, so all daylights close together from fully open. Ask how closing is controlled and how long it takes, since a slow close lets adhesive start curing on the first panels loaded.

The 55.5 kW heating power does not name the heating medium, and other Jianlong presses list a separate oil-heater rating. Ask whether this press comes with an electric thermal-oil heater, whether the heater is in the price, and what platen temperature range and uniformity it reaches. Heat-up from cold and recovery between cycles decide real output more than the frame does.

On another of its press pages, Jianlong describes its platens as solid steel, drilled with heating channels, heat-treated and ground on both faces. Ask for the flatness and parallelism tolerance of the 42 mm platens.

Jianlong also lists an eight-daylight 250 T press with 1300 × 1300 mm platens and an 80 mm opening, and three-daylight 120 T presses with 2500 × 1300 mm or 1500 × 1300 mm platens. Their pressure on the platen differs widely: the 250 T press presses much harder on its small platen, while a 120 T press on 2500 × 1300 mm presses much more lightly. Choose the press whose platen suits your panel and whose specific pressure suits your adhesive. Bent or curved parts fall outside all of them and belong on a heated roller press or a forming mould.

Ask Jianlong to press samples of your panel construction with your adhesive and to record platen temperature, pressure, closing time and holding time. Check the samples for bond strength, surface defects and thickness variation. Where the faces are sliced veneer, prepare the sheets on a veneer shear before the trial, because a ragged sheet edge appears as an open joint after pressing whatever press is used.

Give your panel size, assembly thickness, core and face materials, adhesive and its pressing window, and panels per shift. Ask for the specific pressure on your panel, the heating arrangement, heat-up and cycle times, platen tolerances and the full scope of supply.

• Heating medium, heater rating and whether the heater is included
• Platen temperature range, uniformity and flatness
• Closing time from fully open and pressure-holding method
• Specific pressure on your panel size
• CE certificate for this model