A Dagenham joinery manufacturer has been able to take on new and complex work due to the installation of Alphacam software.
Within weeks of installing Alphacam Ultimate Router to drive its Biesse Rover C6 five-axis machining centre. K&D Joinery Ltd said it had been approached to undertake three complex jobs – intricate Japanese lettering on solid European oak, a large ceiling feature for a restaurant in London’s Regent Street, and doors with curved fronts.
K&D operations director Jeremy Murphy said the software was helping the company to thrive in a difficult economic environment.
“Without Alphacam we could not have undertaken the Japanese writing or the ceiling feature, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “We are now quickly adapting ourselves in a difficult market, and understanding that the technical boundaries have been broadened.”
Mr Murphy said the 45x5m ceiling project was particularly complex and involved around 100 sheets of 2.4×1.2m plywood. K&D draughtsmen Arnie Schreiber drew 200 ceiling pieces and imported them into Alphacam, which picked up the individual shapes and nested them before the final CNC coding was produced for the Biesse to process the plywood.
“To undertake 200 pieces of very ornate curved work with a jigsaw would not have been economical,” he added.
He said the Biesse was originally bought because it could handle five-axis work like continuous handrails and a variety of shaped work in addition to its door, window and frame production capabilities. The machine’s original software couldn’t handle more intricate work so Planit Group wrote a post processor so Alphacam could drive the Biesse on a five-axis basis.
K&D’s previous workshops were based on the London Olympics site. It was the subject of a compulsory purchase order in 2006 as it was located on the site for the Olympic stadium.
