Report : Machinery (continued)
Continuing the major annual review of machinery by Natural Stone Specialist plus web links to the suppliers . . .
Another range that has been a hit for the Waters Group is Emmedue saws. Director Daniel Waters says they have proved popular in the UK due to their high production rates and low maintenance requirement. In Verona, Emmedue will be showing the Astra three-axes, Discovery four-axes and Zenith five-axes saws, as well as their full range of portable saws.
The latest developments in the Proliner digital templater range that Waters Group sell will be on the Prodim stand. On show for the first time will be the Proliner 4, a compact, low price, 2D scanner for use in the factory. It has a range of five meters and a 150mm display for easy operation.
Waters Group edge polishers come from Italians CMG, who are showing a new compact machine that may be small but still includes the flotter device for fast polishing. An easy-to-use display allows individual control of the heads to program-in stop ends and irregular shapes.
Waters Group sales staff will be at the exhibition and more than happy to take customers around any of the companies they represent.
Donatoni Macchine are welcoming British customers to their stand at Marmomacc, where they will be showing the developments they have made in the past year. They include the five-axes CNC Echo 625, also available in a monobloc version called Echoframe.
Taking a blade up to 625mm, the Echo’s axes are driven by brushless motors with high precision gearboxes and the X, Y and Z axes move on ball runner blocks coupled with linear guides in an oil bath. The Z axis travel is 370mm. There are options for using various diamond tools, such as wheels, finger bits, core drills and a horizontal disc for shaping.
They will also show the Quadrix DG, a five-axes workcentre for shaping, carving, engraving, cutting and sculpting, and which also has the option of a lathe. The head rotates through 0-540° and inclines from -10° to +190°.
This is a big, sophisticated machine for companies who want to process large, intricate pieces for architecture and interior design. The Z axis travel can be 1600mm (although there is also a 1200mm version). Tool connection using an ISO 50 cone allows a stainless steel extension to be used to carry diamond tools up to 600mm long, driven by an inverter at 0-6,500rpm. There are two versions, the ATC has automatic tool change while it is manual on the MTC.
One development in stone machinery that has not gone too smoothly is the introduction of the Kuka robot arm and its associated stone-working software. The HTM Robostone was introduced to the UK by Harbro in Bishop Auckland in 2007, but some of those who bought it feel they have not received the support and development they believed they would get.
Legal action was instigated against Harbro by one of their customers who bought a Robosaw and others who bought the Robostone threatened it but say they are not pursuing it.
Harbro say Geoff Bowles, who was Managing Director, is no longer available and refer callers instead to David Breedon and Gordon Hampton, neither of whom have been available for comment.
Earlier in the year, Geoff Bowles told NSS that Luca Terzago, one of the founders of HTM in Italy, had left HTM to form another company, T&D Robotics, also selling the Kuka robot arms. Their version is sold under the name of Lapisystem.
James King, recruited by Harbro from selling Bavelloni CNC workcentres had left Harbro and at the beginning of last year formed a company called High Technology Machines UK, which represents T&D Robotics (and others) in the UK. Luca Terzago of T&D Robotics in Italy says they have sold one of their robots in Britain.
Geoff Bowles had told NSS: “There are two warring Italian companies and we’re stuck in the middle. It’s a mess, I accept that.”
Now everyone seems to be keeping their heads down. And while some of the stone companies who have bought the robot arms might be unhappy about the service they have received, three of them, at least, report general satisfaction with most of the actual work produced by them.
James King has offered to give HTM customers support for their machines through his new company and is working with them.
Luca Terzago says that, through High Technology Machines UK, T&D have been working with J Rotherham in East Riding, one of the HTM customers, to create a production line for worktops and fireplaces, creating new software that has been working since June.
Luca says research and development continues and that you will be able to see the latest Lapisystem 12/R30 Evo robot on the T&D Robotics stand at Marmomacc.
Wells are proud to offer British engineering
It has been just as difficult a year for Wells Wellcut, Britain’s own stone saw and cropper manufacturers, as it has for importers.
The snow got the year off to a bad start because, says Luke Wells, who runs Wells Wellcut, when companies can’t work they are not inclined to buy machines.
As the snow at last began to melt, Wells received an order for a 1200mm Wellcut saw, a 1600mm and a 2m as well as a cropper with powered rollers from a company in Sheffield. That was quickly followed by an order for an 1800mm and a 1m saw from Orkney, both with powered tables that turn through 360º.
As the year has progressed, Luke says the pace of work has picked up but it is still not going to be a bumper year. “We usually sell 50-60 croppers a year. We will probably do 30 this year,” he says. “It has been a very turbulent three years but we’re weathering the storm.”
Luke is usually happy to adapt his products and engineering skills to whatever customers want – lately he has been making a heavy-duty, 2.7m mobile tumbler with 10mm thick steel walls and a lining of eight strips of polyurethane at £60 a strip for a customer in Ireland. It took four hours just to drill 200 holes in the barrel.
“It’s all in a day’s work,” says Luke, adding: “I will do whatever I have to do to keep things going, but it’s been hard. It is a strength that we have got the facility to make bespoke machinery for people and our prices aren’t over the top.”
