How to make a format cutting machine yourself. Do-it-yourself format-cutting machine: drawings. How to make a panel saw

How to make a format cutting machine yourself.  Do-it-yourself format-cutting machine: drawings.  How to make a panel saw
How to make a format cutting machine yourself. Do-it-yourself format-cutting machine: drawings. How to make a panel saw

A panel cutting machine is the main type of equipment used in the manufacture of furniture.

The machines cut chipboard, laminated chipboard, MDF and fiberboard. Their main property is the accuracy of cutting, which determines the quality of the finished furniture and the creation of a beveled edge.

1 Operating principle of the equipment

Equipment for working with wood:

  • cutting machine;
  • edge milling cutter;
  • device for laminating chipboard;
  • drilling machine.

The design of the machine is responsible for its functionality - how The sawing process will take place effectively. Main components:

  1. Bed. This is the basis on which all mechanisms are fixed. The more stable the base, the more accurate the cut will be. Heavy beds eliminate any vibrations and vibrations - this is the key to accurate cutting.
  2. Saw unit (consists of two disks). A small-diameter scoring disc is located in front of the unit and performs preliminary sawing of the workpiece. The second disk is designed for complete sawing of the material.
  3. Work tables. A node is located on the first fixed table. The second format table is movable and feeds material onto the disk. The third table supports the cutting parts and acts as additional support for the part.
  4. Carriage. This is the machine mechanism that allows the cutting table to move. It would be better to use an aluminum carriage. Its light weight will allow you to move the table without unnecessary effort.
  5. Stops and rulers. The elements are located on tables and place the chipboard blank in the required position.

The principle of operation of the machine: for cutting chipboard, the workpiece is placed on the left fixed table up to the adjustable stop and the required length is measured. Then the saw unit is put into operation. When the disk has reached the required speed, the table is moved forward. Thus, the workpiece is fed to the disk, where the desired piece is sawed off.

Basic machine settings:

  • workpiece position;
  • depth of cut;
  • cutting angle.

1.1 Types and features of machines

Three groups of equipment:

  1. Lung. The machine is simple in design and affordable. It lacks some additional options (special clamps, additional stops, etc.), and is small in size. The device is designed for a load of up to 5 hours. Suitable for small-scale production.
  2. Average. Standard device, intended for operation 8-10 hours. Has all the necessary elements (tables, additional supports, rulers and stops). Intended for industrial use.
  3. Heavy. An industrial model that equipped with new technologies and has the most durable design. Can be used for 16-20 hours. This is a great option for large enterprises.

Additional options:

  • a pipe that removes shavings and sawdust and connects the dust removal system;
  • clamps for securely placing chipboard on the table;
  • the rotary ruler and corner stops are responsible for cutting at the required angle and without markings;
  • frame with a stop leg for processing long workpieces;
  • ball and roller carriages.

An edging machine is used to make shaped parts and grooves.

An edge milling cutter (trimmer) is used:

  • for chamfering;
  • for rounding or creating complex edge profiles;
  • to form grooves along the edge;
  • for adjusting veneer;
  • to create a drawing.

An edge router can be mistaken for a less functional version of a vertical router. But The trimmer has its advantages.

An edging router, also known as an edging router, has a low power (450-720W). Compactness and low weight allow you to maneuver the tool without much effort.

A special drying machine is used to laminate chipboard.

During production, it is important to distribute the load evenly to increase the wear resistance of the finished slab.

Paper is made in impregnation machines. These devices undergo a lamination process. The finished paper is treated with resin and a decorative film is obtained, which, under the influence of a press, becomes plastic-like and is suitable for do-it-yourself lamination.

During lamination, the prepared board is tightly connected to the paper.

Drilling machines are used to create holes.

Types of machines:

  • horizontal drilling;
  • vertical drilling;
  • single-spindle;
  • multi-spindle.

Drilling and grooving machine. It is equipped with a spindle with a chuck into which a drill with a carriage is inserted. The handle allows you to move the spindle along the axis of the drill, and the carriage moves in the transverse direction. Using this machine You can drill longitudinal grooves. This is possible due to the fact that the groove drill has side edges.

To drill a hole, the workpiece is secured to the table using a clamp. After fixation, the drill with the spindle is pushed onto the chipboard.

