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Production, sale and service of impact-etching, laser engraving, milling and grinding machines since 1997.
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SAUNO milling with surface level tracking
The latest SAUNO milling machines Graphic 3-KM use a unique milling technology with monitoring the level of the workpiece surface.
Advantages of SAUNO technology:
- Milling on workpieces with inclined and curved surfaces.
- Operator’s work is simplified - the workpiece does not need to be leveled.
- No need for a high-precision work table, which is expensive and requires careful handling and periodic calibration.
- Uncontrolled fluctuations in processing depth are excluded.
The load on the machine drives is reduced and the service life of the cutter is increased.
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The essence of the problem
The quality of milling depends to a large extent on accuracy of the workpiece height installation on the table.
This dependence is especially relevant when milling inscriptions, ornaments, and wherever there are processing areas with variable depth.
Even a slight tilt or bend of the workpiece surface leads to unpleasant effects.
Video above shows the result of milling an inscription along the center line on a workpiece with an inclination of +/-0.7mm from the zero point in height.
Where the surface is even tenths of a millimeter below the zero level, the inscription lines become thinner or disappear completely.
Where the surface level is higher, the lines are thicker than required.
When milling, to get a good result, you must have:
a) a workpiece with a flat surface and the same thickness;
b) a machine with a perfectly flat work table, calibrated according to the Z level.
Why the traditional approach doesn't work in stone processing
Stone workpieces are slabs that are sawn from large blocks and then polished.
The difference in slab thickness usually reaches several millimeters.
It is not easy to level a slab weighing more than 50..100 kg on the machine table.
But a perfectly flat work table, and even fixing the machine directly on the workpiece will not solve the problem if the processing surface is curved, as shown in the upper left picture.
And on stone slabs, an arbitrary difference in height and unevenness of 1..2 mm or more is a common case (see photo of the monument at the top right).
The solution to the problem is SAUNO technology
To solve these problems, SAUNO company has developed its own milling technology with surface level tracking.
Before milling begins, Graphic 3-KS machine scans the surface of the workpiece with a built-in electronic level sensor.
The Engrave computer program recreates the surface profile of the workpiece in the processing area.
When milling, height correction is constantly made to the tool path.
An electronic level sensor is reliable and easy to use.
At the end of the workpiece surface scan, level sensor sensor can be easily retracted to protect it from water coolant.
Scanning process itself takes about 2 minutes.
As you can see in the lower left photo, when milling monuments on a Graphic 3-KS machine, no work table is required.
See the photo below on the right for the result of the scan in the form of a purple grid.