He has nearly finished making a cropper with powered rollers and a sequential back stop lifted by hydraulic ramps. The only electrics on the machine and for the hydraulic pump. Luke likes hydraulics because they are virtually trouble free.
Although Wells do not face the same currency fluctuations that have beset machinery importers, they have seen costs fluctuate, especially the price of steel. “I’m paying £800 a tonne for steel now whereas I was paying only half that,” says Luke. “You have to buy it and you can’t put your prices up so you just have to work a bit faster and a bit longer. But I’m making sure what we do is right and customers are 100% happy with what we have made for them. If you do a good job they will tell four people about it but if you do a bad job they will tell 11 people.”
The latest developments from Wells are the Mark 8 cropper (pictured on the left), a heavy duty machine with a 300mm high x 600mm wide cutting capacity and a power feed roller system with each individual roller chain driven by a hydraulic motor and gearbox.
This machine has extra load rollers to enable loading stone scants directly on to feed rollers to be taken to the blade. It comes fully equipped with a 15kW three-phase power unit with a high output pump fitted as standard.
The Wells Tumbler is also an addition to the range. The tumblers have a speed control on the rotating drum and a geared drive.
The full range of Wells Wellcut machines can be seen on their website at the address below.
City Business Finance continue to support the industry
Almost all businesses have experienced changes in the level of support provided by their banks over the past two or three years, resulting in reduced or withdrawn banking facilities. Even asset finance offered by companies associated with the banks appears to be a thing of the past.
Machinery finance is being declined as banks seek to reduce overall exposure or are unable to provide finance unless advances are in excess of £100,000, making investment in new technology more difficult to secure for small to medium-sized businesses.
There is an alternative. City Business Finance (CBF) have been funding the natural stone industry and associated trades for more than seven years now and have a detailed knowledge and understanding of the machinery and processes used in the industry. This has been key to their continued support of stone companies.
CBF’s Matthew Gilbert has become a familiar face in the stone industry, facilitating the investment in machinery that companies need to prosper in an increasingly competitive market place.
Matthew says: “We pride ourselves on offering competitive terms on both new and used machinery and have provided finance for a wide range of clients, from some of the largest quarries and stone processing firms to the smallest, privately-owned memorial companies.”
City Business Finance provide: traditional hire purchase, finance leases and contract hire.
And with the lack of support from the business banking sector, CBF have seen their provision of re-financing increase.
Generally secured on unencumbered machinery, re-financing can be used for a variety of purposes, including a cash injection, for management buyouts and the rescheduling of existing finance payments to reduce monthly overheads.
Matthew also says that investment in material handling and dust extraction systems has been more commonplace over recent months, as many business owners are looking to improve factory environments.
This type of equipment can be funded with no – or low – deposits and advances repayable over two, three or four years.
Matthew Gilbert and City Business Finance will be attending the Marmomacc exhibition in Verona again this year and for the first time will be able to approve financing at the show for both existing and new clients looking to invest in new or pre-owned machinery.
Matthew Gilbert can be contacted on his landline (Tel: 01959 569 669) or on his mobile (07785 904 555) throughout the exhibition. He looks forward to meeting you there.
Interest free loans
If you are planning to replace existing machines with more energy efficient machines – by buying a saw with an inverter motor, for example, or improving your workshop or office lighting, heating or insulation – you could be eligible for an interest free loan of between £3,000 and £100,000
You have to have been trading for at least a year and can’t use the money to upgrade or alter vehicles, but the loan has no arrangement fees and is unsecured for up to four years. No catches, apart from the hoops you have to jump through to show how much carbon you are saving, although there is a carbon calculator on the website to help you. And the amount of money available to you relates to your reduction in carbon emissions.
The loans are available only to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
To be considered a SME you have to have fewer than 250 full-time employees, a turnover under £43million and not be part of a big organisation.
If you want a Carbon Trust loan it might be an idea to move quickly before the government realises the scheme exists and cuts it.
For more inforomation. . .
Accurite: www.accurite.co.uk
Breton Machinery UK: www.bretonmachinery.co.uk
Combined Masonry Supplies: www.masonrysupplies.co.uk
CRL Stone: www.crlaurence.co.uk
Donatoni Macchine: www.donatonimacchine.eu
Harbro Supplies: www.harbrosupplies.co.uk
High technology Machines UK / T&D Robotics: http://tdrobotics.com
Intermac: www.intermac.com
Kasins: www.kasins.com
Laser Products Europe: www.laserproductseurope
AJ Lopez & Co: No website. Tel: 0208 544 9980
National Masonry: www.nationalmasonry.co.uk
New Stone Age: www.newstoneage.co.uk
Pisani: www.pisanisps.co.uk
Roccia Machinery: www.rocciamachinery.co.uk
ScandInvent: www.scandinvent.com
Stone Machinery UK: www.stonemachineryuk.co.uk
The Stone Processing Machinery Company: www.thestonemachinerycompany.co.uk
The Waters Group: www.watersgroupltd.co.uk
Wells Wellcut: www.wellswellcut.co.uk
D Zameblis: www.dzambelis.co.uk