A wood drill bit (from 10 mm) for a drill must have a hex shank to avoid turning. The thinner the drill, the shorter it will be, otherwise even a slight pressure can break it. A 10 mm drill can be up to 45 cm long, while a 12 mm drill will already be 60 cm.

The Forstner drill bit is especially popular in furniture making. It allows you to drill blind holes with flat, even and smooth bottoms.

2 Slitting machines for chipboard processing: overview of models

Italian company ITALMAC (Omnia-3200BR). Each cutting machine comes with a one-year warranty. The middle class model can work for 8-10 hours. Excellent for furniture production. The presence of additional tables and adjustment of the saw speed made this machine universal. Suitable for sawing different sizes of chipboard.

Bulgarian company Brassa. The cutting devices are suitable for use throughout an entire work shift.

Brassa S315 – designed for large-sized workpieces. Ideal for cutting parquet, Chipboard, MDF. The machine is equipped with an additional metal support, which allows you to process large and heavy workpieces.

American company HighPoint. All devices have additional options and accessories.

HighPoint STS3200. Business class representative, designed for a full work shift. The device allows you to adjust the rotation speed of the saw blade. Thanks to this function, materials of varying hardness can be processed. A warranty is given on the carriage (3 years) and on the saw unit (2 years).

Czech company PROMA. Product warranty is 3 years. Thorough check of the equipment and functionality of the machines.

PROMA PKS-315F. Equipped with durable guides made of chrome steel. There is a degree scale on the miter gauge, which allows sawing without preliminary marking.

2.1 Format saw JET - JTSS-3200 (video)


2.2 DIY cutting machine

The main working component is the cutting block. It consists of two saw blades, an electric motor and a bell (connection to a chip vacuum cleaner). Do-it-yourself assembly of machines involves using a factory model of the unit (homemade equipment may have operational problems).

Components for a do-it-yourself panel saw:

  • bed – tubular structure with adjusting knives;
  • Desktop must have a perfectly flat surface, without any defects;
  • clamps;
  • carriage (in manufacturing, an I-beam or two round pipes are used);
  • protective covers.

Required tools:

  • welding machine;
  • Bulgarian;
  • electric drill;
  • measuring device.

First you need to make a frame (we use pipes with a square or round cross-section).

We cut them according to the diagram and attach them to each other with a clamp. Then we start welding. To make the structure more rigid, you can install profiles between the legs of the frame.

Stages of making a machine with your own hands:

  1. Movable carriage. We install the guides. You can use a beam or two pipes with a round cross-section. Carriage design must be equipped with rollers for smooth movement.
  2. Desktop. The base is a 3 mm steel sheet. We make the working surface from a sheet of chipboard.
  3. Clamps are lever mechanisms with a relatively large area.

At the end of the assembly, we connect the cutting unit to the chip ejector.

In the production of cabinet furniture, it is impossible to do without a machine for cutting material. Furniture structures such as kitchen walls, computer tables and even beds will require parts with high dimensional accuracy. Make no mistake, you can start making furniture using just a circular saw for cutting. You will have to resort to making a format-cutting machine with your own hands.

The fact is that a circular saw can cut at a low speed, while the quality of the finished part depends entirely on the craftsman. Thus, the production of furniture will not only be slow, but also possibly unprofitable, because there is a high possibility of producing defective products.

A vertical format-cutting mechanism for slab material allows you to remove responsibility from the master and make precise linear movements during cutting.

Furniture blanks turn out to be accurate, and their production speed reaches 15 parts per minute.

Making a sawing machine

There are quite a lot of advantages to such a machine, however, there is also a disadvantage - the high cost of high-precision equipment. Not all novice manufacturers have the opportunity to purchase such a mechanism, so many decide to make a format-cutting machine with their own hands.

FRS design

To manufacture a machine that will meet the requirements for quality and speed of production, you need to be prepared to spend on materials and be able to use drawings, because the unit consists of complex mechanisms and volumetric structures.

