Lathes .. for Furniture and Railings

Used Locatelli MK-CC-E 120 Lathe

Lathes are machines to produce “turnings” generally used in the furniture or stair railing industries. Lathes can be totally manual or can be fully automated with CNC controls. The more simple lathes simply rotate the work piece while a single gouging knife following a shaped jig is transported along the length of the component shaping it to match the jig shape. More productive lathes operate on a rotating turret where the rotating components are first roughed and then finished at subsequent stations. This allows higher production without vibration. There are also high production lathes where the knives are rotating and shape slowly rotating components which move past them. More sophisticated lathes produce multi sided spindles as well as symmetrical round shapes. There are also carving lathes that produce non-symmetrical shaped components like “Queen Anne” or other furniture legs and components, axe handles, etc... Some more productive lathes produce multiple components at the same time. 

Learn more about our used lathes and other machinery at http://www.contactswwmachinery.com/.

Get Your Double-End Tenoners for Sale

Used Silver SFX-3825 Double-End Tenoner

Double end tenoners (DETs) are used for the squaring, sizing, edge profiling and edge sanding of panels. They are also used for dimensioning the length of sticks (solid lumber) generally used in the window, door and furniture industries. The material is generally transported through the machine on precision tracks, adjustable for width, past several working stations each side which can include a combination of saws (hogging heads) to cut to length,  shapers to edge shape, Tenon heads to tenon, dado heads to apply top or bottom surface grooving and either straight or profile sanders to finish panel components or the ends of sticks. The sanders can be either disk or belt units. There are also specialized DETs that process the ends of furniture components producing round or oblong hidden tenons. DETs are usually used by medium to large processing factories.

Call us today at 866-514-0890 about this and many other top-notch used woodworking machines.

The Necessity of Material Handling Equipment

Used Giben Fanuc Robot Material Handling

This category includes many different device types, all aimed at reducing the intensity of physical labour and/or reducing the required manpower to accomplish specific tasks. Devices in this category include idle and motorized floor conveyors, vacuum and mechanical material lifters, robots, return conveyors which convert many processing machines normally requiring 2 employees into single operator machines. There are also motorized scrap conveyors to automatically remove waste material, scissor lifts to keep material to be processed at a comfortable operating height for an operator and material transfers to automatically advance material from one processing machine to the next without the need for human intervention. There are panel turners to automatically flip individual panels or full bundles of panels and automated feeders to feed processing machines panels or solid wood components as well as laminating materials automatically.

Preview many other types of material handling equipment at our used woodoworking machinery web site.

Rip, Rip Hooray for Rips Saws!

Used Cantek C12 MRL Rip Saw

Rip Saws are generally used for ripping solid lumber planks. They come in either single blade or multiple blade configurations. Some multiple blade machines have 1 or more movable blades to facilitate the cutting of variable widths. Some are controlled electronically. They are often used in a lumber defecting operation. Some single blade machines are called Straight Line Rip Saws, meaning that they are capable of cutting to tolerances acceptable for later lamination for solid wood furniture, etc... The more accurate machines have the timbers transported on a knurled feed chain to control the timber more precisely. Some, generally less precise, machines are roller fed. Rip saws are generally used in larger production furniture or moulding factories where wider planks are reduced in width for subsequent operations. 

Get to know more about our high-quality used woodworking machinery at the Contacts Machinery web site today:  http://www.contactswwmachinery.com/

Panel Saws of a Vertical Kind

Used Holzher 1230 Vertical Panel Saw

Vertical Panel Saws, also known as Wall Saws, are primarily used in applications where space is at a premium. Panels are positioned almost vertically against an inclined frame that is generally positioned against a wall. The saw head traverses and rotates to allow execution of both rip and cross cuts with the same head. This makes the footprint required much smaller than for either a Sliding Table Panel Saw or a Beam Saw. They are generally purchased either as entry level machines by smaller shops, or for specific applications in larger shops. Vertical Panel Saws can be from basic machines with completely manual controls and adjustments to semi-automated machines with programmable controllers. Scoring is done either by means of leading scoring knives, or on more sophisticated machines, with an independent scoring blade. Electrics range from 120/1/60 to three phase.

