A visit to an exhibition in Dublin proved a particularly fortuitous excursion for Michael Scott, the owner of Northern Ireland-based Joinery Services. Established in October 2005, the company provides a specialist joinery and shop fitting service from its 3,500 square feet facility situated on the outskirts of Carryduff near Newtownards.

Having considered installing an AXYZ 4010 CNC router some six months prior to the show following a discussion with AXYZ Automation’s UK managing director Mark Sweeney, Michael made enquires as to the likely price. He subsequently received a telephone call from a technical representative at AXYZ advising him that a demonstration model of the machine would be at the Dublin show and that it would be available for purchase at a bargain price afterwards. The excursion south proved an auspicious one for Michael who commented: ‘As soon as I saw the 4010 router in action, I knew it would be ideal for the size of my workshop and for the type of work undertaken.’ And so it has proved. Michael added: ‘The machine literally runs like a dream and the training and technical support from the AXYZ team have been a revelation.’

The AXYZ 4010 router installed at Joinery Services is one of the 4000 series renowned for their robust construction, high performance-to-cost ratio and utmost reliability under continuous operation. It is especially suited to handling 8 x 4 sheets, with the ability to machine materials up to 150mm thick.  The router can run continuously to allow high-volume production or one-off prototypes with the same degree of quality and reliability. It can also be configured to accommodate a host of options, including an automatic tool change (ATC) facility and has the capacity for multiple heads to further accelerate the speed of production. The 4010 CNC router has an overall length of 3,680mm and an overall width of 2,000mm, with an effective processing area of 3,048mm (length) x 1,524mm (width).

At Joinery Services, AXYZ Automation’s standard Toolpath software is used to run with the 4010 CNC machine. Multiple features to increase production include 3D projections, 2D and 3D engraving, multiple head control, full 32-bit compliance and job estimating tools. The software can import from all industry-standard CAD/CAM packages that are capable of exporting DXF, HPGL or NC file formats.

On the degree to which installation of the AXYZ router had helped to speed up production and contribute to a commensurate increase in profitability and future growth, Michael Scott commented: ‘Without the machine, the kind of work undertaken at Joinery Services would have proved very time consuming and would have led to an erosion of profit margins. I can now programme the router to carry out a specific task and leave it to function automatically, allowing other tasks to be carried out in the meantime. The amount of repeat work that I now receive also testifies to the quality of output and the increased speed of production that are now possible with the AXYZ machine.’ On the quality of the service provided by AXYZ personnel, Michael concluded ‘it is second to none, with someone always available to answer any technical queries.’