The tools used by masons and the machinery in fabricators’ workshops play a vital role in the processing of stone, making it possible to achieve better finishes quicker and more economically all the time. NSS takes a look at some of the latest developments.

Just introduced by Technical Diamond Products is a range of carbide / tungsten abrasive tools from Danish company Carbide. And along with the abrasives, Technical Diamond Products (TDP) have introduced tools from Germans Rokamat (one of them for cleaning floors and walls is pictured on the right being held by TDP Partner Justine Watkins).

The Rokamat power tools have the head separate from the power unit, which is clipped to a belt, connected by a flexible drive.

Taking the motor away from the working head considerably reduces the weight that the operator has to hold as well as taking the motor away from the concentration of dust, so it lasts longer. Adding a handle increases the reach of the operator, making it possible to grind a floor while standing. A vacuum dust remover can also be attached, with the operator carrying the pump and dust bag on their back.

There are single and double head versions of the Rokamats with both 110V and 240V power packs. TDP are selling them for about £1,000 each and they attracted a lot of interest when they were shown at the Natural Stone Show this month and before that at Ecobuild, where it was not just stone companies who wanted them.

The idea is not new. The Germans and Poles have been using these products for 25 years, says TDP Partner Neville Watkins. They have found them so useful they have brought them with them to the UK when they have come here to work. But the exhibitions will have been the first time a lot of people in the UK have seen them – hence all the interest.

TDP came across them when they started selling the Carbide abrasives because Carbide make disks for use with the Rokamat units.

A pair of 200mm carbide disks for the Rokamats are £46. Diamond disks are also available.

The Carbide products have been taken into the TDP range after tests in masonry workshops last year. Their longevity was what really impressed the suppliers and their customers.

Another newcomer to the TDP range is the Zenesis saw, available in any size anyone wants up to 3m. Re-tipping segments are available separately. The efficiency of the blade has been improved by placing the diamonds into it in an even pattern, rather than randomly.

On the way, for memorial masons in particular, are hand-held and fixed base machines for drilling memorials for dowels and vases. They are still being tested at the moment but TDP intend to launch them in May. They come from Germany and their big plus is that they are third of the price of some of the products currently on the market.

One of the most popular marques of tool in the stone industry is Flex, available from several of the industry’s tool suppliers, although the German manufacturers exhibited on their own stand at the Natural Stone Show in order that their range should get maximum exposure.

Among their best sellers to stone companies is the CS60 wet-cut diamond stone saw. Its long list of features include being able to cut angles up to 45°, a GFCI circuit breaker integrated in the cord, an extra powerful motor for stone cutting, continuous cut depth setting of 0-60mm with rail guide up to 54mm and an angled cut of 0-44mm with guide rail up to 38mm. The protective cover is of magnesium die-castings and the rubber motor protection prevents spray damage from the water-cooled blade.

Flex have responded to concerns about vibration injury (HAVS) on their spinners by including SoftVib handles that they say significantly reduce the vibration transmitted to hands and arms. They have soft start and speed pre-selection to maintain a constant speed even under load and overload protection with temperature monitoring.

There is also vibration dampening between the spindle and the tool being used to reduce further damaging vibration transmitted to the user as well as aiding smooth running, making it easier to guide the tool and increasing the service life of the machine. Effective dust extraction is achieved thanks to a large cross-section extraction tube.

Another popular tool for stonemasons is the TE 14-3 125 Wet, a planetary gear three-head polisher with each head carrying a 125mm disc. They describe it as “the perfect machine for the perfect finish on granite and marble surfaces”.

With a hand-operated 300mm platform of Duralimin (a hardened, anodized aluminium) and belt driven heads for quieter operation and less heat build-up, it delivers the ideal speed for high performance grinding, honing and polishing. And although it is a ‘wet’ tool with central water feed, the water can be shut off for efficient dry operation.

Makita were at the Natural Stone Show at Excel exhibiting alongside Stonetools of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, suppliers of tools and consumables making their debut at the exhibition. Makita tools were also on the stand of D Zambelis, another of the stone industry’s machinery and accessory suppliers.

Makita promoted key products in their range for use with stone and had added-value offers and incentives to persuade visitors to try their tools.

David Hales, Regional Sales Manager of Makita UK, told NSS: “We are underlining safety messages and the importance of dust, vibration and noise control with our innovative Advanced Vibration Technology (AVT) and Lithium-ion battery technology.

“Of particular interest to tool fleet owners is the Makita Service Plus 5-year package, which offers the best-in-the-industry repair service cover.”