For more information on used vertical panel saws or many other fine, pre-owned woodworking machines, please call 866-514-0890.

This Week's Featured Used Woodworking Machines

Used Forestor Band Saw

May 16th, 2011

Contacts Used Woodworking Machinery is proud to offer the following FEATURED machines this week.


* Forestor 900 Band Resaw
* SCMI M3 Multi Blade Rip Saw
* Whirlwind Model 1000 Undercut Chop Saw
* Heian ZR-342P Twin Table CNC Router
* Weeke BST-500 Feed Through Borer
* SCM SI-16N 10-foot Sliding table saw
 

Find out more about these and MANY other quality woodworking machines for sale by calling 1-866-514-0890 or visiting www.ContactsWWMachinery.com.

Which Planer is Right for You?

Boss GY1000RS 40 Planer

The "Planer - Thickness" category of machines includes single-surface planers and double-faced planers.

Single-surface planers are used for planing solid wood panels down to a predetermined thickness. Double faced planers are used for finishing both top and bottom surfaces of panels simultaneously. Also, there are double-faced straightening planers, which are used to eliminate the twisting and cupping that is common with rough, unplaned solid wood panels.

Thickness planing machines are equipped with planing heads that typically use straight knives but can be fitted with spiral or segmented knive for noise reduction.

Popular brands of planers include Boss, Cantek, Delta and EMA.  With so many machine choices on the make, go to a trusted source for used woodworking planers.  Call Contacts Machinery at 1-866-514-0890 today!

Boring Machines Are Nothing to Yawn About!

Biesse F39N Spindle Horizontal/Vertical Boring Machine

Used 32mm and through-feed boring machines include all multiple-spindle boring machines that have fixed drill spindles separated on 32mm centers. Some boring machines are designed in a simple, single vertical row. Others drill horizontally and have multiple spindles with in-line drilling. There are other boring machines with tilting heads that are capable of drilling either vertically or horizontally. Finally, there are also multiple head borers that are capable of simultaneously drilling horizontally and vertically.  Shops with larger production runs of similar drilling patterns can utilize feed-through multiple-head boring machines. No mater what the configuration is, these machines can range in operation from fully manual to numerically controlled.

Biesse, Gannomat, SCM, and Weeke are some of the popular brands of used borers available on the used machinery market today.

For more information on used 32mm and through-feed boring machines, check out the wide variety of used machines for sale at www.ContactsWWMachinery.com.

Shapers: What Are They and How Are They Used?

Unique 336 Shaper

Shapers range from single head machines with fixed spindles to fully automated machines with multiple heads. Most shapers are single head with a cutter head fixed to a rotating spindle. They are used for shaping solid wood components or the edges of panel components. They can be fitted with a material feeder to feed the stock longitudinally or with a sliding table which clamps the material to be fed through the cutter head. This application is generally for shaping the ends of component stock. Some have tilting spindles to allow deeper profiles with less cutter projection. There are also double head shapers, generally with one head rotating in each direction. This is to allow the operator to always work that the head that is rotating toward the material when approaching, especially when working the ends of material where breakout could be a problem. There are also floating head shapers where the material is fed through between 2 floating heads to process 2 sides and size in the same operation. There are also rotary and linear multiple head shapers that accomplish more complex shaping and edge sanding of components in only 1 pass.

SCM, Unique, Casadei, and Onsrud are a few of many brands of shapers on the used woodoworking machine market today.

If you'd like to see a wide selection of used shapers, visit the Contacts Machinery used woodworking machinery web site.

How Many Varieties of Cross-Cutting Saws Are There?

Omga T-2005 OPT Cross Cutting Saw

In this article we will review three different kinds of cross cutting saws.

