Expobois has shown steady growth over the past few years and the amount of exhibition space has doubled over the last four shows. This year there were about 400 exhibitors – with a strong French presence and the rest being almost entirely European – showing machinery and ancillary products. Total attendance increased by 14.25% to 22,178, with the number of overseas visitors rising by 11.4% to 1,494.
British exhibitors included Stenner, Talbotts and Wadkin which were represented on WMSA‘s stand – located not in the area allocated to trade associations but in the ‘secondary processing’ section. As WMSA’s Tony Kaye explained, the association had for the first time decided to support member companies that wished to participate in Expobois on a collaborative basis.
Stenner, Talbotts and Wadkin took up the offer and were enthusiastic about the result. ‘It’s a superb exhibition,’ was the comment made on behalf of Wadkin after three days. If the final opinions are the same, WMSA hopes to organise the participation of UK exhibitors at other shows.
Another UK stand was that of RBE, an agency run by Richard Brown and his wife from Gergy in the centre of France. This year the company had a much larger stand, showing machines from UK companies Multico, Tregarne and Airpress, plus the American Onsrud router, an hydraulic edge-jointing press from Obel-P products of Denmark, and a vacuum veneering system from Nabuurs of Spain.
Multico machines included the smallest and largest in the range – the bench-mounted PM10 and the MCDX. The Onsrud router now has a new guide and clamping system and solid-state speed control for the router bit, and was demonstrated by one of Richard’s daughters while another daughter operated a press. My assumption that Richard’s daughters had previous experience of operating the machines brought the reply: ‘No, they hadn’t seen them before the show,’ – a positive endorsement of the design of machines that can be learned so quickly.
CD-ROM titles
In the area devoted to the media, associations and safety bodies, the Centre Technique du Bois et de l’Ameublement (CTBA), which is roughly comparable to TRADA, had produced CD-ROMs dealing with sawmill sharpening, woods of the world and wood shaping. Another on timber drying will be released shortly. Two of the titles have already been released in English and others will be translated if demand justifies it.
Lutrac has always caught attention for its guarding and safety equipment, which is usually devised as much as an aid to production as a contribution to protection. The company has issued an excellent guide to safety products and measures – pointing out that each notifiable accident results in an average loss of 44 days’ productive time.
Among companies concerned with product finishing, Cattinair showed a new version of the Rotoclean automatic panel-spraying machine, which carries eight guns on a rotating spider. Although the mechanical arrangement of the machine is unchanged, the computer control system is new and now incorporates control over the speed of rotation, conveyor feed speed and triggering of the spray guns. The result is much more precise and eliminates the tendency to spray over the air extraction ducts. Cattinair has been acquired by dust extraction specialist DISA, which sees this development as an entry into the finishing sector.
A newcomer in the finishing area at Expobois was SAMES, which has been among the world leaders in electrostatic spray plant, especially for powder coating, for some 30 years. With the increasing restrictions on the use of solvents, powder coating is gradually making inroads into wood finishing.
Most of the internationally known makers of tooling and tool maintenance machinery were present, with a number of French specialists. Apex, whose speciality is tungsten carbide tipped circular saws, introduced a blade with laser cut-outs filled with a damping material to give a noise reduction of 9-10dB. Apex is seeking a UK agent.
MVM, one of the few companies to specialise in long knife grinders, showed a machine with photocell control for the grinding head and a level detector. It can be fitted with an auxiliary universal grinding head or a super-finishing head.
Grifo concentrated on its new machine for grinding helical router cutters; while Franzen showed its full range of machines for sharpening chainsaws.
Uddeholm was promoting its ranges of bandsaw steel, with special attention being given to the Anka-R strip steel for long-life Stellite-tipped bandsaw blades.
Although they have long been out of fashion in the UK, Anuba hinges still seem to be popular in France so Parveau showed a new numerically controlled drilling and inserting machine that can be set to work from left to right or right to left, which sets the handing of the hinge.
Also from Parveau was a new range of single end tenoners, the Converpro, which follows on from the existing entry level Convermax SET. The Converpro range provides a cut-off saw followed by a scribing head and a tenoning head. Chambon has a similar machine, and has also entered the panel saw market with its S 3232. This has a 3.2m length of cut, 90mm cutting height and a saw carriage speed of 40m/min. The pusher is fitted with grippers and the scorer will cut postformed panels.
