labeling for edgebander

[Dave Burtchell]

We recently bought a Fravol edgebander. Awsome machine! We use PUR glue so we need to run as big a batch as possible to be efficient. We've always been frustrated by the lack of control over the labels. We finally came up with a reasonable solution. Why not just let the router write on the part? Most of our parts are laminated or veneered after assembly so we could erase the mark after banding. Several years age, I made a spring-loaded dry erase pen so we could check the tool path of some parts we were digitizing. We were gonna try this, but then we found this on the internet: http://www.widgetworksunlimited.com/CNC ... n_thin.htm It uses the little sharpies you can buy at the box store for $2 for a 4 pack. We use a code; T1 for Teak 1mm, P1 for plastic 1mm, C12 for Cherry 12mm, etc. If it's on the edge, it's just that edge, if it's in the center, it's all four edges. Our cad people use Rhino for the ease of 3d modelling. they have made tools to grab and place on the 2d parts before they export as dxf files. Our cnc operator just separates any part with a mark, and our bander operator can see at a glance what material is needed. The letters are about 1" high and we run the pen at about 150 ipm. The one snag in the whole project is the need to use the tool with the spindle turned off. there's no easy way we've found to do this. Right now, our operator has to find each tool call in the editor and remove the M03 and the M31(?) so the spindle won't start. If he doesn't, the pen will empty itself in 0.03 seconds.
The next step, after finding a fix for that, is to see if I can come up with a pencil that will work in the spring loaded holder that I made. then we can write on pre-veneered parts as well.
If you have any ideas about this, let me know,

Dave

[Rick Palechuk]

Maybe grease pencil, or lumber crayons. Just a thought.

[Daniel Odom]

Are you using this with E-cabinets? If so, why not just use the label system? I haven't had any problems other than doors; you can use a user part name to get around this. I guess this makes sense if you're using some other cam package; but it seems a bit tedious if you're just busting out cabinet parts. If you're importing dxf into control nesting maybe you could set the tool at 1 rpm; I don't think this should cause an issue (I've never done this though so don't quote me on it.).

[Daniel Odom]

Never mind, it won't work.

[Dave Burtchell]

As it says in my post, we are using Rhino, which is the best software for our purposes. We manufacture cabinetry for big sportfishing boats. 70'-100' boats. We get the hull, soles and bulkheads as a digital file, and design all the interior around the mechanical, electric and plumbing systems. Some of these boats have 4-5 staterooms, each with it's own head. Everything we make has to be able to be fitted to the deck, hull, sole, and adjoining cabinets with absolute precision in a boat that is sometimes 1000 miles away. No room for error. We stage every thing together before we ship and go thru a comprehensive quality control process. Rhino allows us to do this with the least hassle and fuss. E-cabinets doesn't even come close. And since the labels are optimized for E-cabinets only, they are a major waste of resource for us. It may seem "tedious" , but it's a real time saver. We just have a few bugs to work out. The guys at thermwood are looking into a software fix to turn the spindle off for that tool. They recommended NOT setting the spindle speed lower than 3000 rpm. We use a clicker edge finder to check fence locations and we run that at 3000 rpm, but that's the lowest we go.

Anyway I hope this pen idea helps someone else that's not using E-cabinets,
Dave