1) CUTOFF saws are usually used for cutting solid wood to length, although they are also used to cut narrow panel stock to length. They can have the blade raising from under the material or lowering into the material. They normally are used to cut material less than 12” (300mm) wide as the blade does not stroke forward and back, only up and down. These saws can be manually activated with mechanical stops, semi automatic with pneumatic stops or fully automatic with CNC control. More automated machines also detect and cut out defects.   

2) MITER saws can be equipped with 1 blade which can be adjusted for simple or compound angles for cutting mouldings, base boards, etc while others have 2 fixed blades at 90 degree angles for cutting toe kicks from panels or components to length with a 45 degree cut. They can also have two blades, with one fixed and the other adjustable for cutting pieces to various lengths with angles each end, like for a picture frame application. Some also have compound angle cutting capability for crown mouldings, etc... These machines can be from small simple units for hobby workers to fully automated saws controlled by CNC for large production environments.

3)  RADIAL ARM saws are utilized for cutting wider boards or panels to length. They are generally with a single tilting blade from above and the saw head travels (is pulled and pushed) horizontally toward and away from the operator while cutting. Most radial saws are manually operated with the operator controlling the stroke required to complete the cuts. Radial saws are popular with hobby workers wanting to do all of their cutting on one machine as the blade head can be rotated up to 90 degrees to allow ripping as well as cross cutting on the same machine. Generally Radial Saws have a cross cutting capacity of from 20” (500mm) to 36” (900mm).

Cross-cutting saws made made by many manufacturers -- too many to list here.

In the market for a cutoff, miter, or radial arm saw?  Call Contacts Machinery at 1-866-514-0890 or visit the web site www.contactsmachinery.com.

This Week's Featured Used Woodworking Machines

Contacts Machinery is featuring the following machines this week:

Dowel Machines by Koch called Sprint PTP-L CNC Drill, Glue + Dowel: The machine was manufactured in 2000 and is currently in Good condition located in Eastern Canada. Voltage requirements are 480/3/60.

Presses - Hot/Cold by Wemhoner called Foil Lay-up: The machine was manufactured in 1998 and is currently in Very Good condition located in Central Canada. Voltage requirements are 460/3/60.

CNC Routers - Flat Table, Nesting by AXYZ called 4010 CNC Router: The machine was manufactured in 2008 and is currently in Very Good condition located in Central Canada. Voltage requirements are 600/3/60.

CNC Machining Centers - Pod and Rail by Biesse called Rover 336 ATC Pod + Rail CNC: The machine was manufactured in 1998 and is currently in Good condition located in Central Canada. Voltage requirements are 600/3/60.

To learn more about these and MANY MORE available machines, visit Contacts Wood Working Machinery's web site today!

What Does the CNC Mean in Used CNC Machinery?

Computer Numerical Control (CNC)

How do new and used CNC machines actually know when to start, stop, and cycle to produce the parts that the operator has programmed in a job?  It all happens in an automatic (or semi-automatic) process known as Computer Numerical Control (CNC).  Before describing what CNC is, it is important to understand its predecessor, Numerical Control (NC).

After World War Two when mass production was all the rage, NC machines were introduced into manufacturing. NC machines were hard-wired with parameters that were nearly impossible to change. Jobs were programmed by using punch cards. Even with pre-programmed jobs, these machines required significant human intervention. For example, a numercially controlled drill press requires many actions to be taken to produce a product. The process can be so complicated that a human must do something in almost every step. This much human interaction creates many opportunities for error.

When computers came along, CNC technology was introduced to manufacturing. Punch cards were replaced by floppy disks and serial cables. Data management and transfer became much easier. CNC revloutionized production manufacturing because it allowed for automation to replace human intervention.  Consequently, automation added a degree control over the consistency and quality of the compantents and products being manufactured.  Moreover, operator stress was reduced and errors were reduced. Operators now had more time to spend on higher value work than repetititve tasks. Automation comes at a cost, however. The higher the automation, the higher the price of the machine.

