Ligna was crammed into five days rather than six this year, but it still managed to attract 110,000 visitors, compared with 108,000 of two years ago. And the crowds which descended on the Hanover fair complex were as cosmopolitan as ever, with 40% coming from outside Germany.

The number of exhibitors was up too, hitting 1,929 (nearly 100 more than in 1999).

The show also reinforced its status as a technology launch pad, with 40% of exhibitors unveiling new machines.

And the sophistication of the stands was another aspect of the show that aroused comment.

‘A trade fair is only ever as good as what the exhibitors put out there,’ said Klaus Müller, manager of the Michael Weinig AG expo and training centre. ‘There were some outstanding products, but equally important was the way they were presented.’

Besides the new technology, a big draw at the show was the ‘Ligna Plus’ section, which highlighted latest technical developments in wood processing and use generically. This year’s focus was ‘wood based construction’, with a number of exhibits showing the latest in timber frame and innovative use of wood in building generally.

And the ultimate proof of the show’s success, say the organisers, is that 84% of exhibitors have said they’ll be back in 2003.

The selection of products on show was as comprehensive as ever, ranging from harvesting and log transporting machines in the forestry section, to finishing and packaging plant for timber and sheet materials.

Interestingly there were a number of companies from North America at the event clearly looking to boost their European market presence. Among them was Black Brothers of the US. Its panel finishing plant is already well-known this side of the Atlantic, but it has now set up a dedicated office in Holland to develop sales in the UK and on the Continent.

Black showed its latest glue spreader, the 775 RHM/PURR with oil circulation-heated rolls, designed to apply polyurethane adhesive to flat panels for surfacing with foil or paper. The company highlighted that it can supply sheet materials laminating systems up to 4m wide.

Paolini Bacci debuted its Double machine, which performs five operations on chair back components at once. A hopper feed sends parts to heads carrying up to four spindles on each side. Each head is similar to a five-axis head on a CNC router, with the movement computer-controlled using a program called Pitagora.

Ballestrini took a different approach to chair component making, applying computer control, using the NUM 1050 controller, on a range of small CNC work centres. The machines were fast and versatile and, said Ballestrini, occupy just half the area of traditional equipment.

Comec used a similar principle with a small machine for milling and drilling chair backs. Automatically loaded, it could drill and shape 600-800 pieces per hour.

Pallet making made less of a showing at Ligna than Expobois, but the big names, like Vanderloo, Viking, Platon, Meccanica and Cape all had a presence.

Vanderloo, which was absent from Paris, showed a pallet nailing machine coupled to a new magazine-fed loader from Lammers. It also featured a new quick-change deck maker, where board layout settings and nailing heads could be switched in minutes.

Grecon showed its latest defecting saw, the EuroGreComat 702 which uses X-ray scanning. This has the advantage of locating internal defects and the precise position and angle of any change in density, as well as knots, or knot clusters. Operating at up to 300m/minute, the machine is approved for stress grading to DIN 4074 Part 3 and for glulam beam assessment.

Through-feed drilling machines are back in favour now computer setting and ancillaries have improved setting times. Weeke unveiled its BST 100, which can be set from a bar-code on the panel. Head movement is fast, but the important innovation is the drilling block. Instead of driving all bits from one motor, the BST100 selects them individually and each has its own drive.

At the other end of the scale was the Powerline BAZ 220, a massive twin table router for special routing operations.

Meanwhile, Friz has followed the small batch trend with a new profile wrapper for one-off work and a fast-heating membrane press aimed at reducing cycle time.

Sanders made simpler

The clever bit about the control panel of the Boere Super Elite sander is not just that it moves heads, tensions the belts, sets the abrasive belt and conveyor speeds automatically. Vitally it also leads logically through the entire procedure so that everything is done correctly and in sequence. If anything does go wrong, the programme goes into diagnostic mode to pinpoint the problem. If it still doesn’t work, it can switch into an internet link with Boere for assistance.

