This month we focus on the Egil, one of the latest generation of saws from Gravelloni Macchine Marmo – GMM – a company that sets a benchmark against which other saws in the stone industry are measured.
General: Since being formed in 1993, GMM have probably sold more bridge saws in the stone industry worldwide than any other marque, and plenty of them are in workshops in the UK. GMM saws are sturdy, accurate yet straight forward. And that goes as much for the Egil, one of the two newest machines in the range, as any others from these Italian manufacturers.
Capabilities: The ‘X’ and ‘Y’ axes have rack and pinion drives on ball guides. Cut and return speeds of the head are independent and can be programmed. With a head that rotates 180º (‘W’ axis) and tilts up to 90º (‘R’ axis), the Egil can saw and profile in straight lines, at right angles or at any other angles. With the right blade it can also cut curves. It takes a blade up to 625mm as standard with the facility for a 725mm blade an optional extra.
Physical configuration: Overall dimensions of the Egil are 6.57m x 3.36m with worktable dimensions of 2m x 3.5m and a cutting stroke of 3.6m in the ‘X’ axis and 2.25m on the ‘Y’ axis. The maximum vertical travel (‘Z’ axis) is 420mm. High speed, accurate cutting is achieved by brushless motors. The frame is cast iron for long life, precision and corrosion resistance, as well as minimising vibration and, therefore, noise. The guard is stainless steel.
Work surface: With the head, rather than the table, moving, the removable table is a fixed structure in hot zinc-plated steel with a wooden worktop.
Motor: The patented 15kW head has tilt pins going directly into the frame of the motor for mechanical rigidity. An electronic regulator is connected to the blade so that saws of different sizes will spin at optimal speeds. In order to increase productivity when cutting hard material, the head starts the downward motion for successive cuts before inverting the stroke. A laser beam on the blade cover is used for positioning the blade on the cutting line.
Control: There is simple 15in touch screen control with LAN connection and USB port. Multiple cuts, right-angled cuts, cuts to obtain precision blind grooves and through slots of preset length, calibrating, curves and profiles can be entered via the keypad or imported from DXF files. Optional extras include Slab-Cam software for processing information from a digital camera that takes a picture of the slab so the saw operator decide where the cuts should be in order to avoid any unrequired figuring or to get the maximum finished material from it. Profiling and shaping functions are available direct from CAD.
Price: Prices from Euro95,000 (Prices are quoted in Euros because of the fluctuating exchange rate. They will be converted to sterling at the time of purchase)
More information: Pisani, Stone Processing Supplies. Tel: 0845 130 7733.