The addition of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) greatly simplified the programming of CNC machines. Although CAM, which is typically done in an office environment, makes the heavy burden of programming off of the machine operator, the programmer must know how the machine actually works to design effective programs. That is why machine operator experience is necessary for programming jobs.

CNC programming is based on a language called G-Code. G-codes actually specify the positions, orientations, and methods of movement to perform the CNC process. Each machine uses unique variables to carry out its particualr function (e.g., drilling holes, cutting parts, moulding, etc.). In addition to G-Code, programming languages are used perform more lengthy programs with incremental and repetitive cycles. The use vof this kind of programming is more efficient than CAM alone and defines how most new and used CNC machinery is progammed and run today.

For the best and widest selection of high-quality used CNC machinery, call Contacts Machinery TODAY at 1-866-514-0890.

Why Do I Need a Dust Collector?

Kraemer Dust Collector

Dust collectors remove the excessive dust that is generated in woodworking or other machining operations and transfer the dust to a storage area for disposal. They create cleaner and healthier air environments in the work place. Dust collection is legally required in work shops larger than a home-based shop. They range in size from small interior units pulling up to 500CFM using motors as small as 5HP to large exterior units pulling up to 100,000CFM using motors as big as 300HP. Interior dust collectors usually collect dust into either 45-gallon drums or plastic collection bags for manual disposal. Exterior dust collectors usually have collection bins built in and will deposit the dust to a container from time to time. Once the containers are full, the collected dust is then hauled away by truck. Some systems are set up so the collected dust is continuously pumped into a sealed container. Dust collectors usually filter the dirty air through cloth bags that act as a filter medium. Many collectors use a cyclone to separate out bigger, heavier particles before reaching the filter bags. The exterior unit's filter bags are periodically cleaned either by a shaker or an air pulse cleaning system to extend their useable life. Because of the large volume of air removed from a plant by an exterior unit, many are equipped with a return system to return the heated factory air after it is cleaned. This also significantly reduces the negative pressure caused by removing large volumes of air.

Popular brands of dust collectors include:  ACT, Aget, Belfab, Concept Air, Delta, Denray, Donaldson Torit, Engineered Air, Kraemer, MacDonald, Murphy, Oneida Air Systems, Spec Air, and Walco.


Check out a broad selection of dust collectors at Contacts Machinery's used woodworking equipment site.  For more information, call 1-866-514-0890.

What are Fixed and Sliding Table Saws?

Antec by Joway Sliding Table Saw

Table saws are categorized as fixed table saws and sliding table saws.

Fixed table saws come in a variety of sizes from small 8-inch hobby machines up to heavy-duty 14-inch industrial machines. They also range in power from 3HP to 10HP.  Smaller table saws run on single-phase for home-based wood shops while the larger machines run on 3-phase electricity for industrial environments. Fixed table saws saws are typically used to cut solid wood or smaller composite panels. Some utilize a scoring saw for clean cuts when cutting panels. They generally are equipped with a tilting arbour to perform angle cutting between 45 and 90 degrees. 

Sliding Table saws used in small industrial production shops. They are also used for special custom cutting in a large industrial shop that also has a beam panel saw to do most of their panel cutting. Sliding table saws tend to be very versatile having a tilting arbour as well as a mitre fence for angle and mitre cutting, respectively. These sawing machines usually are equipped with a scoring saw. The sliding table allows 5-foot or 10-foot (more common) sheets to travel while supported on the sliding table. The sliding table allows the operator to more smoothly advance the sheet through the cutting saw. Sliding table saws range in power from about 5HP to 12HP. Although some have electronic setup assistance, most of them do not.

Popular brands of table saws include:  Altendorf, Antec by Joway, Bauerle, Boss, Casadei, Casolin, Concord, Delta, EMA, Griggio, Holz-Her, Italcava, Lazzari, Magic, Martin, Ortza, Paoloni, Poitras, RGA Italtalcava, Robland, SCMI, Sicar, Stema, and Wadkin.


