Our collection of CNC routers deliver endless, high quality productivity in a short amount of time to help slash labor costs and reduce waste. Routers cut and bore various hard materials such as wood, plastics, aluminum composites, foams and more with little supervision needed and minimal manual effort required.
The functionality of the CNC router is unmatched in its ability to repeatedly create identical products, it uses a computer generated system that can be programmed to produce a desired result. The use of CNC routers are like having a skilled carpenter at work for you, with much less potential for error and high levels of accuracy. This type of equipment is used in projects like door carvings, wood signs and panels, molding, furniture and more.
CNC routers can run almost constantly with very little downtime needed for occasional maintenance, thus providing highly efficient production. These machines have heavy-duty solid base steel frames and a robust design — they are built to endure rugged conditions in factories, shops, plants and warehouses. You can be sure your new CNC router will provide generations of use with all the specifications you need and more.
Heavy-duty CNC routers, no matter their design, are marvels of modern productivity. Of course, many users are interested in a wood-working-specific machine, but the fact of the matter is, if it’ll cut steel it most definitely will cut wood, so metal-cutting ones are what we will discuss here (this being a machine tools website and all). CNC routers have an incredible flexibility that enables them to cut many varied and dissimilar materials. The secret to the success of CNC routers? Why ultra-high-speed spindle rpms with serious horse power available, usually ranging from 4 HP to 20 HP per spindle. Add to that very stout cutting head an array of extremely accurate cutting tools that range in composition from uncoated high-speed steel to high-speed steel with a coating to a carbide-tipped routing tool to a carbide-tipped coated routing tool to the final epitome of cutting tools: diamond-coated routing tools (which are themselves created on CNC cutter-grinders probably running diamond grinding wheels). Another wonderful trait of the CNC router is they literally come in all sizes. One can find machines small enough to sit on a bench top or large enough to handle 12' by 20' sheets of material. Sophistication varies almost as much as the size of the machines — or the size of your budget. How sophisticated do you want to get?
The early years for the CNC router only go back to the late 1960’s. A company by the name of the Thermwood Corporation was founded in 1969 outside of Dale, Indiana. This company was very active in the plastic furniture parts supply business and grew into a major player in that industry in a relatively short period of time. The company was always modifying almost every piece of equipment they purchased, so the machines would be more productive once on the shop floor. About this time Thermwood developed a new process for their plastic parts production and began to produce their own production equipment for inhouse use. Word got out that this equipment was very effective for parts trimming, and as it turns out, these machines would go on to be the forefather of the modern CNC router. CNC routers are used today for as many applications as you can possibly imagine in the woodworking industry, from a simple application like routing a straight line or corner rounding long material, to intricate carvings found around ornate doors and windows. Some CNC routers in the woodworking industry are, in a way, like the old pantograph machines that would make a duplicate of what it was working on automatically. Some new CNC routers, depending on their software array, are capable of duplicating a picture onto a piece of wood. 5-axis CNC routers are not at all uncommon in the more progressive shops in the industry of today, though of course that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of work for the 3 and 4-axis machines. CNC routing has plenty of potential in the metalworking industry as well, doing chamfering, corner rounding, and, in some cases, end finishing or end finishing with a chamfer on one or both sides at the same time. CNC routers are timesaving machines — many of the jobs the routers do now were done by hand in the past. The latest design concepts from numerous manufacturers have CNC routers combining with other machine tools (like lasers) to produce a turnkey production solution to improve output.
Well, as with most plate processing machines, the CNC router is no exception when it comes to the customization of features to fit the customer’s application. Sizes range from tables as small as 24" by 24" (as in benchtop-size machines) to the massive 120" wide by as much as 600" long behemoths utilizing the flying gantry design. While speaking of design, there are two distinctly different types of CNC routers, both providing unique benefits for their owners. First is the aforementioned flying bridge design where the table stands still while the bridge moves over the material. Second, is the moving table design where the exact opposite occurs. Generally, the moving table design will be found on the larger CNC routing machines whereas the moving gantry type is found on smaller sized machines or machines needing to fit a smaller floor space. The moving gantry has one other distinct advantage over the other type; namely, its design is considerably less money to purchase when compared to the moving table style. Depending on the sophistication of the routing machine required, many capabilities come built into the machines like a 5-axis CNC control, a CNC-controlled rotary table, or automatic tool-change spindles with ratings to 20 horse power each. Need to do some intricate piece parts? How about a 10-spindle gantry? Almost anything is possible these days, as the entire machine of the CNC router has itself become an accessory to other high production machines like lasers. The future looks bright: as CNC routers take on more capabilities, so will they take on more of the shop’s work.
The place is Bud's Machine Tools, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, where we specialize in putting a smile on our customers’ faces. We have the sales staff to recommend the correct application, we have the service engineering staff that can install your new or used machine and then turn around and train the operators. We have a well-stocked parts department with the experience to outsource a part if ever needed. Bud's Machine Tools has the experience and knowledge to make your new machine purchase a pleasant experience.
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