Whiteghyll Visual Fabrications, based in Bradford are a leading supplier of bespoke retail display and visual merchandising products to customers throughout the UK. With clients such as Morrisons,  BHS, Ann Summers, Argos and Habitat to name just a few, the quality of product and service provided has to be first class. They recently installed an AXYZ cut to print CNC solution in their graphics department to help boost productivity and reduce costs.

Having begun the move from traditional screenprinting to digital printing over a year ago with the purchase of a large format flatbed Vutek UV printer, Whiteghyll were faced with the same questions over finishing as most other owners of these enormously versatile printers. The question was, how to accurately cut out prints which have been created on rigid materials such as Foamex,  Acrylic and MDF.

At first this wasn’t thought to be too much of a problem as Whiteghyll already owned two CNC routers from AXYZ International.  A 3020HDS Pacer machine installed in 2004 and a 4008 AXYZ purchased in 2006 were already proving their worth in the plastics and woodworking departments.   Foamex and Acrylic panels printed on the Vutek in the graphics department were easily cut on the Pacer router which is able to machine up to 10 – 15mm acrylic in a single pass with outstanding edge quality. The problem however was registration – how to position the printed sheet so it is cut out in exactly the right place on the router.  Even more complex is how to account for non linear distortions, eg: stretching of the print caused not necessarily by the printer but by changes in the substrate due to temperature and humidity variations.

These problems resulted in significant waste caused by misaligned cutting, not to mention the product damage and labour costs incurred by moving materials between departments. Also, despite running 3 shifts, 24/7 there were capacity problems from the increased workload and the absence of a knife cutting unit on either router meant that certain cutting jobs on foamboard still had to be outsourced.

Richard Egan, Senior Project Manager at Whiteghyll said “the time came for us to look at purchasing an additional machine which needed to be capable of both routing and knife cutting and also a registration system for accurate cut to print alignment. We looked at some of the conventional knife cutting machines that are used in the graphics industry but whilst they are fast for knife cutting and have camera registration, they are expensive, relatively lightweight and struggled with our prime requirement of routing the solid, rigid substrates.  As we’d been really happy with our existing AXYZ routers we had a look at their latest machine which offers heavy duty router, oscillating knife and camera registration in one very economical package.”

The AXYZ machines can be fitted with 3hp, 5hp or 10hp routing spindles allowing them to cope easily with the toughest of materials, the tangential oscillating knife unit cuts the lightweight materials such as cardboard, foamboard, rubber etc and the camera registration system which works with both router and knife is based on the industry leading I-Cut software which is the only system that can compensate for linear and non linear distortions on the printed sheets.

Richard said that “we were confident with the AXYZ products and the service and support that they have provided over the years and at such a competitive price we felt we couldn’t go wrong”.

Since its installation, the new machine often runs continuously on three shifts and with it’s 2440mm x 1524mm working area it handles all that the Vutek can print. It has also solved all of the old cut to print problems by virtually eliminating waste caused by misalignment, it has reduced subcontract costs and it has saved on labour and damaged parts through less product handling.