Diamond Tooling Showcase 2011
Here’s a look at the newest products and innovations for cutting, shaping and finishing dimensional stone and quartz surfaces.
Category: Technology
CNC, laser-etching and other advanced production.
The 100-Wire Stone Saw
The global economic downturn hit the construction industry in Spain, along with the country’s stone industry with it. One company, however, is moving ahead … with the help of a very large saw.
Used Equipment: Vetting Value
By K. Schipper
Not all that long ago, shop owners looking for used fabrication machinery had two choices: equipment manufacturers and distributors with trade-ins, or friends and colleagues in the process of buying new.
CNC: Tooling Up
By K. Schipper
In just about anything, there’s good to be had in even the worst of times. Still, if your business is barely hanging on, your first thought isn’t to go out and buy a new – and expensive – piece of equipment.
Inventory Software
By K. Schipper
While you can’t cost-save your way to a profit, there’s a good possibility that you can spend money to keep it – with an investment in inventory software.
AIM Opens Training Center
HICKORY, N.C. – Advanced Industrial Machinery, Inc. (AIM), a designer and manufacturer of CNC and custom machinery for the stone industry, recently opened its new training center here.
Waterjet: Going Wholesale
By K. Schipper
GREEN ISLE, Minn. – If every job in the fabrication shop was made up of straight cuts and flat edges, the world would be a much simpler place.
Countertop Cyber Savvy
By Russ Lee
If you want to know what the Internet can do for a fabrication business, ask Paulo Seidl of GranTops in Frederick, Md.
Continuous Production: Shops in Action
By K. Schipper
Today’s booming market owes its existence to two things: more-plentiful, less-costly stone, and the technology to speed up fabrication. Stone may not get any cheaper than it is today … but production machines will get quicker.
Waterjets: Cutting It Real Wet
By K. Schipper
For many stone-fabrication shops, a bridge saw is almost always the first major equipment purchase in a move to grow their business.
However, the old standby is getting some competition these days in the cutting realm: waterjets. The ability to do radius curves – whether for corners or sink cutouts – is making a waterjet an attractive addition to many shops.
Not only is the accuracy impressive, but – depending on the edge – an abrasive waterjet may reduce the amount of time spent on finishing. And, with the right software, it can nest cuts, reducing waste.
Does this mean the bridge saw will eventually go the way of rotary-dial telephones and eight-track players? Probably not, but more shop owners say their next major slab cutter will be doing the job with water rather than diamonds.