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MacMillan-Bloedel Parallam Wood Beam Factory Tour

Bob meets with Dave Parker to tour the MacMillan-Bloedel parallam engineered wood beam factory. Outside is a car and beam supported by cardboard boxes demonstrating the strength of parallam beams. David explains they use both good and waste Douglas Fir veneer to create their beams. The veneer pieces initially have a high moisture content, so they are first passed through a dryer that blows three hundred degree air on the sheets of veneer. After they are dry, they are put into a shredder, which cuts the veneer sheets into large strips. A gap in the conveyer belt allows the small strips to fall through. These scrap pieces of veneer are used to fuel the dryer. Next resin is applied to glue the strips together. A belt moves around and from side to side so the strips drop into a trough parallel and overlapping, key factors in the strength of a parallam beam. The trough is thirty inches deep and, after it is filled, it is compacted to a depth of eleven inches. Next, the beam is cured in a microwave to ensure a secure bond. It is passed through a cooling station and then a saw cuts it to the desired length. After cutting, the beam is inspected for imperfections, and once approved, is then wrapped and shipped.

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Progress Report on the Home Renovation

Clip Transcript For:

MacMillan-Bloedel Parallam Wood Beam Factory Tour

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" Well, this is the most whimsical concoction we've seen in awhile. Hi, David."

" Hi, Bob."

" How are you? What's the big idea here, hanging a 4th car up of 1 of your beams."

" Oh, this isn't showing off, hanging the car from the beam and putting the beam on corrugated containers."

" You mean, you've got the weight of the car and the beam on this cardboard box?"

" That's right."

" Pretty impressive. You guys have some neat ideas around here, but what I wanna know is how you make those beams?"

" Bob, we're all ready to show you the plan."

" Great. So what have we got here, Dave?"

" Well, we have the veneer for woods [unk] make our product. We cannot only utilize this [unk] here. There's a---- You'd use another [unk]. Here's what is considered [unk]. We call it space nail. It becomes the gentle rod. It gets purposely round when we start the process."

" Yeah. So this has been veneered off of a round, was it a Douglas fir?"

" That's right."

" Yeah."

" Where is it growing?"

" In Oregon, Washington, and here in British Columbia."

" So none of it is [unk]?"

" That's right."

" And it looks like it just got veneered a week ago. What's the moisture content?"

" It's hot. It's about 30% to 70% water."

" Wow."

" [unk] right now."

" So what's the 1st step to making your [unk]?"

" Our 1st step is right over here and it is drying the veneer."

" Okay. How do you actually dry it?"

" When we take the wet veneer and we put it right into this machine. It travels on the [unk] throughout a dryer blowing hot air at about 170 degrees Celsius on both sides."

" How hot is that in Fahrenheit?"

" About 340 degrees."

" And does it get all the moisture out of it?"

" Down to about 2% to 4%."

" That will do it."

" When the veneer comes out of the dryer, we [unk] the moistures on deck, and if it's too wet, we mark it with a black paint and then put the veneer back to the dryer a 2nd time."

" And what's the next step?"

" The next step is the veneer will glide into this grinder."

" The grinder. So you're actually shredding that big sheet into shreds."

" What we're really doing"

" We [unk]."

" Fabulous. So all of these will actually become a beam. What's the next step?"

" The resin is applied to the thread."

" So what's actually happening within that [unk]."

" These is our reverent [unk] by fluorescent and it slice the excess water off the back and then they come up with [unk] of water."

" What kind of a glue have you used?"

" This is a phenolic resin. It's the same as using water glue [unk]. It's been around 1775."

" Okay. These are basically the only glue ingredient, right?"

" That's right."

" Not the glue. What's the deal with this conveyor belt below it?"

" This is the [unk]. The conveyors have moved around in a circle, but at the same time, the whole [unk] moving back and forth."

" Yeah. And what's it doing?"

" What it's doing forth is dropping those sands down into the drop you see beyond the right so they're parallel and so they're well over that."

" [unk] place of our product."

" There's a linear overlap and that is the strength in union."

" That's right."

" And where they're going here."

" And what we have done here is [unk] that by the time it stopped, it's always moving towards our [unk]."

" Yeah."

" At the same time, and that is about 30 inches [unk], and the [unk] is totally compressed down to about [unk]."

" 30 inches down to 1112."

" That's right."

" Wow. That's creative."

" Okay, Dave. So what's going on here with this control?"

" The total process [unk] is controlled by this computer."

" Yeah."

" Density, moisture content, speed, the laser with their beams that we cut off."

" Right."

" The whole thing is doing right here."

" Okay. And then what's the next step?"

" The curing. The pressing and the curing of the whole beam incurred by [unk] water. That's the [unk] product you can get your good [unk] gone."

" So that's over 212 degrees Fahrenheit."

" Absolutely."

" Great. And then what?"

" We have the pooling station where we turn over a 100-tons of cooling board to help cool the beam right out of the press. Without them, the press would jam shut. It wouldn't work."

" Of course, because of all that pressure that's being [unk] there."

" That's right."

" Great. Then what happens?"

" What we have next is a flying cutoff saw. This straps on to the beam with a laser [unk] and then it comes right across through the blade and cuts this off with a laser [unk]. Right now, the market is asking for a 48-beam [unk]. The whole deck [unk] the 48-foot long beam."

" But you could make them kind of a [unk] as long as you would warrant, right?"

" It's a continuous spread and we could be ready to if we can handle."

" Yeah."

" Reel and reality, a 50/50 spot is [unk]. I have a normal [unk]."

" So what's the next step after you got some of the length?"

" The beam is then put through the [unk], which freeze up the outside [unk]. This is to make sure you press the [unk]. Then if we wanna a smaller cross section, it goes through a [unk] that [unk] down to the smaller cross section to a standard advance all the side. Then it goes to its integrating process to make sure there are no flaws in it, we wrap it, and we're all ready to send it out to the market."

" This package then is ready to go into a building site. That's great. To tell you, what's amazing is the scale of everything. It's so huge here. How big are [unk] with your loading deck?"

" These beams are 48 feet long. It's here where we wrap some package and put them on the truck for the railcars in the back and they head to any market in the North America."

" All over the country."

" That's right."

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