Reinhardt was billing its brand new Twin Loop as the world’s fastest solid wood cut-off saw. Given its two circular saw blades make 650 cuts per minute, few would probably argue.
A prototype was shown at Ligna in 2009. Since then the German manufacturer has been fine-tuning the technology.
“The key to the machine is the fact that the blades travel horizontally in the direction of the material feed so, as one cuts, the second is already moving to the next position,” said the company’s Christian Rehbein. “The cut itself is made in 120 milliseconds.”
Currently the Twin Loop can handle feed speeds up to 80m/min, but the eventual target is 200m/min.
“We see a range of applications for it,” said Mr Rehbein. “Its already being used by a pallet maker in the Netherlands, but it will appeal to joinery and other manufacturers too – anyone working on a fast turnaround, just-in-time basis, but also requiring cutting accuracy and quality. It handles cross-sections up to 150x60mm, has cutting accuracy of +/- 1mm and as there’s less material braking and accelerating than in conventional technology, there’s less mechanical wear and tear.”
