IE990662A1 - A Method for Manufacturing Moulded PVC Articles - Google Patents

Abstract

An ancillary trim for a PVC-UE roofline or window board product is manufactured with a wood grain effect finish. The trim is formed by vacuum moulding a convention sheet of PVC material that has been treated with a laminated wood grain effect finish. The method allows for a complete roofline or windowboard assembly to be produced with a visually consistent surface finish. The product is thus aesthetically pleasing in that it simulates a wood product more closely.

Description

AMETHOD FOR MANUFACTURING MOULDED PVC ARTICLES The present invention relates to rigid moulded PVC articles and more particularly to ancillary items such as trims, comer joints and cover joints that are used on or around the roof or windows of a building in conjunction with rigid cellular PVC boards such as fascias, bargeboards and soffit boards (collectively known as “roofline boards”) and internal windowboards.

For convenience, rigid cellular PVC is referred to herein by its conventional designation PVC-UE.

In recent years PVC-UE boards have been used in place of wood for the 10 production of roofline boards. Such boards are generally extruded products comprising a core of cellular PVC covered on exposed surfaces by a PVC skin thereby providing resistance to the elements. Exposed faces of the extruded roofline profiles are often given an aesthetic laminated wood grain effect finish after and separate from the extrusion process.

Ancillary trims such as comer and cover joints for roofline boards and end caps for internal windowboards are traditionally manufactured by processing rigid PVC compound by way of an injection moulded process in which it is not possible to provided a wood grain effect finish. This is obviously undesirable since the surface appearance of the trims does not match that of the main boards thereby detracting 20 from the wood-effect appearance. Moreover, it has been found that the boards and the trims do not tend to weather uniformly.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate the aforesaid disadvantages.

According to the present invention there is provided a method of manufacture of an ancillary trim for a PVC-UE board, the method comprising applying a laminated surface finish to a rigid polymeric sheet and then vacuum forming the laminated sheet to form the ancillary trim.

Specific embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows two perspective views of a fascia board with a cover joint, manufactured in accordance with the present invention, the board shown in two portions; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the cover joint of figure 1; and Figure 3 is a perspective view of an external comer joint; and Figure 4 is a perspective view of an internal comer joint; Referring now to the drawings, figure 1 illustrates two conventional PVC-UE fascia boards 1 disposed in an end-to-end relationship. A clearance 2 between the two boards (designed to allow for thermal expansion) receives a cover joint trim 3 that is manufactured in accordance with the present invention.

The fascia boards 1 are constructed in a conventional manner as described earlier so that the exposed surface or surfaces have a laminated wood grain effect finish. The cover joint trim 3 is L-shaped with its shorter limb 4 being designed to cover base legs 5 of the fascia boards 1 and to ensure central location of the trim. The remaining limb 6 of the trim is secured on the exposed surfaces 7 of the fascia boards 1 by low modulus silicone sealant or durable double-side adhesive tape applied to the underside of the limbs 6 so as to obscure the clearance 2 from view.

The cover joint trim 3 is manufactured from a rigid PVC planar sheet that has been treated in a conventional manner with a laminated wood grain effect finish. The laminated sheet is then vacuum formed using a conventional technique to form the cover joint trim profile. The forming process is such that its wood grain effect surface remains intact.

The present invention, in providing for a method of forming ancillary items with a wood grain effect finish, allows a complete roofline or window board assembly to be produced with the exposed surfaces of all components being visually consistent. The result is a more aesthetically pleasing product which simulates a wood product more closely than prior designs. Moreover, in external applications all components will tend to weather uniformly.

The manufacturing technique is applicable to all forms of ancillary trims such as internal and external comer trims, examples of which are shown in figures 3 and 4 (trims indicated by reference nos. 9, 10 respectively). The comer trim 10 of figure 4 is shown attached to roofline fascia boards.

The fascias may have aesthetic design detail such as grooves, bullnose formations or chamfers etc which can all be formed using the manufacturing technique of the present invention.

It is to be understood that the technique can also be applied to other textured surface finishes besides woodgrain effect and that other plastics based or polymeric sheet may be used besides PVC.

Claims (5)

1. 5 1. A method of manufacture of an ancillary trim for a PVC-UE board, the method comprising applying a laminated surface finish to a rigid polymeric sheet and then vacuum forming the laminated sheet to form the ancillary trim.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the laminated surface finish is a wood 10 grain effect.

3. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the polymeric sheet comprises pvc. 15

4. An ancillary trim for a PVC-UE board manufactured according to the method of any preceding claim.

5. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.