Required items:

  • The bed must be made in accordance with the dimensions of the material being processed; for chipboard it is 3.5x2.5 m. As practice shows, more is not required, of course, if production has not reached factory scale. Also, this design, like the whole one, must have a low level of vibration. To do this, the frame is made of welded joints and installed on rubber heels that absorb vibration;
  • Tabletop - for a homemade format-cutting machine, suitable from a laminated chipboard or metal sheet. The main thing is that the surface is perfectly smooth, otherwise defects may appear on the material being processed, in the form of scratches and chips. Also, there should be no depressions or bulges on the surface of the tabletop, this will lead to inaccurate dimensions of the product;
  • Moving carriage – can be made in 3 options, depending on the choice of machine functionality. However, its main quality is the smooth linear movement of the saw or cutting material;
  • Engine - best used without transmission devices (belts, gears). High-speed electric motors and even motors from grinders can be used as the driving force for the saw;
  • The dust collector system must include a sleeve for removing chips and dust, a waste container and a pump. This system turns out to be extremely important for long-term operation;
  • – do not allow the sheets to move during cutting. Important characteristics of clamps are holding strength and the absence of marks after use. For this, the clamps are equipped with rubber backings and the required pressure on the part is selected.

How to make a tabletop sawing machine

How to prevent chipping from chipboard

A material such as laminated chipboard has the harmful property of leaving chips on the ends after cutting. The only way to avoid such trouble is to increase the rotation speed of the saw or slowly feed the saw onto the material. However, not all so simple. Chipboard sheets consist of pressed sawdust and a laminating layer. The laminating layer is a thin but very durable material, and the pressed sawdust is a thick and soft layer.

Using a powerful motor, the soft sawdust is cut like butter, causing the hard laminate to simply chip off. The solution is to use 2 saws with different rotation speeds or cut slowly.

Everything is clear with the speed at which the saw feeds the material, but using two saws is worth understanding. It is worth noting that here you will need drawings of format cutting machines. To achieve the desired result, the laminate cutting disc is placed so that it cuts no more than 2 mm, and the rotation speed is achieved by reducing the disc or using a more powerful motor.

Cutting part

To cut the base layer, a large disk with a cutting depth of up to 40 mm is used. It is worth noting that this version of the sawing mechanism allows you to achieve a cutting speed of 1 m in 10 seconds.

Options for using the cutting mechanism

There are 3 options, thanks to which the vertical sawing machine cuts materials:

  • feeding the saw onto the material – the saws are located under the table;
  • feeding the saw onto the material – the saws are located above the table;
  • feeding material to the saw – the saws are located under the table.

In the case of feeding the saw onto the material, which is located above the table, the motor and cutting discs are fixed to the carriage. The carriage is mounted on skids placed at the required height, which allow the entire cutting structure to be held and moved along the plane of the table. Skids or guides can be made of heavy-duty pipes.

The location of the saw under the table, which feeds the material, also assumes the presence of guides and a carriage moving along them. The difference between this arrangement is that the dust collector system is hidden under the table and does not interfere with the movement of large objects.

When cutting is carried out by feeding material to the saw, a powerful mechanism is required to move the sheets. In this case, the carriage for moving is a table with legs on rollers. It is worth noting that the design of such a sawing mechanism requires more space and has less throughput.

Clamps

The simplest clamping mechanisms can be taken as a basis, however, in this case the time required to complete the work increases. Ideally, for a cutting unit, make a clamping device in the area of ​​the saw passage. A fairly simple device will be a pipe laid above the table, along the cutting line, on which the clamps will be placed.

Video: Slitting machine

When making cabinet furniture with your own hands, one of the problems is the quality of the cut of laminated chipboard. It is impossible to achieve good quality without using a special machine. The price of a format cutting machine is quite high, but the principle of its operation is surprisingly simple. The question arises: shouldn’t we make a format-cutting machine with our own hands? The machine design below is quite universal, and its cost is about 6-7 thousand rubles. It probably doesn’t make sense to describe the intricacies of the machine’s design. Anyone who is interested in this topic and has the hands and head will design it himself and make the necessary modifications or improvements. The principle itself is important. And it is based on the fact that all the work on the production of cabinet furniture can be done by one person, without an assistant.

The name “format-cutting” is not entirely correct. It's more like a format-edging machine. The sheet of laminated chipboard (this is what this machine is intended for) has quite large dimensions: its length is about 3.5 meters. Therefore, before feeding into the format-edging machine, it is first necessary to prepare the workpieces. Mark the sheet in advance with a pencil, but with an allowance of 7-8 mm on each side of the future part. The sheet is cut using a circular electric saw. Having a stack of blanks, start working on the machine. The finishing trimming process can be seen in the video at the end of the article.

