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CNC Articles Phone: 516-328-3970 www.technocnc.com 131 servomotors  as  standard  features for  precision  performance,  speed capacity,  and  machine  longevity.  He purchased a Techno four-axis machine with a five by six feet table big enough to handle even the longest butt stocks. Four-axis Benefi ts The  four-axis  capability  of  the Techno machine is what makes it the solution Shuster was hoping for. If he had  purchased  a  traditional,  three- axis CNC router, it would have been necessary  to  continually  reposition parts on the machine because cuts are needed on all sides. Although this still would  have  been  faster  than  cutting parts  by  hand,  the  machine  would have  required  constant  attention.  A four-axis machine, on the other hand, has dual spindles, one that holds the part  and  one  that  holds  the  cutter. The cutting program directs the x, y, and  z  motions  of  the  cutter, as with a traditional CNC machine. But it also directs the positioning of the part. After one side has been cut, the part can be rotated, for instance, to allow access to the other side. “With a four-axis machine, repositioning  happens  automatically so  the  cutting  goes  faster  and  it’s completely  unattended,”  Shuster says.  Using  the  four-axis  machine, it  now  takes  Ironwood  Designs  only three minutes to cut four butt stocks, compared to 15 minutes needed with the pantograph. Shuster  estimates  that  the  overall productivity  of  his  business  has increased by 60 to 80 percent since he  acquired  the  CNC  machine.  It  is located in the shop with the Zuckerman copy  lathe,  and  one  employee  runs both machines. Shuster handles light fi nishing work. “We now produce 100 pieces  in  four  hours.  Previously  that took us two days,” he says. The  quality  of  the  cuts  is  much better with the Techno CNC machine. “There  is  less  tearing  of  the  wood because spindle is spinning at 18,000 rpm,” says Shuster. “And if a cut is off by  0.010  inch,  I  can  modify  the  NC program and easily fix it.” In the past, the tightest tolerance he could achieve was  0.01  inch  to  0.02  inch.  The Techno CNC machine holds between 0.003  inch  and  0.004  inch.  “That  is phenomenal for wood,” says Shuster. “Now we produce factory quality pieces. You  can’t  distinguish  our  stocks from the original military production except that we use a higher grade of wood.” The  combination  of  higher  quality and  faster  production  has  led  to  an increase in business for the company. After finishing a large, two-and-a-half year contract for one gun manufacturer, Shuster  has  now  programmed  the CNC  machine  for  a  new  product,  a replacement  stock  for  the  Belgian FN-FAL rifle. Designed in the 1950s, this  rifl e  has  been  out  of  production for  years.  But  surplus  versions  are being  imported,  and  new  ones  are being  manufactured  in  the  US  from old  military  specifications.  Ironwood Designs is now offering replacement parts  for  this  rifle  to  manufacturers, who  will  resell  them  as  accessories, as well as to smaller gunsmiths who build  FN-FALs  for  customers,  and to  individual  owners  of  the  rifl e  who wish to retrofit it with a nicer wooden stock. In  addition  to  this  new  product, for  which  Shuster  anticipates  a  big demand, he plans to use the Techno CNC machine to take on projects he has long wanted to do but couldn’t in the past because of time or accuracy limitations. For example, he plans to offer replacement stocks for common guns such as hunting rifl es that are far more easier to install than those that are currently available. Most replacement stocks come semifinished. The sides A shot of the shop where gun stocks are held. are carved but they have not been sanded so tool marks are visible. The gun owner has to fit the rifle to the stock, a process than can take hours of filing. For those who aren’t experienced woodworkers, there’s  the  danger  of  damaging the stock. Shuster plans to cut these stocks  on  the  CNC  machine  for  a level  of  accuracy  that  has  been previously unavailable. “My kits will be  innovative  because  they  give you drop-in fit,” he says. The acquisition of a four-axis CNC router  improved  productivity  and accuracy at Ironwood Designs. The result is an increase in business. “We  no  longer  advertise  and  yet our volume keeps increasing,” says Shuster. “With a four-axis Techno CNC  machine,  we’re  now  able  to produce  replacement  stocks  for anyone who wants one.”