Based in north Devon, Principal Doorsets established in 2014 by Rob Llewelyn and Stan Bond have expanded into a manufacturing business covering 80,000 sq ft.
During that time Principal has manged secure a reputation for the supply of high quality doorsets for healthcare, education, leisure, commercial building, hotels and high end residential properties with the most demanding specification and finish requirements.
Stan said: “A capital investment programme with carefully selected process machines to deliver the quality, reliability and more importantly, consistency necessary to ensure the best product and service is presented to our customers. The latest CNC machinery gives guaranteed precision and flexibility. You can rest assured that their fresh approach is supported by generations of experience to provide support service and quality”
With this expansion the finishing department became an area that needed investment with the addition of further spraying equipment its soon became clear that labour costs for hand sanding were punishing the business. Stan and Rob where soon looking out for a means to sand and denibbed framing and architraves more efficiently.
After talking to Dean Grimbley of John Penny Woodworking Machinery it became apparent they not only needed a quick machine, but also a very accurate and flexible piece of equipment. The product mix was complicated including profile sanding of frames, architraves in timber, MDF and veneer wrapped MDF, to the denibbing of the same parts after priming or lacquer coating.
The solution was the installation of the unique MB Fentech sander with its automatic profile sensing and setting capable of working even with the smallest batch sizes.
The parts enter the machine on a vacuum transport belt before they are laser scanned to detect the shape, from which the sanding heads move to position. The vacuum belt holds the parts very precisely and timed jumping of the sanding heads protect the lead and trailing edges from over sanding, even with very thin veneers.
The machine fitted Principal’s varied workloads with the added benefit of being able to work with one operator using a part return system with lower demand and it was simple to switch to through feed with a second operator stacking parts at the machine exit. All in all, Stan remarked on how much time the Fentech saved and the improvement and consistence of quality could not be matched by hand
Contact Performance Doorsets for frames, screens, fire, acoustic, security and passivhaus, telephone 01237 439 152, email [email protected], or refer to their website: www.principaldoorsets.com
To find out more about the Fentech contact John Penny Woodworking Machinery, email [email protected]
