I probably dont have much to offer.
I have always have an edgebander to my disposal thank god.
Today was honestly the first day I have ever done edge banding any other way than heating up the machine and feeding in my piece.
I took a cabinet and cut it down 6 inches and I am converting it to a desk for my old lady, so naturally, the side I wanted to be edgebanded, isnt. So I have to edgeband it the hard way.
I ironed on the tape, then I took a block of wood and rubbed it on the tape to flatten it out, to make sure it was evenly pressed, then I took a trimmer, which looked very similar to a planer, but on a right angle, and cleaned off the excess tape, then took a file and cleaned the edges.
Like I said, right now I dont have much to offer. I can tell you tomorrow, the exact brand of everything I used in my homemade edgebanding setup, which honestly worked good enough for most shops.