For some time Imeas has taken a stand in the Ligna hall devoted to sheet material equipment, promoting its high grade large top and bottom multi-head wide belt sanders. But it’s also worth remembering that the company still makes machines 1300mm wide for cabinet panel work, which gain from its experience in very wide equipment.

In addition to multi-head panel sanders for top and bottom working, Anthon showed its panel break-down saws, with particular importance given to the turning table for head cutting. Like Schelling, the firm has a good market in the ‘heavy’ end of the panel business, its saws often being used for reducing sheet material from pressing size to sheet.

This year Giben had a stand in the sheet material area, promoting its saws for the sector. The new Giben Tetramatic is designed to cut packs 300mm or more in depth by combining two saw carriages above and below the pack. The unit runs on conventional rails and carries two large diameter sawblades with a scorer for each. The bottom main blade runs in advance of the upper, and the overlap in cutting lines stabilises the latter, ensuring a clean cut.

Giben also highlighted further developments of its new pressure beam with moveable grippers, launched at Xylexpo. It now gives both X and Y movement on the cutting plane, giving it the capability to cut a full width across the entire beam, but with different grippers, advanced compared to others to yield panels of different lengths.

Langsauner promoted the use of its pack saw for veneer cutting. The machine is a traditional style pressure beam saw with a traversing saw carriage, and may offer particular benefits with brittle, difficult to work veneer. It cuts oversize by 3mm and then takes a second cut with a milling cutter for a perfect edge.

Panel progress

Simpianti showed a high-output single daylight press line with advanced controls. Load the infeed conveyor and the press measures the panels, then sets the rams to apply pressure in proportion to the workpiece dimensions. Rams outside the panel limits are lightly loaded, which means the platens are not deflected or deformed. The on-screen Windows-based control system identifies setting errors an malfunctions and performs diagnostics.

Burkle showed a throughfeed press where the panel layout is scanned at the infeed. At this point, one of 30,000 patterns rises and fall pins support the panel, which is fed into the press where it is foil-laminated without a membrane. The panels are turned at discharge and automatically knife-trimmed. The work cycle is 25-30 per hour, giving hourly panel output of 200-300.

Burkle also showed a short roller coating line with reverse roller and its own UV curing unit.

Biesse is now primarily a manufacturer of work centres, rather than drilling machines, and this was highlighted by its display. Among the new items was the Rover 24, which has a flexible worktable with interchangeable clamps, or vacuum hold down, easy tool changing and can process panels up to 6m long.

Alongside was the Biesse Arrow ATS, a five-axis machine for flat or fully-shaped work, and the Rover 35, recommended for heavy solid wood widow components. The latter has a 21-tool magazine, with a back-up called a Multi-store carrying an additional 60, and was demonstrated working stacked solid parts.

The Rover 27 was shown with an auto feeder and stacker for panels. The infeed is capable of loading the panel in both X and Y axes. This is achieved by the loader arm drawing panels across to stops on the table.

The latest panel saw from Biesse was the entry level Selco EB70, which is PC-controlled with optimising and cutting pattern simulation during operation, and the company also showed a pre-assembly machine boring a complex point-to-point pattern, with the drilling heads mounted on two independent beams.

New from Italian CNC machining centre specialist Masterwood was the cantilever -type Project 320 series. Promising ‘enormous flexibility and high productivity’ the range comes in 320, 320K and 320R formats, all featuring Masterwood’s new ‘tubeless’ type machine bed (also standard with the Winner range). Unlike conventional machine beds, these have no pipes and offer quicker set-up due to fast and easy positioning of the suction cups. In the 320 and 320R there are 19 vertical independent spindles, two double horizontal in X and one double horizontal in Y. The 320K has 10 vertical independent spindles, two double horizontal in X and one double horizontal.

Masterwood also debuted its MW280 nesting machine designed to speed up processing of furniture components.

Max Mayer showed a range of Maka CNC routers, including the massive CM2 five axis machine. Both it and Anderson stressed the benefits of their machines using linear drives. These, they maintained, are less prone to wear, have better acceleration and run at no load speeds up to 200m/min.

