Plywood and osb upholstery frames

[ekocontract]

I manufacture upholstered furniture and would like to know if I can cut 1/2 inch plywood or 3/4 inch osb in one pass on the alpha. For the machine to work out I would need to process 4 sheets per hour.
Can this machine be setup to achieve this?

For material hold down, I have read that some use two Vein Turbo III for pulldown, anything wrong with using four

[harryball]

I have cut 3/4" ply in a single pass using two Fein T3's for hold down. A sheet every 15 minutes will depend on how much cutting you have to do, if you have to do a bit change and how quickly your man can clear the table, clean and load the next sheet. I wouldn't say it's impossible by any means but I have a sheet of small parts that takes an hour to cut whereas a sheet of cabinet parts can cut in 10 minutes.

I will say, if you plan to go at top speed plan for using a 3/8" bit. You can really push them to limits that would break 1/4" bits.

/RB

[thewoodcrafter]

I just can't see processing 4 sheet/hour.
It depends on the number of parts, the material, the bit, the spindle and the hold down.

A friend of mine has a big iron Thermwood. We cut 1 on my jobs on it and we averaged 20min/sheet.

You would have to have everything set up just right. 5HP spindle, load and un-load spoil boards with tables at both ends of the machine and some good hold down.

A ShopBot has the speed and power to cut in one pass but it depending how fast you can move.

[gene]

Duff,
What size parts are you going to be cutting? What i would suggest is to take a few of the parts you are going to be cutting to a shop in your area and see one cut the parts you need . There are people who would be glad to show you the machines, or at worst case take the parts to shopbot for a hands on demo. I do believe that 4 sheets an hour is not going to be that hard to obtain..

[bcammack]

Sounds like the sort of application where a double-length bed might be productive. Then you could run the job on one end of the bed while unloading/reloading the other end.

[dray]

your shopbot will cut faster than 2-3 guys can layout and cut on blank sheets and 10x more accurate and it is repeatable 24/7

I suggest making 2 fast paths rather than one full depth cut.

I cut MDF at 500-600 ipm 2 passes for cabinetry and I cut about 4-6 sheets an hour depending upon part sizes.

If you are only using one bit and vacuum system you can unload and load in just a couple minutes.

While you are saving the work of 3 guys and just using one to load/unload the other 2 can be assembling.

You will at least double your production

Danny Ray
www.drayconstruction.com (http://www.drayconstruction.com)