Exmedia have been creating extraordinary experiences for over 25 years. Working with loyal clients including global financial brands and tech giants the company delivers dazzling events including conferences, product launches, awards ceremonies, AGMs, exhibitions and road shows.
Ian Smith, Production Manager at Exmedia, began researching the market for a new sliding table panel saw as their client base and production workload continued to expand. The production team had been using a sliding table saw to process predominantly MDF sheet material, but felt there was room for improvement in accuracy and durability. Ian wanted to take the opportunity to upgrade and leap forward in panel saw technology. As the worlds leading panel saw, the Altendorf F45 was first choice.
Whilst the main requirement was to find a precision cutting machine with solid build quality, upon further inspection, Ian realised the Altendorf F45 also features an array of time saving advantages to assist the manufacturing process. With this in mind, Ian sought expert advise from official Altendorf distributors Daltons Wadkin to discuss all the options.
Daltons Wadkin and Exmedia share an important characteristic; an inventory of the highest quality equipment. Alex Dalton, Director at Daltons Wadkin comments: “We are committed to offering the very best products with the ultimate after sales care to match. We have spent over 116 years developing relationships with our trusted suppliers. When a client seeks the best sliding table saw available, the flag ship Altendorf F45 is the only answer”.
The Altendorf F45 EvoDrive was specified with a large, 3400mm sliding table length alongside a 300mm-wide infeed support roller and STEG workpiece support. This combination of operator-friendly features allows full size sheets to be processed ergonomically with one operator.
With Exmedia’s increasing production requirements and tighter deadlines, Ian Smith stressed the importance of significantly reducing or eliminating operator error, and achieving a perfect cut first time. Rip cuts of varying widths are repetitively made, therefore the large capacity 1600 mm CNC rip fence was selected. Altendorf’s CNC rip fence boasts a smooth traverse speed of 250 mm/s with an accuracy of +/− 1/10 mm. The high-precision five-point recirculating ball spindle system requires very little maintenance.
Altendorf’s patented crosscut mitre-fence with DIGIT LD, features integral length compensation makes performing bevel cuts and mitre cuts precise with one function. The DIGIT LD display shows all stop settings on a conveniently placed screen on the fence. Used in conjunction with the powerful EvoDrive, up to 999 named programs can be saved. This is a huge benefit for Exmedia as they can now set and save the dimensions for contracts which require repeat-sized materials.
“The new Altendorf F45 Evodrive is superb. If we need to make a large number of repeat cuts, we simply create a program to save the sawblade and rip fence positions. If, for example, a member of the team needs to make one, singular cut we can swiftly adjust the machine, make the cut and then select the previous program and we’re back to the last setting. Looking back, I don’t know how we managed to keep up without it”, Comments an Exmedia production operative.
Daltons Wadkin have supplied Altendorf panel saws to a range of industries including exhibition, timber frame, furniture and kitchen manufacturers, shop fitters, universities and colleges as well as plastic, metal and composite suppliers to name a few.
This is yet again another example of a company making the transition from classical to CNC assisted woodworking equipment to machine smarter. Although a higher initial investment, the timesaving benefits coupled with absolute precision and accuracy see a quick return in quality and of course minimising errors.
Explore the Altendorf F45 panel saw