There was little change in sawmill machinery, but the development of new programs to minimise waste and ensure optimum yield even from misshapen logs is now a vital aspect. In addition there is a move towards offering complete systems by groupings of specialist companies. An example is of this is MEM, EGA and SEGEM, whose stand showed examples of fully linked lines.
EGA has a new log scanning system called Multiscan, which takes multiple readings round the log rather than just scanning at points on its diameter. Then, instead of choosing a fixed, symmetrical cutting pattern, the program constructs a cutting pattern specifically for that log. Sideboards may comprise two or three small boards on one side and only one on the other if the log is not perfectly round; and the saws then cut the log in accordance with the pattern. The program can control up to eight axes and can also adjust the sideboard separators or waste removal system. EGA says Multiscan can be retrofitted.
Another system, called Autoscan, can remove a waney edge by scanning the board and setting a chipper-canter for optimum yield; while the newest, Telecant, has been developed for sawing tapered or curved logs on a Teletwin – MEM’s log saw which suspends the log by its two ends. The suspended log is rotated so the deformity lies in the vertical plane. Boards are taken off in pairs from each side and pass to a lateral conveyor, where they are scanned by a laser and optimum cuts for each side are resolved. Telecant was developed for a customer in Spain but has proved so successful that it is to become a standard program.
EGA has also developed a program for cutting logs in which growth is asymmetrical and the heartwood is not central. The program cuts more boards from one side than the other, isolating the heartwood which is used for particleboard.
Edouard Mion showed a system for recovering sideboards produced when reducing a round log to a square. It makes cuts top and bottom with a pair of multiblade circular saws to define the width of the boards, which are finally cut by horizontal bandsaws.
One feature of Expobois that has shown remarkable growth over the past few years is pallet making.
Pallet making
American company Viking makes a range of pallet making lines, starting with manual or automatic loading and producing either complete pallets or separate decks and bases which are then nailed together. Viking uses a mechanical hammer system, with nails held in a rocking hopper that aligns them ‘sharp end down’ and drops them into a guide. The hammer bar drives them into the timber – usually against a plate on the reverse side to clinch the ends and render the assembly strong and secure.
Other manufacturers use standard pneumatic guns, with special magazines to hold large quantities of nails and so keep replenishment to a minimum. Guns are pressed down onto the timber to fire the nails, with clinching on the reverse side again ensured by driving against an anvil.
Viking has developed a new computer program that has reduced changeover time on its Champion machines by 30-50%. The company said it was achieving good results in France which, it added, ‘is the biggest maker of returnable pallets in Europe’.
Platon‘s mechanical hammer machines produce either separate decks and bases or complete pallets by first assembling the deck, turning it over and then assembling the base using either manual or automatic feeding. Finished pallets are automatically stacked by lifting the existing stack and bringing the next pallet into position at the bottom.
Spanish manufacturer Cape showed its wide range of machinery, which starts with the BC110 manually loaded semi-automatic nailing line and extends to fully automatic nailing lines with automatic loading and stacking. Cape also makes block cutting, chamfering, notching and branding machinery.
Stanley-Bostitch machines are typical of the nailing gun type and start with a simple manually loaded deck-making machine, the Ministar 1. The deck is laid out on a jig and the nailing guns are advanced down the length of the pallet. The Ministar 1 has a flat bed while the Ministar 2 has an inclined loading table. Bases are assembled on the Bos-Ski and the two sub-assemblies are joined on the Tristar machine which has a moving nailing gantry.
Senco, another maker of nailing guns, showed a pallet assembly machine for inclined loading with the guns carried on a traversing gantry; while Ecotrade, whose machines had pneumatic nailing from a travelling gantry, makes a feature of the use of semi-automatic jigs that are easy to adjust and include a clenching plate and a pneumatic ejector for the finished deck.
French company Fere makes a comprehensive range of machinery for pallets of all types, as well as special nailing machines for crates, wine boxes and cable reels. A chamfering saw, branding unit, stacker, and block-cutter are also available.
From the increasing attendance and the changing pattern of exhibits it can be concluded that Expobois is reflecting the changes that are taking place within the woodworking industry in France and is increasing its appeal to visitors who are responsible for the purchase of machinery.
