Inner radii on table tops, cabinet sides or rounded face plates can be easily processed on a CNC machine using a belt grinding unit.
At KreaTeam Tischlerei Kirchdorf, the unit also scores with higher quality and better fitting accuracy compared to conventional solutions.
The grinding of workpiece edges including radii still remains a significant challenge in wood and composite material processing to this day. Even using the latest grinding machines can lead to inaccuracies and unsatisfactory machining results. Unwanted deviations are the result. If workpieces are finished on separate grinding machines, they also need to be removed from the CNC machine. Complete machining does not take place.
These are all problems that are of little interest to the Kreateam Tischlerei Kirchdorf, located in Kirchdorf, Austria. The joinery with a wide product range trusts the COLLEVO+ belt sanding unit by Haslach CNC unit specialist BENZ when it comes to high-quality edge finishing.
The strategy of KREATEAM is based on three main pillars in order to be as diversiefied as possible, therefore avoiding dependency on only one market segment: trade fair construction, furniture construction for private customers, and the supplier business. Since Werner Drechsler and Andreas Mittendorfer took over the two-man shop in 2005 the number of employees has impressively increased tenfold, thanks to a steady growth and continuous modernisation.
“The main focus of KREATEAM is the quality of the machines and the tools used in the production. In addition to high quality in production, these are indispensable if the end product is also to be of the highest quality.”
Andreas Mittendorfer, Managing Director, KreaTeam
The BENZ belt sanding unit COLLEVO+ is used by Kreateam for the production of a wide variety of products, in all the above-mentioned areas.
From the original idea of only using the unit to sand stair stringers, also utilizing the unit on writing desks with inner radii, on cabinet sides and on rounded end plates developed over time.
“In contrast to its predecessor COLLEVO, the further developed COLLEVO+ now even offers the possibility to machine inner diameters larger than one meter. Both a higher quality and a better fitting accuracy are guaranteed, compared to conventional grinding machines. In addition, the oscillating sanding movements can avoid the stripes that usually appear in the wood surface."
Hansjörg Nopper, Appplication Engineer, BENZ Tooling
Before using the BENZ belt sanding unit, the sanding work at Kreateam was carried out as a separate operation on an edge sanding machine, which required additional manpower.
This meant that a lot of time as well as a lot of money was lost. For this reason, the joinery purchased a sanding gel for its Homag BMG 310 machine. However, due to the line contact method, the finished sanding result was not entirely satisfactory.
Finally, the decision was made to equip their shop with a BENZ belt sanding unit COLLEVO+, particularly as this unit also allows for the machining of inner radii.
“We are completely convinced by the combination of a Homag machine and a BENZ unit, and we are also still extremely satisfied with the purchase decision", says managing director Andreas Mittendorfer. "Due to the fact that our company has been using BENZ units for quite some time now and that we have had very good experiences with them, it was clear to us that a BENZ would be the purchase of choice yet again". It will probably be a similar topic when looking at "top-scanned curves", which is something the company would like to deal with in the future"
Andreas Mittendorfer, Managing Director, KreaTeam
BENZ Tooling is one of the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of components and systems for tool and machine tooling technology. The company employs about 300 people and is represented in over 30 countries worldwide. BENZ is part of the measuring and process systems division of Schenck and belongs to the Dürr Group.
