Gulf Construction Online - Versatile cutting tool woos wood industry

Germany & the Middle East

Versatile cutting tool woos wood industry

01 March 2007

The Weinig Group, a leading German specialist in wood processing machinery, now offers the Middle East furniture and woodworking industry a new range of materials handling machinery that processes hardwoods focusing on precision, saving waste and quick changeover technology- all of which allows competitive pricing.

Its range of machines have helped many furniture companies to return to profitability, according a spokesman for the company. He cites the example of a pine furniture manufacturer who responded to market changes and diversified its range into hardwoods.
Some of the new products produced by this manufacturer include laminated solid wood panels, contemporary-style hardwood bespoke furniture and furniture parts and specialist contract machining for a wide variety of components and finished products.
The new German machinery installed by the manufacturer included the latest Weinig moulder technology, a Raimann MultiRip quick change saw, two Dimter optimising and defecting cross-cut saws, a Dimter laminating ProfiPress and a wide range of the latest toolroom equipment which includes PowerLock HSK tooling, a Rondamat profile grinder and an OptiControl setting stand computer-linked to PowerCom software.
“This manufacturer responded positively to market changes in the past five years and diversified its product range into hardwoods when demand for pine furniture began to decline. Judicious and substantial investment in special CNC technology machinery, paved the way to attracting new work, because they were then able to offer versatility in production, high precision, faster turnaround, economic short runs and the willingness to make components that others find too difficult to manufacture,” says the spokesperson.
“It operates the new-technology Powermat 1000, with six heads, PowerCom control and HSK tooling as well as a Weinig Profimat with a grooved bed for machining hardwood twisted timber. The Powermat 1000 replaced their two previous moulders – and in addition, saved on extraction and floor space which is a major benefit.”
“The versatility of the Powermat 1000 copes with all the work previously done on their two Hydromats and provides more capacity and is faster to set up and changeover between jobs. Tool changes are as fast and easy as changing a light bulb and it is ideal for producing economic short runs – increasing in demand by customers,” he adds.
The key aim is to ensure exact quantities of components, keeping waste to a minimum. The moulders achieve that aim providing economic production and competitive prices. The right tooling for the job, fast and precise setting on the moulder and every component machined correctly at the first time, is the essence of maximising efficiency, he says.
“Two Dimter CNC optimising/defecting cross-cut saws – model 104 pushfeed and 304 throughfeed respectively – provide efficient, flexible and accurate processing with minimum waste. The Dimter 104 cuts packs or single boards and the faster 350 has sorting stations, a width measuring facility and a Vario package for increased feeding capacity. Defecting allows hardwood to be graded, thus achieving maximum yield and the sorting stations permit efficient stacking and identification of components,” he adds. “The Raimann MultiRip makes the biggest contribution to achieving maximum yield and has a vast array of benefits in addition. It optimises width cutting from random-size boards and, on hardwoods in particular, makes substantial waste savings that contribute to quicker investment ‘payback’. A key feature is the QuickFix blade-changing system that makes it easy and fast to change width sizes, when required. It produces accurate widths, absolutely straight size lengths with a sufficiently good cut finish to go straight to the Dimter ProfiPress for laminating boards.”
The Dimter ProfiPress is used to produce a variety of exact-sized laminated panels, which are then further processed on a CNC router, where precisely-sized panels are vital. The ProfiPress is versatile and simple in operation and is especially good for hardwoods because it provides optimum gluing for a high finish quality. It can also cope with thicker panels when required. Panels are produced with a high-quality flat surface and only minimum sanding is needed. This is a hidden bonus because it saves on waste, sanding passes, sander belts and expensive electricity usage, he says.
“The basis of manufacturing success today, is to use high-technology machinery and tooling, to employ the minimum number of people necessary for the job and to maximise timber yield. Also, to use the technology to offer machine operators good working conditions and make their work as pleasant as possible to perform,” he concludes.