Heian showed several CNC routers, the most striking being a large multi-table machine with automatic feed and stacking. It determines optimum panel layout and cuts the entire set of panels for the unit, drills, shapes and grooves, finally discharging and packing or stacking the finished articles. The outfeed line can also incorporate printing and packaging equipment.

Swedish saw steel maker Uddeholm highlighted the benefits of its Anka R product which has achieved ‘considerable success’ in Australian softwood mills which are geared to long, continuous runs. It also introduced a new bandsaw blade manual.

Iseli showed two new machines, the EM3 side grinder and RZ1ES leveller and tensioner, both featuring electronic controls. The former can be used with band or circular saws and is programmed at a touch-screen for single or multiple pass sequences.

The RZ1ES also uses a touch-screen and, rather than the ‘approximation’ method for levelling, identifies the precise location of any deformation and presses it level. Tensioning is a second operation, with the rollers controlled to give the desired curvature across the blade width, the back being straightened at the same time. The curvature is displayed on screen, with a second trace showing development of tension.

Vollmer has continued its growth by taking over circular saw making machine specialist AKE. The latter’s range has been developed to include machines for saw servicing and at Ligna the company’s separate stand featured the new CNC U6 R2 Akemat service centre for TCT circular saws. When used in a robot system, it can fully machine about 50 blades at a single setting, even with mixed thicknesses, chamfers, diameters and toothforms.

On Vollmer’s own stand it showed the RC100 computer-controlled benching centre which, the company says, does the ‘complete benching in a single clamping operation’, relieving the operator from time-consuming manual work.

A new development in its range of machines for diamond tool manufacture and servicing was the QWD 750 wire eroder. This has computer-controlled head movement in all directions allowing control over clearance angle for any profile. New software allows it to select up to four stages based on coarse roughing, roughing, finishing and fine finishing, each with its own erosion speed and feed rate. The machine, built on a polymer concrete loaded base, can be programmed for the next operation while the current one is under way.

An addition to the Vollmer disc electrode range was the new QM110, suitable for manufacturing and servicing all shapes of diamond-tipped cutters. This too has the new control system. When used for servicing, the machine runs a measuring cycle on the tool using a Renishaw probe and the copper electrode is regularly checked for wear.

SCM probably had the biggest stand at Ligna – a total of 5,000m² with a staff of 250 – and the line-up of new developments was impressive. The innovations included a Protos router, linked to a Mahros handling system with a Fanuc robot which takes panels from an infeed roller track and loads them onto a rotating worktable which follows the Protos’ work cycle. After routing, panels are held on the bottom of the triangular table which turns down to the lowest level. The panels are dropped onto an outfeed conveyor leading to a stacker.

CNC technology was applied to SCM’s concept 200TC double end tenoner, adding the benefits of auto tool changing and making the machine more flexible.

DMXC Unisand wide-belt sanders used orbital fine sanding heads to eliminate cross grain marking and the machines can also now be fitted with a planer unit when used for panel calibration.

SCM also highlighted that the pusher speed on its Sigma panel saws is now up to 85m/min, while the saw carriage traverse has been raised to 115m/min. It also showed a new rotary copier fitted to Olimpic edge-banders for trimming thick ABS edging, plus a new corner rounding unit.

The company additionally showed a system comprising panel saw, edge-bander, drilling and routing linked by a PC-server to give otpimising for sawing, labelling, and barcode reading for machining setting. And new from Morbidelli was a large tool magazine that fits any machine in its range.

REM, which specialises in vertical panel processing machines, had a standard model with robotised loading and unloading using Swedish vacuum cups. The company also featured its new independent working spindles which are individually driven by miniature brushless motors, controllable from 0-10,000 rpm with drill bits from 2-25mm REM has a new inserter too which permits hinges to be loaded into the hopper open. The machine closes the hinge, inserts and then opens it. This takes into account the fact that hinges are normally supplied open and have to be closed before loading into an automatic inserter, entailing extra cost for the operator.