The accuracy, flexibility and reliability of Tecnolegno‘s Universal moulding and profile sanding machine plus CPC‘s door press are key to quality just-in-time production at a leading Irish door manufacturer.
Both machines were part of the investment made at the 17,000ft² factory where the company manufactures solid timber kitchen doors. These are supplied to customers in Northern Ireland and the mainland UK – and demand is so brisk that a 12,000ft² extension to the factory is being built.
‘We have designed the plant for just-in-time manufacturing,’ said a company spokesperson. ‘The equipment from Tecnolegno and CPC allows us to make any size of door, one after another, in batch sizes ranging from a small kitchen set involving doors of different shapes and sizes to a run of several hundred identical doors.’
Supplied by sanding and finishing specialist Elliot Machinery, the profile sander and the door press are proving to be an ideal combination.
The press is fully automatic and hydraulically controlled – making it more effective than pneumatically controlled systems. Doors are first loosely assembled and laid on the infeed conveyor against the fence. Photoelectric beams determine the size of the door and the pressing arms automatically open to the correct aperture and then close in a rapid two-stage process – initially clamping the door and then squaring and pressing it. Normal production would be three to four doors per minute on this type of press.
After pressing, the doors are taken to the Tecnolegno Universal, which squares them, cuts the edge profiles and sands the profiled edges. The milling station is enclosed in a soundproof cabinet and comprises twin cutterheads – one of which is a counter-rotating ‘jump’ head to prevent splintering of the end-grain when machining solid timber.
There are three profile sanding heads on the machine – each comprising a counter-profile pad that presses the continuous sanding belt precisely against the contoured workpiece. The first two heads are for sanding the edges of the door, while the third is for arris or flat sanding. All heads are PLC-controlled to ensure accurate sanding with no rounding or ‘dubbing’ of corners.
Doors are conveyed through the Universal on a wide 260mm steel bottom track – rubber covered to prevent damage to doors – which incorporates retractable squaring dogs. Used in combination with the fixed fence and adjustable PLC electronic fence, this enables perfectly square doors to be produced on a single-sided machine.
The electronic fence is operated from the control panel – the operator simply keys in the size required. However, the Irish manufacturer says the CPC press is proving so accurate at squaring the doors that the electronic fence on the Universal acts as a secondary check.
‘We specified the option of quick-release tooling for the Universal milling station, which means we can change from one profile to another very quickly. Both machines are proving very reliable, and they offer the flexibility and accuracy we need to meet growing demand for our quality JIT service.’
