SCM Group UK has just received its seventh order for an SCM CNC machining centre from leading composite door manufacturer Solidor, along with an order for a Stefani Solution HD single-sided edgebander with PUR gluing.
Having installed an SCM Accord 20FX machine last November alongside five SCM Record/Actionline CNC machines, Solidor realised it required even more machining capacity as weekly production of 1000 doors was soon to become a reality.
Solidor’s operations director, Pierre Mifsud, called in SCM UK’s area sales manager, Ian McCarthy, and comments: “Production of our solid timber core doors is continually growing so we realised last September that we required even more capacity for 2014 just as the sixth CNC was being delivered and installed, so we contacted Ian to take an order for another Accord 20FX for delivery in February 2014.”
The Accord 20FX is a new generation modular machining centre designed for machining operations requiring heavy duty stock removal along with high precision and provide a top quality finish over the entire machining area. This is due to the rigid mobile portal structure and safety systems designed to exploit the maximum production capacity of the machine without any movement limitations.
With a 3680 x 1380mm table size to accommodate any size of door, there are six mobile aluminium bars, each fitted with vacuum suction cups which securely fix the door blanks to the table for subsequent machining via a 250m3/hour vacuum pump. Rows of front and rear stops enable the operator to easily position the door blanks on the table and is also assisted by two lifting supports that descend when the vacuum is activated and the machining cycle commences.
A powerful 8.5kW, 24,000rpm routing head, necessary for Solidor's 48mm thick core construction, trims the outside of the door blank to the required dimensions and machines any face profiles or apertures for varying sizes and shapes for glazing cassettes.
After edgebanding the four sides of the door with highly durable materials, application of thermo plastics skins of Solidor's wide range of colours to both sides of the door follows.
Further machining is then carried out for various door locking systems using an independent horizontal routing head with two outputs for the heavy duty tools necessary for machining the lock and recesses. Then machining for letter plates, handles, etc is carried out by the vertical routing head.
The Accord has a TR10 side tool magazine that accepts up to 10 tools to enable fast tool changing of the vertical routing tools. With the very latest Pro-Space safety system fitted and the machine running at 25m/min, the Accord does not require safety mats or light cells, so the operator is able to remove trim off-cuts and aperture waste material during the machining cycle, thus saving valuable production time.
All of the machine's electrics, pneumatic and electronic equipment is located in the Accord's base, saving valuable floor space. The operator has the latest Tecpad mobile control console with a seven inch touch screen that enables full control of the Accord while the operator can view all the machining operations through the front safety guard window.
Solidor is fully utilising all of its six SCM machining centres, all day, every day, with the first machine delivered and installed over six years ago still working very well. They make an impressive sight in the factory.
Pierre Mifsud concludes: “We are very pleased with our latest SCM Accord machining centre and all the SCM CNCs we have installed and that is why we go back to SCM for more machines as the Solidor business continues to grow. It is very important that all our machines are continuously working on production so the installation, commissioning, training and service back-up is critical to our business as we cannot let our customers down. Who knows, more machines could well be in the pipeline as Solidor continues to be the leading supplier of quality and secure timber core composite doors to the UK market.”
