The AES Group Machinery UK Autumn Open House – held between 26-29th September – was the third UK event this year to showcase the broad range of CNC machinery available to the industrial-based customer.
Previous shows included the March Open House to officially launch the new UK-based AES Showroom and support centre, followed by the Materials and Finishes show held at Birmingham NEC in May.
The Autumn Open House saw new and existing customers visit to see the latest technology in both CNC machinery and software available from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence. One of the ‘star’ attractions was the AES Vega five-axis CNC machine showing simultaneous, multi-axis movements whilst performing several milling, engraving, shaping and cutting operations.
Along with the AES Vega five-axis CNC, there was a ‘fire door’ spec AES Vega Ultra Evo showing the advantages of the double-sided horizontal router head and how having three active router tools in the machine increases productivity.
Another area which proved of interest and quite unique was the demonstration of cutting typical shapes, such as point-of-sale curved tabletops on the AES Extreme Ultra, followed by edging on the SNX contour edge banding machine. These two machines can be supplied for around half the cost of the ‘all in one’ combined CNC/edge bander, whilst offering greater flexibility and productivity.
The AES Beta beamsaw was also shown working using optimised cutting patterns imported from CAD generated by Cabinet Design Software. The machine on display was complete with a barcode printer, which was then scanned by the AES CNC drilling machines, calling up the relevant program for face drilling, end drilling, grooving and pocketing operations.
The AES Flexa Pro has been AES’ best-selling CNC nesting machine and was kept busy showing typical cabinet parts using Rafix as the construction method, with the ‘next level’ AES Super Nova showing the production of various styles of kitchen doors. The Super Nova comes complete with a gantry cover with LED status light bars, rotary tool changer and face drilling.
For more automation, the AES Extreme Ultra nesting cell was shown in action. In one cycle, the machine can automatically align and label a board, then load, nest/face drill/groove/shape etc, before being automatically pushed onto an outfeed conveyor whilst the spoil board is also cleaned in the same process. This was demonstrated using designs from Cabinet Vision, which were sent directly to the machine.
AES Group would like to thank all who took the time to visit, as well as Barista Sister for the refreshments and Fratelli’s for the on-site catering.
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