If your shop needs a table saw, sliding or fixed, please visit the selection at Contacts Machinery's used woodworking machines web site or call 1-866-514-0890 today.

How Can a Moulder Help My Wood Shop?

Weinig Profimat Moulder

Moulders are used to size, plane and/or mould all four sides of rough lumber stock. Moulders come in two types.  Through-feed moulders have become more popular overall in the secondary wood industries.  They have better straightening capabilities and they also fully feed the boards through the machine at the job's end, which eliminates the need for a pusher board and therefore better suited for short runs. Because of the straightening capabilities, through-feed moulders also require rough boards to be somewhat over-sized. Push-feed moulders are fed from the infeed side of the machine.  The raw boards are butt fed and pushed through the machine. Push-feed machines are typically used for construction grade lumber, where straightening is less important. The rough stock for push-feed moulders require very little oversizing. Moulders usually have four to six machining spindles, oriented both vertically and horizontally. Moreover, some machines are equipped with additional heads to accommodate specific requirements. Having up to seven heads allows the moulder to machine the important surfaces with a second head to remove less stock. This keeps the knives sharp for a longer period of time as the second head is always working with clean, pre-machined stock. Moulders range in operation from fully manual to fully automatic with a capacity to process stock boards up to 12” X 6” in size.

Popular moulder brands include:   Futura, Leadermac, Mida, Mikron, SCMI, Silver, Stegherr, US Concepts, Wadkin, Weinig, and Yates.


If you are in the market for a used moulder or would like more information, visit the Contacts Machinery used woodworking machinery web site or call 1-866-514-0890.

What's the Purpose of a Wide-Belt Sander?

SCM Sandya Wide Belt Sander

Wide-belt sanders are used for finishing flat panels mostly for the woodworking industry, but they can also be used in some plastic and metal sheet applications. These sanders generally work with panels between 24” or 610mm and 53” or 1350mm in size although there are specialized machines that accommodate panels outside of this range. Wide-belt sanders configurations range from a single head to multiple heads - one to four heads are most common. By adding more heads, it is possible to achieve finer component finishing by placing the finer grit belts onto the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th heads.  This allows the finer finish sanding to happen with only a single pass through the machine.  Similar results are otherwise achieved by doing multiple passes through one or two head machines and then increasing the grits for the second pass. Sanders (wide belt) basically have two types of heads: 1) rollers are usually more aggressive and generally used for to remove stock; 2) pads provide a larger contact area and, therefore, typically provide a higher quality finish. One of the most  common configurations is a two-head wide-belt sander with one roller followed by one pad.

Popular wide-belt sanders include:  Biesse, Boere, Cantek, Costa, DMC, Hessemann, Kundig, Sandingmaster, Sandmax, SCMI, Tagliabue, Timesavers, and Viet.
 
Interested in a top-quality, pre-owned wide-belt sander for your operation? Call Contacts Machinery at 1-866-514-0890 or visit the used woodworking equipment site for a large selection of used wide-belt sanders.

Why Do You Need a CNC Router?

CMS CNC Router

CNC flat table routers are more commonly known as CNC routers.  These machines are primarily utilized for shaping panels (routing) as well as for creating miscellaneous parts from panels. The panels are typically made from sheets or solid wood, composite wood, plastic or non ferrous metals.

The panels being routed are fixed to the machining table with mechanical clamps or by vacuum suction. Routers usually have one or two working tables. They can have one or as many as four router heads operating at the same time. These machines are computer controlled working along two to five axes; three axis is the most common configuration. Most CNC routers also do drilling although their primary function is routing.

The secondary process of making parts from larger panels is known as nesting. The nesting process optimizes the making of the parts to achieve the best possible yields from the given flat panel sheets. CNC machines are used for nesting by smaller shops for two reasons: 1)to avoid the need for a panel saw; or 2) for smaller, custom jobs where the advantages of a panel beam saw are not realized.

Popular brands of CNC routers include:  Andi, Biesse, Busellato, Cam Tech, CMS, KOMO, Morbidelli, Omnitech, SCM, Shoda, Thermwood, and Weeke.

