Specialist manufacturer of point-of-sale and shop fitting display units, Retail Design Engineering (RED) is reported to have comprehensively resolved a long-standing problem with the degree of accuracy possible when fabricating acrylic sheet by installing a Pacer 3020K Series router. The company, which has a workforce of 21 employees at its 8,000 square feet facility in Hull, is known particularly for the superior quality of its intricate display solutions. These are based primarily on acrylic and used in multiple commercial, industrial and high street retail applications. RED also functions as a general plastics fabricator and provides a full range of bespoke solutions for a diverse range of industries, including signage, furniture production and rail.

Apart from helping to create a more efficient standard of methodology, use of the Pacer router has, according to director James Caley, added a new dimension to the company’s in-house design capabilities and greatly increased the potential for attracting new work. He commented: ‘With the Pacer machine considerable savings have been made on production time with a commensurate increase in profitability, while the level of accuracy has been dramatically improved by comparison with the work hitherto carried out using inverted routers. The company has also become much more competitive and is securing larger contracts which previously might not have been possible.’

As testimony to these improvements, James cited the large volume of work now being placed by Fabricast Plastics following installation of the Pacer 3020K Series router. The machine is being used to process acrylic squares that fit into a profile with a critical tolerance level. Elsewhere, this company had been experiencing a 40 per cent rejection rate due to problems with accuracy involving the use of manual cutting methods but this rejection rate has now been reduced to zero as a result of the Pacer solution.

The Pacer 3020K router installed at RED is one of a series of machines that collectively represent a major price/performance breakthrough. It has an effective processing area of 3,050mm (X) x 2,050mm (Y) and 135mm (Z) and is suitable for 2D and 3D manifestations involving plastics, solid and composite woods and non-ferrous metals. The machine is based on a strong steel frame to ensure maximum rigidity in operation. It incorporates high-quality twin ball screw drives for enhanced accuracy and repeatability and integral steel bearings and slide ways that are fully enclosed to prevent dust and particle contamination.

Engineers at RED use Auto Cad 2008 to produce drawings prior to manufacture and this has been found to integrate perfectly with Pacer’s XMC-E software that supports the 3020K Series router. This is based on an open architecture concept and can accept design data from any CAD system or drawing package in industry-standard formats. The software features a host of advanced design and production tools, including automatic cutter offset compensation, 3D G-code data input, engraving facilities and 3D profile cutting.

Since installation, the Pacer machine has been working continuously for 12 hours a day, producing high quantities of acrylic cut shapes and smaller quantities of bespoke items. On the technical support provided by Pacer, James added: ‘Having been aware of Pacer systems used in the industries in which we specialise and having visited the Pacer showroom in Nottingham, I had high expectations of their performance but some reservations about our operational capabilities. However, Pacer’s approach to operator training and the technical back-up provided have made dealing with this company both a happy and a profitable experience.’ As to the future, James Caley concluded: ‘We are now looking at Pacer’s automatic tool change feature to further enhance production and will possibly upgrade our current software to include the 3D version.’