Makita’s Solutions packages, designed for the trades, include accredited training courses on the correct and safe use of power tools and information guidance on dust control, noise reduction and vibration risks.

Dust extraction needs to be an essential health protection policy in all working environments and is especially relevant to the stone industry. The Makita 447M and 447L wet and dry dust extractors meet legislative standards. They have a tank capacity of 45-litres and extra fine PET-fleece filters to clean the exhaust air, as well as ‘X-TremeClean’ automatic filter cleaning to ensure they continue to provide effective filtration as time goes on.

Makita continue to expand their accessory range. Diamond blades have become a success in their own right and there are drill bits, steels, router bits, abrasives, service components and other tools in the accessory range.

Another first time exhibitor at the Natural Stone Show were CRL Stone, although the organisation is familiar from the Ebor days before the new premises they have opened in Rochdale became the European headquarters of Americans CR Laurence.

CRL Stone were introducing a lot of products that they have set out in a heavyweight 148-page catalogue launched at the natural Stone Show. It includes a wide range of ADI tools, of which the CRL ADI Ninja Blades (one is pictured above) are an example.

The Ninja is for use on CNC machines. The blades can cut just about any natural or engineered stone, including granite, marble and quartz. They come in various diameters and are stacked on to a spindle to create many different profiles. All kinds of profile combinations can be assembled, which means you don’t need to buy so many tools.

Then there is the CRL ADI Tilt Wheel, another ‘ultra high speed tool’ for producing built up edges. The design and shape allow a greater surface area to apply the adhesive to, giving a stronger joint.

V-grooved edges can be cut on a CNC machine, so you don’t need a separate mitre cutting machine. And the CRL ADI Tilt Wheel can work radiused edges or corners, unlike a mitre-cutter.

The new catalogue features all kinds of routers, including the CRL ADI King Eagle and Red Eagle routers. The King Eagle is primarily for use with engineered quartz, although it is also suitable for granite, while the Red Eagle is primarily for granite but can be used with quartz. Both have reinforced bodies with straight diamond segments to reduce vibration making them quieter and longer lasting.

Contrary to general market conditions, CRL say they have had a great 12 months and that lately the UK appears to have stabilised leaving customers more optimistic now than at the same time last year.

The past 12 months have been positive for CRL Stone with a number of new developments, including a new Stone website where you can check stock and order on-line 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

CRL, whose headquarters are in Los Angeles, USA, have more than 50,000 items for the stone, glass and construction industries, and have 17 locations in the USA, four in Canada, two in Australia and four in Europe, with Rochdale being the head office for Europe.

Over at DK Holdings the latest development is the Ultra Mini 5mm radiused polishing CNC diamond routers (pictured below). They were produced in response to what customers were saying they wanted to achieve on worktops.

They allow the grinding and polishing of bowl cutouts with corners of just 10mm radius, creating a 5mm eased pencil top edge.

The four metal bond diamond and four resin diamond polishers will grind and polish most granites and engineered stone, achieving an excellent polish quickly with long life of the tools.

The first four stages of metal bond include a 1/2in BSP fitting, while stages 5, 6, 7 and 8 resins require an adaptor.

There are also Ultra Mini CNC diamond drums for grinding and polishing straight edges with corners of 10mm radius and Ultra Mini 45° bevelling CNC diamond polishing routers, again allowing the grinding and polishing of bowl cutouts with tight corners and producing a 45° bevelled top edge.

Tim Jessop, DK’s Sales Manager, says DK are also doing well in floor polishing. They designed their own floor polishing machine, the Tornado 2+10, that they hire out in association with selling the discs the machines use. Tim says there is currently strong demand for the floor polishers in London as premises are spruced up ready for the Olympics.

Finding the best combination of tools and settings to produce a perfect finish in the shortest time has been exercising D Zambelis at the start of this year.

Working with their customers Wright Stone in Kent and the Taglio software company they made numerous tests with different combinations of tools and grits to find the best combination to produce 60º recess drainers with a polish that can go straight out the door without any hand finishing. They achieved their goal.

Wright stone bought the £40,000 Gisbert FG150 from Zambelis, which is the smallest workcentre in the Gisbert range.

The most successful results were achieved quickest using 14 of the Zambelis own-brand tools in the following combinations:

For grinding

2 x Surface Routers of 85mm diameters,

2 x 60º degree conic diamonds

For polishing

6 x flat resin polishing wheels

4 x conic resin polishing wheels

The stones used in the tests were black Nero Absoluto and Angola. The test was to create a draining board in each stone measuring 500mm x 400mm with 100mm radius corners.