Making a format cutting machine with your own hands, as noted above, is not so difficult. It is enough to have a familiar mechanic, several pipes and electric motors. This machine uses two electric motors. The main electric motor has a power of 3.5 kW and 6000 rpm. The scoring disc (bottom) is driven by an 800W motor. The disc also has 6000 rpm. All adjustments are made only by the upper disk. The diameters of the disks are the same - 250 mm each. The shafts are taken from old agricultural machines. The machine itself is about 280 cm long. Height is 70 cm. In the photographs you can see the clamping lever. It is equipped with rubber seals that will not damage the chipboard.

The basis of the machine is two seamless pipes (not twisted). I had to equip the format-cutting machine with my own hands with a hood. In principle, this is a necessity rather than a desire. The photos, we hope, will reveal the whole principle and design of the format-edging machine, which can be made in a week and work on it in any garage.

Chipboard (chipboard), and nowadays mainly laminated chipboard (chipboard) is one of the main materials for making affordable furniture in the home workshop. This board is made from coniferous and deciduous wood materials, therefore it has such qualities as strength and ease of processing. But if cut incorrectly, this material may chip. Therefore, before making furniture, you should find out how to properly cut laminated chipboard.

For this purpose, you can even assemble industrial equipment yourself - a cutting machine.

Sawing rules

First you need to choose a cutting method.

Be sure to carry out the following preparation (cutting):

  • To protect the laminated surface of the board from damage during operation, you need to prepare masking tape or tape;
  • for marking workpieces - a ruler and a pencil;
  • From the ends of the slab, mark future cutting points with a pencil;
  • in order to prevent chips from appearing, you need to stick masking tape or adhesive tape to the cut area;
  • after gluing the tape, connect the preliminary marking points with a pencil;
  • prepare sandpaper to finalize the cut lines.

The following rule no longer applies to preparation, but to actions after cutting, but is general for any method: e If irregularities are found on the edges, they need to be processed with a file or rasp. The ends resulting from cutting are covered with veneer with a pattern similar to the pattern of the laminated coating.


What not to saw

Chipboard cannot be sawed using an angle grinder, which is also called a grinder. When working with this tool, there is a high risk of injury, especially when using large diameter discs. Injury can also occur when the tool guard is removed from the tool.

Methods for cutting laminated chipboard without chipping

You can saw on a sawing machine. But its cost starts from 50,000 and reaches 1,000,000 rubles. If you need to cut laminated chipboard to make several pieces of furniture for yourself, other methods are more suitable.

Scratch

Using a ruler, scratch a marking line with an awl or nail to the thickness of the laminated coating. Saw along this line, making sure that the edges of the saw teeth fall exactly into the scratch. You can cut with a jigsaw or a hand saw.


Jigsaw

Suitable for cutting small areas. The file should have the smallest tooth size. You need to move the jigsaw smoothly, without pressure, and set the speed slightly above average.

On the side where the teeth enter the slab, there will be practically no chips, but on the opposite side, with insufficient experience, they will appear, but in small quantities.


A circular saw

You will need a saw blade with fine teeth. With this method, long straight cuts will be more successful than when cutting with a jigsaw. There will be no chipping on the side where the teeth cut into the slab. If they appear, it will be on the opposite side, as in the case of a jigsaw.

The use of guides increases the cutting accuracy. In this case, it is better to secure the saw on the table.


Sawing with undercut

You will need a large ruler (tire), which is fixed to the workpiece with clamps. The first cut is made to trim the laminate along the marking line. The tire must be installed on the line, and the cut must be made to a depth of 6-10 mm - there will be no chips.

The second cut is made through. There will be no chips at the line where the teeth enter the slab, but at the exit point the laminate has already been cut off, so they simply cannot happen.


Fraser

In this case, you should first cut the workpiece with a jigsaw, retreating 2-3 mm from the marking line, and then align the line according to the template. The cutter must have a bearing. With this method you can also cut curvedly.


Sawing with a format saw

To cut with a machine, the workpiece is placed on the left fixed table up to the adjustable stop. The required length is measured. The saw unit starts. When the disk reaches the required speed, the table moves forward.

