Albion Stone invest in new Breton ashlar line

Portland stone producer Albion Stone has invested nearly £500,000 on its new ashlar line with an in-line Smart-Cut SNC550 Optima bridge saw. 

It is part of a £3million investment by the company that Managing Director Michael Poultney says will ensure it continues to be the most productive stone operation in the UK.

And it wants to be in order to win more export orders. To that aim, it is even taking the unusual step among British stone producers of exhibiting at Marmomacc  this year (although it is not alone because Forest Pennant is also exhibiting there). Albion’s new line comprises a powerful grinding and polishing Levibreton KFG machine holding two,high-removal grinding heads and four polishing heads with 15kW spindles.

The line is followed by a flexible cutting line with belt workbench, which includes a photographic station reading the slab dimensions, pre-optimization and loading of the work program, automatic positioning of the slab and execution of the cuts.

Thanks to its extensive work area and patented system with vacuum cups installed on the special guard of the Smart-Cut SNC550 Optima CNC bridge saw, it is possible to perform any kind of polygonal cut, minimizing material waste. 

Albion says the new line is significantly more productive than the two it has replaced. Michael Poultney says: “Albion Stone conducted exhaustive research into the tile and ashlar lines currently available in the market place, including visits to several factories on the Continent.

We are confident that the Breton line will give us an excellent high quality product to the tight tolerances that our discerning customers now require.” 
 

Carl Sharkey says that from Breton UK’s viewpoint, working with such companies gives it invaluable experience. “We feel that Breton UK is in prime position to provide innovative and efficient solutions where stand-alone equipment is not enough,” Carl told NSS.

But success has brought its own problems and Technical Director Simon Bradbury says at the beginning of this year Breton Italy was coping with a large volume of orders that led to production delays and a knock-on of delivery delays that has left Breton UK playing catch-up.

“That said, we always have one eye on the future and are already well advanced with plans to expand our service team to enable us to provide the best response we can.”

And for anyone struggling to find an engineer for a quick response when needed, Simon says: “Not only can we look after Breton machines, but also Intermac, Sasso, GMM.”

And he says: “We hope to promote a little more proactive practice from machine owners with regard to maintenance.    

There are a lot of instances where spending a few hundred pounds every six months could have saved some customers literally thousands of pounds.”

Well, that’s all for today.

By-by

Sergio Prior

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breton bridge saw, breton cutting line, CNC bridge saw, levibreton KFG, polishing marble slab machine, smart-cut 550 optima

Statue made by Renier by utilizing Breton 5-axis machining center ShapeMill

Hello everyone,
On the beanch of the Shapemill at Marmomacc, you have certainly seen the statue made by Renier Natuursteen. 
It is the woman figure, a copy of the original, which is part of two statues entitled "The grieving Parents" (die trauernden eltern ) that are present in the German military cemetery at Vladslo in Belgium, produced by the German sculptor Käthe Kollwitz ( 1867-1945 ).

The used material is Belgian Blue Limestone as for the original.
Below, the various stages of the manufacturing process.

You can also watch a short video.
Here are the details of the accomplished work:

What can I say more?
Breton CNC machining center Shapemill meets even the most sophisticated needs and expectations in the stone industry. The statue is an additional proof of the machine potentials which make it the perfect option for producing statues, architectural elements, funerary art , bathtubs , columns, etc..
Click here for more info or for asking for an estimate about Breton 5-axes CNC machining centre Shapemill.

By-by
Sergio Prior

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5 axis stone working centre, architectural components, bath tube, breton shapemill, monument, turning statue

The Breton bridge saw Smart-Cut 1000 produced a copy of the White house Oval Office fireplace

Hello everyone,
Today I want to talk about a unique and prestigious accomplishment that makes me very happy.
L’The former U.S. President George W. Bush built the Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of the Southern Methodist University, in Dallas. The Presidential library and museum preserve and provide access to Presidential records and documents about the eight years he spent in the White House.

GWB Library & Museum

The Presidential Library and Museum inauguration took place at the end of April and on that occasion the main attraction was a full-sized White House Oval Office.

A photo of the replica Oval Office in the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. Photo courtesy of Rena Hardeman

The latest 5 U.S. presidents still alive attended the inauguration: Obama, Bush Jr., Clinton, Bush Sr. and Carter.

But let’s go straight to the point. In the White House Oval office there is a beautiful white marble fireplace. Our customer - RUGO STONE - 7953 Angleton Ct, Lorton, VA 22079, USA – made a copy of the fireplace by utilizing Breton bridge saw, the Smart-Cut 1000.
Below there are few fireplace pieces during their process manufacturing and as finished products.

Congratulations to RUGO STONE for the perfect fireplace copy.

To learn more or request a quote about Breton bridge saw Smart-Cut 1000 for marble and granite, click here.

Well, that’s all for today.

By-by

Sergio Prior

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5 axis working centre, 5-axes machining centre stone, breton bridge saw, bridge saw and lathe, bridge saw marble granite stone, smart-cut 800

NEW Breton Combicut 5 axis - bridge saw + Waterjet for ceramic, stone, marble and granite

COMBICUT 5 axis -It works perfectly with ceramic slabs, 45° waterjet cut is now available.