If you would like more information about CNC routers or would like to browse an extensive selection of used cnc routers, please call 1-866-514-0890 or visit Contacts Machinery's used woodworking machinery web site.

Does Your Shop Need a CNC Machining Center?

Weeke BP-120 CNC Machining Center

CNC machining centers are fairly sophisticated machines commonly referred to CNC pod and rail or point-to-point machines. These machines are primarily used to drill horizontal and vertical holes onto pre-cut flat wood panels. Many point-to-point machines also use drill bits to do routing onto the face of the panels. Still, the primary function is typically to drill holes. The pre-sized wood panels are positioned on movable pods and are secured in place during the drilling process by vacuum through the pods or by mechanical clamping - especially for smaller parts. CNC machining centers typically have two or more working zones that accommodate multi-zone drilling /routing.

Popular brands of CNC machining centers include: Biesse, Busellato, Holz-Her, Homag, Masterwood, Morbidelli, SCMI, Unitech, and Weeke.

CNC pod and rail machines are often utilized in larger production processing operations where there is a need for greater throughput than normally achieved by smaller nesting type machines. If your shop has a need for a CNC machining center, check out the Contacts used woodworking machine web site or call 1-866-514-0890 to evaluate a broad selection.

Do You Need an Edgebander?

Biesse Akron Edgebander

Edgebanders are machines used for trimming edges on wood-based, honeycomb and other types of sheets. The edgebanding tape ranges in size from as thin as 0.3mm or 0.01 inch up to thicker PVC edging material up to 5.0mm or 0.2 inch. The edgebanding material is automatically fed from a continuous coil source. Edgebanders can also apply veneer and solid wood strip edging materials up to 30mm or 1.2 inches thick. They typically apply edging material to straight edges such as the narrow face of a sheet.  However, they can also apply edging to shaped, also known as soft-formed, edges. Some edgebanding machines have devices called pre-mill heads that prepare the edge face for the application of the edging material.  Also, some machines are equipped with corner rounding devices to trim the ends off of shaped edges.

Popular edgebander brands include:  AMT, Artech, Biesse, Bi-matic, Brandt, Cehisa, DMG, Doucet, Holz-Her, Homag, IDM, IMA, Laguna, Ocmac, Polymac, SCMI, Tecnomax, Top Master, and Voorwood.

If your operation needs to replace its edgebander or if you have grown to the point where you need a more automatic solution for edge banding, consider a used edgebander.  Come visit the Contacts used woodworking machinery web site or give them a call at 1-866-514-0890.

What Is a Panel Saw / Beam Saw?

Giben Prismatic Panel Saw

A panel saw or beam saw is an industrial machine the makes linear cuts in pre-manufactured sheets or boards.  These saws encompass a variety of horizontal saws from manually operated to automatically controlled. These machines are used to cut wood-based materials such as plywood, particle board, medium density fiber (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB) and high density fiber (HDF) sheets.

Cabinet shops, furniture makers, fixture manufacturers, and many other companies use panel saws as one of the first steps in their production process to cut full sized sheets of material into the smaller rectangular sizes needed to produce their products. Some beam saws are specially configured to cut plastic, phenolic and non-ferrous metal sheets as well. Beam saws can be loaded manually from the outfeed side of the machine or automatically from a lift table at the rear of the machine. They can have a single cutting line (single saw) or can have multiple cutting lines known as angular sizing systems or plants. Panel saws are able to cut single sheets as thin as 3mm or up to stacks of sheets as high as 8 inches depending on the configuration of the machine.

Popular panel saw brands include: Casadei, EMA, Gabbiani, Giben, Holz-Her, Holzma, Homag, Schelling, SCM, and Selco.

In today's market environment, you can find great deals on used panel saws.  For a complete selection of panels saws and other woodworking machinery, visit the Contacts Used Woodworking Machines web site or call 1-866-514-0890 today!