The workpiece, together with the table, is fed onto the disk for sawing off the desired piece.

Basic machine settings:

  • workpiece position;
  • depth of cut;
  • cutting angle.

There are three types of machines:

  • light (designed for a workload of five hours);
  • medium (8-10 hours);
  • heavy (16-20 hours).


Design

The most popular models are Mj 45kb-2, JTS-315SP SM, Woodtec ps 45, Altendorf F 45. Despite their different features, they have a common design.

Required components of a cutting machine:

  1. The bed is the basis on which all mechanisms are attached. Heavy beds eliminate vibrations and vibrations, which is extremely important for precise cutting.
  2. A saw unit consisting of two disks. The first disk is located in front of the unit and is used for preliminary filing of the workpiece. The second is for completely sawing the slab.
  3. Three desktops. The first one is stationary; a node is located on it. The second, format - is movable, on it the slab is fed to the disk. The third supports the parts to be sawed off.
  4. The carriage is a part that allows the format table to move.
  5. Stops and rulers that secure the workpiece in the required position.

Depending on the model, price and cutting features, machines may have different design nuances.

Additional components of the machine:

  • a pipe that removes shavings and sawdust and connects a dust removal system;
  • clamps for securely securing the workpiece to the table;
  • a rotating ruler and corner stops, with the help of which the cut is made at the desired angle and without markings;
  • frame with a stop leg for cutting long workpieces;
  • ball and roller carriages.

The first formatting machine with a moving carriage was assembled in 1906 by the German carpenter Wilhelm Altendorf.


How to make a machine with your own hands

When using a format-cutting machine, you can obtain high-quality furniture parts. This is due to the high precision of the production process, including cutting. Therefore, if it is difficult to purchase ready-made equipment, but you really want to start a chipboard processing business, you can assemble the machine yourself.

Required tools and materials

The saw unit of the machine is most often a welded structure, since it most effectively resists vibration.

Tools:

  • welding machine;
  • “grinder” with a metal disc;
  • electric drill;
  • measuring tool.

In order for the equipment to operate for several years, it is better to choose those materials for its manufacture that have been subjected to heat treatment.

Materials:

  • square or round pipes;
  • a beam or two round pipes connected to each other;
  • rollers;
  • steel sheet with a thickness of at least three millimeters;
  • chipboard sheet;
  • lever mechanism of any configuration.


Manufacturing

Manufacturing begins with the main components and ends with smaller ones.

Stages of making a machine for cutting chipboard with your own hands:

  1. Manufacturing of the bed. Square or round pipes will be required. They are cut and fastened to each other using clamps. After checking the dimensions and correct location of the components, welding begins.
  2. Manufacturing of a movable carriage. Install guides, preferably a beam or two round pipes connected to each other. The carriage must be equipped with rollers for smooth sliding.
  3. Making a desktop. The base is made of a steel sheet with a thickness of at least three millimeters, the working surface is made of chipboard, and measuring rulers are attached to it.
  4. Production of clamps for sheets, for example, from a lever mechanism of any configuration.
  5. Upon completion, the cutting unit is connected to the chip suction unit.

The quality of finished products produced on home-made machines is higher than that of products created entirely with hand tools, but still lower than on industrially manufactured machines.

Video about cutting laminated chipboard without chipping

In the video you can clearly see the process of cutting laminated chipboard without chipping.

Many owners are wondering what equipment is required for high-quality production of cabinet furniture. Experts say that these are format-cutting machines, which are popularly called format circular saws or circular saws with a carriage. Each owner can assemble such a device with his own hands.

Purpose of the format-cutting machine

Format cutting equipment is intended for transverse, longitudinal cutting of lumber and cutting at a certain angle, format trimming and cutting of panel blanks, including the removal of overhangs after their cladding, as well as for the purpose of cutting full-size boards into blanks of a given size.

Format-cutting equipment, which is used in the production of cabinet furniture, allows us to produce high-quality finished products. The function of these machines lies in setting the basic parameters of furniture parts for subsequent processing. Such machines are designed for piece and batch cutting of workpieces.

Factory-made and home-made format-cutting machines work with different materials: various types of wood, plywood of any thickness, MDF panels, chipboard, fiberboard, including composite sheet materials lined with plastic, laminated paper and film materials, veneer and melamine. This equipment is usually used for cutting material that has precise geometric dimensions.

