A Techno CNC router paid for itself on the
first job by producing an order of aluminum signs with acrylic letters for a bookstore
chain in about 1/10 the time that would have been required to produce them by hand.
The push-through acrylic letters had to be produced to demanding tolerances that would
have been difficult or impossible to meet by hand. The Techno CNC router has helped the
company enter new markets by producing signs and related specialty items from a wide range
of materials including plastics, aluminum, wood and other materials in 1/5 to 1/10 of the
time that would have been required by hand. Creative Accessories developed a vacuum table
for the machine that provides further productivity increases by allowing materials to be
quickly clamped and unclamped to the table.
Creative Accessories is a 25-employee company that is constantly
seeking new niche markets for its products. The company's primary product is signs and
displays but it also produces a wide range of specialty items, most of which are made from
a variety of acrylic plastics and woods. For example, the company has recently begun
producing carved wood signs and marketing them through sign stores and catalogs. In the
past, the company produced these items using traditional hand and power tools including
bandsaws, shapers and routers. This meant that a considerable amount of time was required
to produce each piece and that accuracy was dependent on the skill of the person doing the
work.
The difficulty of producing these products by hand came to a head
recently when the company had the opportunity to bid on a large order for display signs to
be used by a bookstore chain in their coffee shops. The displays each consist of a
rectangular aluminum display cut out in order to insert acrylic letters. Each of the
letters is flanged so they are retained in the sign. Creative Accessories management
realized that the cost of producing the job with manual methods would have been too high
to get the order and the accuracy that could have been achieved would probably not be up
to the customer's demanding standards.
The company examined several CNC routers and selected the Gantry System
from Techno-Isel, New Hyde Park, New York because of its accuracy, relatively low cost and
ability to interface with popular software packages. It then submitted a bid for the
bookstore displays stating that it would purchase the machine if it received the order.
When it got the order, Creative Accessories immediately ordered the router and began work.
The company found it could program the letters and displays in a time saving manner using
CASmate-Pro sign design software by Scanvec. Techno customer support was very helpful in
providing guidance on the cutting speeds and type of bits required to machine aluminum and
acrylics.
While the aluminum display was easily clamped to the machine table,
attaching the softer acrylic letters without damaging them proved to be a bit more of a
challenge. On this first project, Creative Accessories used double-sided carpet tape which
held the letters without difficulty but made it somewhat time-consuming to remove them.
Later, the company developed a universal vacuum deck with multiple chambers that can exert
tons of clamp-down force. This deck is being used for all of the company's internal
plastics work on the machine and is now being offered for sale. Techno-Isel is the first
distributor to sign up. The ability to quickly clamp and unclamp parts dramatically
improved the profit-making potential of the router.
The first job covered the cost of the machine despite the fact that a
fair amount of time was required for learning how to program, set up and run the new
machine. In general, the company has found that it can produce signs and other specialty
products in about 1/10 of the time previously required. Since then, Creative Accessories
has significantly increased its business in a number of areas due largely to the increased
productivity and accuracy which it can achieve with the gantry system.
For example, Creative Accessories has picked up a considerable amount
of wholesale work for other signmakers that still produce signs by hand. These include
carved wood signs, plastic signs and electrified signs. Small carved wood signs normally
take three to four hours to produce by hand yet can be cut on the router in about 15
minutes. CASmate Pro has proven to be quite a valuable tool in this regard. In particular,
the program's scan to cut feature makes it possible to scan a logo or other design and
create a vector image with square corners and sharp angles in no time at all. The program
downloads quite easily to the Techno gantry system.
Quality of the work produced by the company has
also been greatly improved. The machine has a resolution of 0.0005 inches which is about
100 times the precision that can be achieved by hand. So the letters and
specialized shapes produced on the router are far more precise than hand-cut, and any
required copies are identical to the originals. The company trains its employees to
achieve high standards all the way from design through production and finishing and the
router makes it relatively easy to achieve these standards.
The strength and rigidity of the table was also important. The Techno
machine is constructed from extruded aluminum profiles which can support all the materials
that Creative Accessories uses and provides easy clamping. The machine also has four
ground and hardened steel shafts and eight recirculating bearings in each axis. This shaft
and bearing system produces very smooth play free motion which produces high quality cuts.
The quality of the cuts produced on the Techno router is directly
related to its unique design. Most sign routers use small diameter (less than .5")
acme screws and brass or plastic acme nuts while the Techno routers all use ball screws
and anti-backlash ball nuts. Ball nuts roll as compared to acme nuts, which slide. This
means that the ball screw system transfers over 90% of the motor power to produce cutting
force while acme screw systems typically only transfer 35% of the motor power. The rolling
action vs. sliding also means less wear, longer life and greater rigidity, essential for
producing clean cuts in plastics and metals. The patented anti-backlash ball nut on the
Techno router also produces more accurate cuts for making inlays with clearances down to
the machine resolution.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of the router, however, was its low price. This was only
$18,000 including gantry, controller and software. With the time savings and accuracy
provided by the router, Creative Accessories can offer its customers better products at a
lower cost. This has made it possible for the company to double its business while
increasing profit margin at the same time.
A Techno CNC router paid for itself on the
first job by producing an order of aluminum signs with acrylic letters for a bookstore
chain in about 1/10 the time that would have been required to produce them by hand.
The push-through acrylic letters had to be produced to demanding tolerances that would
have been difficult or impossible to meet by hand. The Techno CNC router has helped the
company enter new markets by producing signs and related specialty items from a wide range
of materials including plastics, aluminum, wood and other materials in 1/5 to 1/10 of the
time that would have been required by hand. Creative Accessories developed a vacuum table
for the machine that provides further productivity increases by allowing materials to be
quickly clamped and unclamped to the table.
While the aluminum display was easily clamped to the machine table,
attaching the softer acrylic letters without damaging them proved to be a bit more of a
challenge. On this first project, Creative Accessories used double-sided carpet tape which
held the letters without difficulty but made it somewhat time-consuming to remove them.
Later, the company developed a universal vacuum deck with multiple chambers that can exert
tons of clamp-down force. This deck is being used for all of the company's internal
plastics work on the machine and is now being offered for sale. Techno-Isel is the first
distributor to sign up. The ability to quickly clamp and unclamp parts dramatically
improved the profit-making potential of the router.