The cutting unit consists of a spindle prearranged to hold a diamond disk and a Waterjet head, it rotates around its axis (4th axis) and is provided with motorized in-clination from 0 to 55° (optional 5th axis).
 

COMBICUT combines and alternates the cutting with disk and Waterjet according to preset programs and/or at will: this allows to optimize cuts thus ensuring waste minimization (there is no need to move the slab or the workpieces). 

  It is also possible to perform complex rectilinear and curvilinear cuts as well as inclined cuts.
 

COMBICUT conforms to the CE accident-prevention and UL/CSA North-American (optional) standards.

Version without foundations

In the standard version of the machine, cement shoulders are provided by the buyer. On request (optional accessory), COMBICUT can be supplied with shoulders consisting of metal structures, which do not require foundations and are simply fixed to the floor.
 

Version with automatic system for worktop exchange 

COMBICUT comes standard with a fixed worktop consisting of a steel tray (with "gradually deteriorating" blades) that supports the slab during machining.
 

 
On request (optional accessory), COMBICUT can be supplied with a system for the automatic exchange of worktops that steps up productivity: the uncut slab is prear-ranged and its cutting scheme is programmed outside the machine while COMBICUT is cutting another slab, then the two worktops are swapped automatically thus saving time.
 

Heavy-duty cutting spindle

The suitably dimensioned cutting spindle is provided with inverter for the non-stop variation of the disk rotation speed and cut-tracing laser displaying the cutting direction.
 

Cutting unit rotating around its axis

The cutting unit (cutting spindle with disk and Waterjet head) rotates around its axis by ±190° (4th axis), thus giving competitive advantages: an unrivalled cutting precision and speed.
 

Motorized and programmed inclination of the cutting unit

The inclination of the cutting unit (cutting spindle with disk and Waterjet head) is automatic, motorized and can be programmed in any position from 0° to 55° (op-tional 5th axis) in order to perform inclined cuts in either the plunge-cut or step-cut mode, required, for instance, when V-grooves are to be machined.

Water jet tapering compensation in the Waterjet head

The software is provided with a special function for the automatic, non-stop com-pensation of the natural tapering of the high-pressure water jet. This compensation ensures the regular and precise cutting geometry on the work piece. 

 

Automatic measurement of the uncut slab thickness

The machine is equipped with a sensor for the precise, automatic and programma-ble measurement of the uncut slab thickness in order to cut V-grooves (sections inclined by 45°) featuring precise dimensions.
 

Top brand Waterjet system

The Waterjet pump system is supplied by KMT/Waterjet Systems that will also pro-vide the buyer/user with the international guarantee service on the Waterjet cutting system.
 

User-friendly

COMBICUT is equipped with the latest generation Siemens Sinumerik 840D SL computer numerical control (CNC) with digital control on PC architecture and a Personal Computer with Intel processor and Windows XP operating system.

The control board can be rotated and is provided with keyboard, colour multi touch-screen for graphic visualization and USB port.

The console is provided with a joystick to move intuitively the different motorized working axes.
The standard software enables the following operations:
– to draw the polygonal and curvilinear pieces to be produced directly on the ma-chine
– to import the pieces to be produced (even with a curvilinear shape) in DXF for-mat
– to arrange the pieces to be produced on a template having a predefined rectan-gular shape (on the video)
– to manage automatically the combined "diamond disk/Waterjet" cutting accord-ing to both the pieces to be produced and their position on the slab.

A portable button panel, cable-linked to the console, duplicates the main controls (management of the axes + handwheel, safety stop, …), thus enabling the operator to stand nearby the piece under machining and visually inspect the correct execution of some delicate operations.

Software for order optimization and management

COMBICUT suggests the arrangement of the pieces to be cut on the slab surface according to the pending orders loaded in the system, thus optimizing automatically the slab surface utilization.

Digital colour photos of the slab

COMBICUT can be supplied with an (optional) system including a digital camera that acquires the true colour image of the uncut slab and displays it on the touch-screen of the machine PC (or other PC).

The operator marks the slab outline and the contour of any possible surface defect with the mouse and COMBICUT automatically arranges the pieces to be cut on the slab surface thus optimizing its useful area.

All the various operations (digital reproduction of the uncut slab image, definition of the slab perimeter and defects and optimization) are carried out while the machine is processing the preceding slab.
 

COMBICUT - technical data

Why don’t you ask for the new COMBICUT?

Write NOW at mail@breton.it. 

Well, that’s all for today.

By-by

Sergio Prior

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breton combicut, breton machinery stone, waterjet bridge saw, waterjet cutting marble granite

Reception desktop manufactured from a bush-hammered slab of Bretonstone JUMBO and machined with a ContourFive NC 700.

Hello everybody,
Did you visit Breton stand at MARMOMACC in Verona?
If so, you have certainly seen the reception desktop made of charcoal black Bretonstone with a bush-hammered surface in the middle of our stand: really amazing!

Here under you can see the different processing phases performed by a Breton 5-axes CNC machining centre Contourfive NC 700.

It is a C-shaped continuous top measuring 3.600x2.080mm and 20mm thick … and here it is at “Marmomacc 2013” in all its splendour.

Write to mail@breton.it for more info on Bretonstone Jumbo and/or ContourFive NC 700.

Well, that’s all for today.
By-by

Sergio Prior

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5 axis stone working centre, Bretonstone Jumbo, ContourFive 700