Format saws are used in small-scale production, medium- and large-scale furniture factories, as well as in small carpentry workshops. The possibility of preliminary cutting of workpieces with a separate saw directly under the cutting area allows you to cut workpieces lined with natural or artificial material without chipping the lining.

Design of a panel saw

Structurally, format-cutting machines consist of the following elements: a bed, a fixed working table and a movable additional table (carriage, trolley, support frame, separator, ruler), a saw unit consisting of 2 saw blades, guides,

Saw unit

The welded design of the sawing machine guarantees a high level of stability and absence of vibration during sawing. When cutting veneered slabs, the main problem is the formation of chips on the lining in the area where the saw blade tooth comes out. To cope with this problem, the drawings of panel saws provide a saw unit with two saw blades.

The saw unit is a one-piece assembly that is cast from cast iron. Two electric motors are installed on its body, which rotate the scoring and main saw blades using a belt drive. The scoring disc is located closer to the workpiece, its size reaches 120 millimeters, and in the same direction the rotation speed reaches 8000 rpm.

This disk is required for cutting the cladding layer from the side where the teeth of the main disk come out, which rotates in the opposite direction to the workpieces and makes the main cut in the slab, as shown in the video about the sawing machine. This design allows you to get an even and clean cut that is not spoiled by burrs and chips.

On some types of machines, a saw unit is installed using special rotary sectors, which can be adjusted to cut at an angle. In this case, the ratio of the scoring and main saw blades is not violated. The saw unit can be installed on a work table or on a stand.

Founded saw

In format-cutting machines, the rotation speed of the main saw ranges from 4 to 6 thousand revolutions per minute. Continuous speed adjustment allows you to quickly set up the format-cutting machine and accurately select operating modes for different materials being cut. As a rule, the saw drive power is 3-5.5 kilowatts. Remember that high power consumption, which is usually characteristic of a technological process in which sawing a package of sheets or cutting hardwood, is not always appropriate.

The height of the cut or the position of the main saw in format-cutting machines is set by vertical movement of the saw unit. In this case, two methods are used: along vertical guides and by swinging around a horizontal axis.
The maximum height to which the saw rises relative to the table must be indicated in the technical specifications of the unit.

Traditionally it reaches 80 - 130 millimeters. When the saw is tilted, this figure decreases accordingly. Some models provide automatic raising and lowering of the saw, powered by an electric drive, sometimes even setting the height using the control panel.

The saws of a format-cutting machine usually have an inclination of up to 45 degrees, as in the photo of format-cutting machines. This will cause the entire saw unit to tilt. Thanks to the presence of special trunnions, the horizontal axis of rotation of the machine runs along the line of intersection of the plane of the fixed table and the main saw, which eliminates jamming of the saw in the table slot. This function is necessary in the manufacture of cabinet furniture elements.

Movable and fixed table

The main fixed table, which is cast from cast iron, has an upper milled surface, the dimensions of which can be adjusted by additionally installing extension and expansion tables on it and a parallel stop ruler that can move.

The movable table consists structurally of a carriage, which is made of a multi-chamber aluminum profile, a support frame, an angular stop ruler, which has folding stops and a telescopic extension, a support frame and its support. The carriage, due to its own design, is resistant to bending and twisting loads.

Most often in furniture production, format-cutting machines with a carriage length of approximately 3200 millimeters are used. This is the most suitable solution for devices with a movable carriage, because it matches most of the dimensions of the plates that are used by enterprises.

You should not chase the high prices of format cutting machines, believing that they work better. Remember that the longest cutting length will always be less than the carriage stroke if you have a scoring saw. To completely pass the sawing zone, the workpiece requires an additional 200-300 millimeters.

To move the workpiece, a roller carriage is used that moves along steel guides, and a separator with balls or rollers that moves between V-shaped steel guides. To adjust the main table or saw that is movable relative to the plane, the design of format cutting machines, as a rule, provides appropriate compensators or regulators.

Guides and carriages

The movable table of format-cutting machines serves as a base surface intended for laying the slabs to be cut; it must withstand the weight of the material. The load is taken by the carriage itself and its guides. If they are not rigid enough, the carriage guides will be subject to not only vertical loads, but also torque.

