February 12, 2024
Are you tired of your staff being bogged down by mundane tasks? Let us help you streamline your operations so that they can focus on more meaningful work.
Our team of highly skilled CNC specialists have provided personalised solutions to hundreds of small and large businesses, just like yours. We understand that every business is different, and that’s why we take the time to actively listen to your needs and help you identify solutions to meet your goals. Whether you’re looking to optimise efficiency, reduce costs, or increase overall profitability, our specialist guidance can help you achieve your desired outcomes. We take immense pride in our track record of empowering businesses, including a leading staircase manufacturer.
Our experienced CNC Specialist Brad Anderson states: “With this customer, a staircase manufacturer, we’ve put several profiles in place for their stair treads, most notably an R3 pencil round profile. As a result, they’ve shaved forty minutes per set of stairs off their production time, which is a considerable achievement considering their high output. But apart from the time savings, we’ve also brought outstanding consistency and repeatability to their product by introducing a CNC to profile their treads”
Limitations of tooling systems before the era of Freud ISOprofil Technology
Like many modern Joineries, almost all there components are processed on CNC machines. Every stair tread is profiled to produce a half-round or pencil round nosing. Traditional sanding tools are time-consuming and labour-intensive and can pose significant health risks to your workers.
The repetitive motion involved in sanding can lead to musculoskeletal disorders, causing pain, discomfort, and limited mobility. Additionally, sanding produces a significant amount of dust, which can result in respiratory issues like asthma.
Traditional tooling systems were equipped with replaceable knife systems with no shear angle. This means the knives are positioned square to the workpiece, resulting in a more aggressive and impactful cutting motion that causes chatter. When it comes to knife systems, you should be aware of two main types: throw-away and sharpenable knives. While throw-away knives are disposable and require no maintenance, sharpenable knives can be sharpened and used multiple times. However, it’s important to note that the tool’s radial and axial dimensions must be recalibrated after sharpening. This process can be time-consuming and adds to the setup time between changeovers.
Case Study: The Impact of Freud Tools ISOprofil
Panel Tools partners with leading manufacturers worldwide to acquire cutting-edge tooling technology. Thanks to advancements in cutter head technology, we can now position knives at a shear angle, which delivers several machining benefits. These benefits include improved tool wear, quieter machining, reduced cut load, faster feed speeds, and a better surface finish.
Freud are global leaders in cutterhead technology, their cutterhead systems come with many features. These include full profile and diameter recovery after sharpening, safer and more precise knife locking systems, lightweight cutter bodies, and many other features.
“ISOprofil provides the benefit of a turnover knife-style system, but with the economy of a knife that can be sharpened multiple times,” Brad explains. “The knives can be sharpened 6-8 times in their lifespan. We find that the initial cost of the knives is not much more than that of a standard turnover knife, yet they come with many more benefits.”
After integrating the Freud ISOProfil technology, specifically the NC92 R3 Cutter, in their operations, they were able to assemble stair treads without any sanding required. This resulted in a time saving of 3 hours per week for over 60 sets of stairs freeing up five staff to focus on more meaningful work. The improved cutting motion enhanced the finish and increased travel speed to 12m/min, which means a higher output level.
Customer Feedback
“We used to run a standard cutter before, but the job wasn’t satisfactory. Now, with the Freud Tools ISOPROFIL technology profile cutters, we can go much faster, obtaining a perfect finish in one run without any need for post-production sanding! And then, this grooving cutter..wow, it’s simply awesome!”
How does the System work?
Cutterhead Geometry and material
The shear angle of the cutterhead results in a fluid cutting motion, reducing cut load, chatter, and noise. The cutterhead body is designed to support the profile knife in the optimal position.
High Resistant Locking System and High-Speed ISOProfil
ISOPROFIL is a «friction» locking system where the spherical insert screw pushes perpendicularly the magnetic wedge against the centrifugal force.
The main issue faced by cutters’ users is the progressive reduction of the cutting diameter resulting by the worn out of the cutting element (knife). Regrinding involves the removal of a small quantity of material, and so a progressive reduction of the knife dimension (thickness and height).
Diameter and Profile Recovery
This is the only system in the world which guarantees:
- The automatic re-positioning of the knife throughout the entire lifetime of the tool.
- The performance system knives are 3mm thick and easily resharpen to 1.8mm thick. Therefore, after sharpening, there is no additional downtime due to re-calibration of the tool diameter or profile.
- Knife change-over is extremely user-friendly. There is a magnetic wedge and outward-facing grub screw for simple repositioning of the knives.
Learn more about Freud’s ISOprofil technology:
