An AXYZ CNC router supplied by AXYZ International has helped double the production capacity of West Midlands-based Porter & Woodman. The company is a major user of wood, primarily plywood and MDF, for a diverse range of products distributed by the various business operations within the Porter & Woodman Group.
These include wooden boxes and crates for packaging high-quality wine and hamper gifts and point-of-sale and signage products, including chalkboards, blackboards, A-boards, shopfitting units and menu and poster holders.
The recently-installed AXYZ 4010 CNC router supplements an AXYZ machine purchased three years ago. The router is part of phase one of a £100,000 investment programme that has enabled additional staff to be employed and fuelled growth by the introduction of new business.
This in turn has led to the requirement for a second phase of investment that will see the addition of a third warehouse to enhance the group’s packaging and distribution capabilities whilst enabling more staff to be employed.
The AXYZ 4010 router is part of the 4000 Series that is recognised as one of the most popular routing, cutting and drilling solutions for wood processing currently available. It provides a work area width of 1524mm and lengths starting at 1220mm, with incremental increases of 610mm. The machine can handle materials in excess of 4ft wide by virtually any length, while the 150mm gantry clearance will accommodate thicker substrates.
The AXYZ 4010 router is supported by ArtCAM Express design and production software. It incorporates a seven-tool automatic tool change (ATC) facility and is used to cut out frequently complex shapes and process wooden sheets.
In common with all AXYZ routers, however, the machine can be supplied with a host of optional production enhancements. Most recently, these have included new servo drives and the latest helical rack and pinion drive system that incorporates multiple gear teeth. This ensures a more even distribution of the workload, leading to reduced machine wear and increased material feed rates.
These features are supplemented with the latest A2MC Smart Console, that eliminates bounce and vibration caused by sudden acceleration or deceleration, and the AXYZ auto zone management system that provides a greatly-improved material hold-down capability whilst reducing or eliminating material wastage and machine downtime caused by incorrectly set vacuum valves.
