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Yesterday I sat on a plane for most of the day, on my way to Orlando to do a workshop that begins on Thursday. We stopped in Dallas for a four hour layover, normally something I would not favor. But this layover was special for there was just enough time to jump in a waiting car and go over to the MultiCam head office for a grand tour.
I had heard the place was large, 100,000 square feet in one building and 40,000 in another. But reading those numbers and seeing the real thing was a whole other matter. We toured the offices first, saying hi to many folks I knew from the trade shows I had been to. Then we stepped onto the production floor where the machines are manufactured. It was massive! We started our tour where the large racks of steel were piled, walking down a long, long isle, poking into various departments along the way. I saw CNC machines of every size and description in all stages of construction. Pieces were neatly piled everywhere, ready to weld or bolt onto the heavy frames. We went through fabrication, welding, finishing, painting, assembly, machining, and final electronics and packaging.
Near the end of the tour we stopped at a special machine and I instantly recognized it for it was the only one of it's kind. The machine was a four by eight table with a raised and extended gantry. Along side the machine was a low bed with polished rails that would soon hold the fourth axis for the machine. All the pieces for the assembly were handy hand, ready for their final bolting in place. The wiring was largely done, and it looked pretty nice. In about a week it will be ready to be tested and then disassembled and packaged for the trip up to our studio in British Columbia. I snapped a couple of pictures and then jumped in the waiting car to go back to the airport. The long held dream of a fourth axis router is now very real. I've witnessed it first hand and physically walked around the machine.
As I flew the rest of the way to Orlando I turned my mind back to the task at hand. Today I spent the day gathering needed supplies. Tomorrow everything will be readied for the Sign Magic Workshop that starts Thursday. There is still room if someone wants to come. I'll be ready and raring to go!
Next week Janis will join me as we explore all the wonders of Disney World once more. Then I'm back to my studio to pick up where we left off, and to welcome the new MultiCam four axis machine to it's new home. The real routing fun is about to begin in earnest!
I can hardly wait!
-grampa dan
[ November 01, 2011, 06:12 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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A four axis router will spin the piece in a controlled, indexed manner while the spindle head goes up and down and travels the length of the piece. The machine that MultiCam is building for me will handle a piece of material up to 24" in diameter and eight feet long. The gantry (the horizontal frame over the bed of the router) will have ten inches of clearance, meaning I can put much thicker material on it, already glued to final thickness instead of slicing it in the program, routing the layers, and then reassembling it before paint.
My current CNC router has 6" of gantry clearance.
I have a long list of projects already dreamed up. Precision Board has a good sized shipment of large blocks and the regular sheets of board on the way as well. Plus the fellows who write the EnRoute program are ready to jump on a plane and test out their new ideas of software for the machine and also discuss a wish list of future functions for the new router capabilities. It is an exciting time with unlimited possibilities for the future!
I'm ready!
-grampa dan
[ November 01, 2011, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8738 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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WOW way cool it sure is great what this digital has taken. CNC routers are no where in my scope of cash flow but sure is cool to see happen and what people are doing.
Sure like to be at your work shop but little work I get .. need my truck to drive 1st gosh just to shake your hand and say thank you for the inspiration I see and read be cool.
Have a great time while here in Orlando you may want to see Gatorland did some additions, Legoland is brand new just opened, Harry Potter is great fun at Universal.
I don't know where Multi-Cam or your workshop is here, but I'm just North of downtown can ride my bicycle if not to far.
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That looks really interesting Dan! I have also spent the last year thinking about an upgrade, and am just about to place an order for a new router, all the financing is approved, we have just been ironing out the build I wanted.
Its a high speed servo machine (up to 60meters a minute). We originally where going to have the gantry at 400mm but now it is going to be 600mm (24in) high, toolchanger , prewired for laser 3d scanner, also setup for 4th axis so that you can rout from the side. We wanted a table size of 2100mm x 3100mm as most sheet material over here is 2030mm x 3050mm.
Really looking forward to it, it about 3 months to delivery, when do you get yours?
Here are a few pictures showing an identical machine that is 4m long, also show the 90 side cutter, and 3d laser etc
They have some great film clips at www.kimla.pl click on the site for english
[ November 16, 2011, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Henry Barker ]
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Sonny, Here was a test piece from a few years ago of what a 4 axis machine can do.. I am still building my Larger version, but its not ready for primetime yet.
Should be able to Handle 4ft x 4ft x 10ft with an extender to go up to 20ft if needed. Just don't have a shop big enough for that. (not that I need to do anything that big as I could not lift material that big without the help of a forklift or crane. Except for Styrofoam.
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In the last year of looking at machines, its amazing to see what can be built today, even machine control software, has made big changes, I missed the small features like being able to increase or decrease both feedrate and spindle revs, but instead of stopping the machine ans setting new parameters its just a dial on the display, also seeing the job live on a display next to the router, instead of a handset is a plus for me.
I found this little film clip showing something similar Bill, and the angle cutter.
Always following your posts Dan, be great to see what you get up to when it comes, think the pub work you have been doing looks great, the perfect job.
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