No adaptors or other extras were used and the finish achieved in both cases was of exceptionally high quality, as visitors to the Natural Stone Show this month were able to see for themselves because the test pieces were on the Zambelis stand.

Machining time was only one hour 20 minutes for each draining board – and that on the smallest machine in the Gisbert range that has manual, albeit pneumatically assisted, tool change. Stella Zambelis says the production time on the fully automatic FG200 and FG3000 would inevitably be less.

Waters Group have been steadily expanding and developing their range of tools over the years and are confident of being able to fulfil orders for any application and for any make of machine.

Latest from Waters includes a face polishing system that Konig have developed. It is a familiar Velcro-backed, eight position set of two metal-bonds and five resins, but it has a novel buffer that is partially polishing powder in composition, so it gives a superior gloss, particularly on dark colours. This system is interchangeable between manual and CNC machines and is suitable for all machinery. The complete system, including the back, comes in at £1,349 net.

A new development from Konig is the T1 blade. The segments have been developed with new layer technology, giving each segment nine layers of sandwich segments. During a recent visit to Konig the Waters Group team were impressed with the way the blade sliced through dense, dark granite.

Waters Group also have Fimad edge polishing wheels that give excellent results on the Montresor edge polishers that Waters sell… or any other edge polisher. The Nitro wheels are versatile and can be used on granite and quartz stone, so you don’t have to switch for different products. Waters are Arix stockists. Arix are competitively priced wet / dry blades and routers. The CNC routers have given some customers up to 300 linear meters of use for just £50 per router for quantity orders.

A new range of Arix blades has just been taken into stock at Waters that promises an even faster, cleaner cut with longer life. Trials will be carried out at customers’ premises to assess performance.

And Gorillas have moved in – but not the hairy sort. Waters have become UK and Irish agent for the Gorilla Grip seam alignment kit that comes in its own box complete with pads and an on-board electric vacuum pump. You might have seen the live demonstrations at the Natural Stone Show.

Marmoelettromeccanica have added a set of 10mm small diameter wheels. Their Master range is a best seller for Waters – and is now especially competitively priced as it is on special offer.

The Biesse Group, who make Intermac CNC workcentres, have had their own, in-house diamond toolmakers since taking over Diamut in 2002.

Diamut have been making diamond tools for more than 25 years, providing customers with a wealth of experience that combines leading technology with a deep understanding of today’s market requirements.

Diamut’s range of wet and dry application tools features discs, wheels and wires to ensure the best result possible from the products. The new range of Flex HT blades have been designed to give a high quality finish cut in a faster time and with longer life while still being competitively priced.

The blades feature a unique wear pattern and are available in diameters from 300mm to 600mm, which makes them ideal for the granite and engineered stones processed in the UK.

Diamut have also now introduced a blade re-tipping service for Diamut or any other brand. And Simon Vickery, Tooling Sales Manager, says: “Our technicians will also be pleased to offer advice on ways you can improve your blade performance, making them last longer and become more cost-effective.”

Diamut’s range has been expanded to include quarry and static wire, cutting tools for the construction industry and a complete range of tools for CNC and manually operated machinery. The developments gave Diamut a lot to talk about at the Natural Stone Show this month.

Roccia Machinery introduced a new, own-branded range of tools at the Stone Show, including Matrix diamond blades they have developed with Edge Diamond.

The diamonds are positioned in a pattern to give improved cutting performance and longer life. The pattern changes depending on the application and the bonding, but it goes right through the segment. The segment keeps its width and shape and gives a clean, chip-free finish. The blanks that hold the segments are made from a high grade copper sandwich for quiet operation.

Apex Grange, meanwhile, have a range of masonry tools that includes the three-stage Kest polishing system. Achieving a polish in three stages rather than eight is popular, especially on-site and especially when it is half the price of a set of eight discs.

Apex Grange have also taken on the Aguila range of polishing discs for jenny linds and PAG prismatic blocks and munchen segments that AJ Lopez used to sell, as well as Sia abrasive discs that add floor polishing pads to the Sait range they offer.

They even have a range of chisels that were previously sold by Lopez. And you will be able to see their whole ranger better on-line soon because Apex Grange plan to launch a new website in the first half of this year.

Gibson introduce trimming hammers

G Gibson & Co, who make a wide range of hand-tools for masons at their Leeds factory, have introduced a carbide-tipped trimming hammer. It comes in a four-tip and two-tip version, with the two-tip being left or right handed as required. 

Craig Timmins, who runs the company, says now that their CNC tools have been set up to produce the hammers the range wil increase during the year as demand dictates.

The hammers are £65 or £90, depending on whether you have the two tip or the four tip version.

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