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THORPE
KILWORTH PICKS SANDER AND VERTICAL SAW FROM TM
A
Timesavers-Sandingmaster wide belt sander and
a Striebig vertical panel saw have been bought
by Thorpe Kilworth Limited from T. M. Machinery
Sales Ltd of Leicester, sole UK agent for both
product ranges. The machines were bought as part
of a £250,000 investment in new machinery to increase
production capacity by up to 40 per cent, that
also included a third CNC router/borer, a carcass
cramp and a dowel borer/inserter. Thorpe Kilworth
is a dynamic and highly successful business. It
specialises in the design and manufacture of a
wide range of tailor made furniture widely used
in schools, colleges and universities, hospitals
and care homes, pharmaceutical and research laboratories
and other public buildings, including Ministry
of Defence properties. With forward orders currently
standing at a healthy level, it is well on target
for a £7m plus turnover this year.
The enterprising management team has a strong
determination to innovate and improve its products
to better serve the needs of its various customer
groups. The latest example of this was the launch
at the beginning of the year of a comprehensive
range of flexible environment furniture designed
for those looking for ergonomic design in their
daily lives or those with special needs. It includes
flexible height raise-lower, tilt and fully adjustable
tables, benching and base- and wall-mounted units
which are also very suitable for wheelchair users
and those with sight impairment. When specifying
new production machinery, management is acutely
aware that it has to make the best possible use
of the existing working area within the 50,000
sq ft factory at Wigston, Leicestershire. The
Timesavers-Sandingmaster Winner Senior wide belt
panel sander, which replaced an elderly model
that had reached the end of its working life,
is ideally suited for small-to-mid sized factories.
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The
Sandingmaster Winner Senior wide belt sander
that has improved efficiency at Thorpe Kilworth |
Much
to Thorpe Kilworth's liking, its compact frame
design ensures streamlined usage and it has a
small, space-saving footprint. It offers a variety
of heads for sanding and planning and a 1900 mm
long abrasive belt, made for long life, as standard.
Other standard features include a digital thickness
readout, double infeed and outfeed hold down rolls,
an hour meter and a motorised lift. Angled control
panels are easy to use and dial indicators on
heads make set-up simple. In addition, the through-beam
electronic abrasive belt tracking reduces belt
mistrack problems. It is used as a general-purpose
sander for chipboard, MDF and solid Iroko worktop
components, the latter often selected by schools
because of its resiliency, as well as with cabinet
doors and carcass panels. "As TM had been repairing
our old sander for many years we talked to them
when we decided it finally needed replacing,"
says Thorpe Kilworth's manufacturing manager,
John Holyoak. "We also spoke to several other
suppliers but chose the Sandingmaster because
of the quality of its build, its competitive price
and the fact that TM promised delivery and installation
within a week of the order being placed." He adds
that it's a sturdy, compact machine that gives
a clean, smooth finish on all the different types
of material it sands and is simple to use, particularly
to calibrate. "All the operator has to do is set
the thickness of the component to be sanded and
select the right type of sanding belt. It couldn't
be any simpler."
Thorpe
Kilworth also needed to increase sawing capacity
if it was to boost its production capabilities.
Adding another conventional beam or dimensional
saw was out of the question because of the lack
of space The problem was solved by buying a Striebig
vertical panel saw. They selected the Automat
III, Striebig's top-of-the-range model, designed
for customers needing high output and outstanding
efficiency. In combination with an electronic
positioning system, it is a fully automatic machine.
The operator is only responsible for bringing
and taking away the panels and entering the dimensions
to be cut. The Automat III does the rest, with
the automatic cut cycle allowing the operator
to prepare the next batch of panels while the
machine gets on with its clean and highly accurate
cutting.
With
recent improvements to the control systems it
is now even easier to use than before. The saw
unit is automatically advanced, swiftly and precisely,
cut after cut. When each horizontal cut is completed,
the saw unit is immediately halted by a sensor
and automatically returns to its starting position.
It is ideally suited to both individual as well
as batch cutting: if several panels have to be
cut to identical dimensions, they are cut in stacks.
As the saw motor has high power reserves, it will
easily and automatically cut through stacks up
to 80mm thick. It is used to cut solid grade Trespa
laminate panels up to 20mm thick, chipboard and
MDF panels and 32mm thick solid Iroke panels,
all required as worktops, as well as Axiom post
formed laminate worktops. "It's a very effective
and versatile saw which, for example, will cut
three sheets of 18mm thick MDF in book form, in
fact anything that a beam saw can do, it can do,"
says Mr Holyoak. "We decided on the Striebig largely
because of its reputation and the research we
carried out that showed other companies were using
it to cut the same types of materials as we were."
The panel saw has opened up various new options
to help streamline and boost production. Previously
when they wanted panels cut for worktops they
had to use a beam saw, which interrupted its main
work; the bulk cutting of panels. It has brought
about a sizeable increase in sawing capacity with
practically no loss of space, as it protrudes
just 1378 mm forwards when wall mounted. "We are
currently using a diamond tipped blade on the
saw which gives us a good quality of cut on every
material we put on it, even with the thickest
solid grade laminate," says Mr Holyoak.
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With
the help of a Palamatic vacuum tube lifting
system, a heavy laminate panel is placed in
position on the space saving Striebig Automat
III vertical panel saw at Thorpe Kilworth |
As
well as supplying the saw, TM Machinery arranged
for a Palamatic vacuum tube lifting system to
be installed next to it handle the Trespa laminate
panels, which weigh from between 150 and 170 kg
each , as well as other heavy panels. They are
lifted from a stack on a pallet, turned manually
through 90 degrees, gravity assisted, to load
the wall saw. The unit is suspended from a 3m
swing jib, mounted from a free standing support
pillar which gives 300 degree rotation over the
working area. It provides ease of load movement,
removing effort, strain and associated operator
injury risks from the material handling process,
and incorporates in-built safety features to ensure
the load is not lost in case of power failure.
Says Mr Holyoak: "It is now a simple, one man
job to load the heavy laminate panels on to the
saw, where before two people were needed to manhandle
them across the workshop and place them in position
on the beam saw." By being able to supply a top
quality sander and vertical panel saw, together
with the associated saw handling system, TM Machinery
Sales has shown that it can meet the needs of
panel processors for a wide variety of production
equipment, with its installation and commissioning
backed up by a highly efficient after-sales service
and an unrivalled two-year warranty.
Sales
enquiries to Matt Pearce, T.M. Machinery Sales
T: 0116 271 7155. F: 0116 271 5862
E: sales@tmservices.co.uk
W: www.tmpartnership.co.uk
Editorial enquiries to Stephen Barry Publicity.
Tel: 020 8341 6660. email: stephenbarry@clara.co.uk
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