Due to the significant length of the lever, the application of load at the contact points of rollers or balls in linear guides reaches a maximum value. Therefore, special guides are used in machines with a carriage, which ensure ease of movement and eliminate the occurrence of gaps in them, which directly affects the processing accuracy of the workpiece being cut.

Different machines from different manufacturers use guides of different designs using rollers, balls and their combinations. The most common design, regardless of the cost of the saw, is an aluminum carriage that moves along steel guides on linear ball bearings.

The guides are often made in the form of steel strips, which are built into the aluminum carriage body in such a way that two “channels” are formed to accommodate the balls. Such a “prismatic” circuit is capable of absorbing loads in any direction. To increase the service life of the lining, the structure is subjected to thermal hardening before installation. And anodizing, which prevents the appearance of stripes on the workpiece due to aluminum contamination.

There are also guides in which the balls are not steel, but plastic, the rigidity of which is achieved by using an aluminum profile with a large number of internal ribs. Some guides have built-in wear compensators, but this unit usually cannot be repaired at home.

Additional options

Many panel saws are equipped with digital position indicators for stops and rulers, which are mounted directly on them. There are also machines in which the current position of the ruler or stop is set on the monitor screen using a control panel, and then such devices are moved to the specified position automatically by an individual electric drive.

On format-cutting equipment, the following can be used as standard or additional equipment:

  • electric braking system for the main saw blade,
  • adjusting the speed of movement of the main saw blade,
  • system of automatic lubrication and angle adjustment of the saw unit,
  • electromechanical drives,
  • electric motors with increased power,
  • upper protection of saw blades, which is equipped with a pipe for removing sawdust,
  • pneumatic or eccentric clamps for holding workpieces,
  • additional support frame,
  • rotating ruler for cutting blanks and slabs at an indirect angle,
  • double corner stop,
  • vibration sensor,
  • system of protection against ingress of chips and dust.

Manufacturing of a panel cutting machine

If you are planning to start making cabinet furniture, then you should ask how to make a format-cutting machine. Its operating principle is simpler than simple, but the price of a factory-made format-cutting machine is quite decent. Not every private owner can afford to buy such equipment. But assembling a machine with your own hands is possible for every person who is able to handle tools and is at least a little familiar with technology.

During the work you will need: metal pipes, channels and metal angles, two electric motors, a main dust and scoring disk, shafts from agricultural machinery, fasteners (nuts and bolts), a set of metal tools, a welding machine.

First, you need to make a strong steel frame for the panel saw using metal channels. The dimensions of the blanks for the base should be as follows: length of the machine 6500-6700 millimeters, width 2500 millimeters, height 800-1100 millimeters. Then construct the main and floor guide of the machine and fix them on the bed. For the manufacture of guides, it is customary to use a pipe that has dimensions of 60 by 5 by 6500 millimeters.

The movable work table must be made to move along a guide, because the table will feed the sheet during operation. Provide a cutting line length of 3000-3200 millimeters. If desired, you can increase or decrease this parameter; to do this, you only need to change the length of the guides.

Hang two saws on the machine - a scoring saw and a main saw. The saws should be installed on the saw unit; they rotate towards each other and are driven by two asynchronous motors. Be sure to provide the possibility of tilting the block at an acute angle of up to 45 degrees. For this purpose, equip the saw unit with a special rotating mechanism.

Be careful when choosing motors, because they drive the saws. The motor power must be at least 2.9 kW. The motors must rotate the main saw at a speed of about 5000 rpm, and the scoring saw at 8000 rpm. In the design of the machine, use saw blades with a diameter of 250 millimeters, which allows you to cut laminated chipboards and trim sheets.

To safely use do-it-yourself sizing machines in the production area, provide good exhaust ventilation, because wood particles can ignite from the smallest spark generated when the engines are running. Considering the high speed of movement of the saw blades, it is recommended to exercise extreme caution when working on the machine, since disks that rotate at high speed can cause injury to the worker, including loss of the hand and entire limb.

After making a format-cutting machine at home, you can begin to directly process the material. Sheets usually have large dimensions, so before installing the sheet into the mechanism, it is worth making initial markings in the places where the cuts will be made. The size of the workpiece should be larger by at least 7 - 8 millimeters on each side. After creating a small stack of blanks with markings, you can start cutting and trimming the material.