VRD Detailed Joinery – II
When everything is a “one off” how do you get Real Automation from your software?
This job was one of those challenges that doesn’t come along very often. A uniquely designed round apartment, full of curves, no two things the same and not a square edge in sight.
This circular apartment block on the shores of Sydney Harbour with spectacular 360 degree views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge has one apartment on each floor shaped like a donut.
The elevators, stairs and service equipment are in the centre of the building and the living area is positioned around the edge.
The Borello brothers, Roy and Domenic, owners of VRD Detailed Joinery have excelled in this type of work for many years and are familiar with the manual techniques of setting out for high quality cabinet making.
In fact, this is VRD’s second project in this building.
The first, on another level, was done the hard way, before the CNC and before they bought their QuickCAM Systems Automation Software.
This time around things were different, the project was more complex, more detailed, but, thanks to new technology, was completed in half the time.
The job started with a round empty shell. The question was, where do you start?
Even the builder saw the difficulties of getting the walls in the right place until Roy offered to use the architect’s AutoCAD plan to develop a series of template sheets to cover the whole apartment floor to show the exact position of the walls, cabinets and other furniture.
Using QuickCAM automation software Roy easily imported the files from AutoCAD and cut the template sheets from 3mm MDF on his CNC router. The templates were 100% accurate and the job was done in no time. With the full set-out on the floor of the apartment, the builder could easily identify where the walls were to be positioned, and Roy could start developing some of the most detailed cabinetry that VRD had ever done.
Although it occupies a whole level the apartment is limited for space and every spare millimetre has been used in quest for storage without compromising living area, this has produced some very unusually shaped units hidden in the many nooks and crannies.
The architect’s specifications included some spectacular designs using curves, angles, rounded corners and of course, everything to be fixed to the outside wall was curved with cut-outs to fit the features of the building’s internal structure.
The designs included mitre and dovetail joints, ribs and curved panels.
Roy Borello told us “The combination of using AutoCAD and QuickCAM software was perfect. It meant that I could design any shaped cabinet or any single part that was requested with no restrictions. Once the drawing was complete it was a simple matter of saving the file to QuickCAM where the data from AutoCAD is processed. QuickCAM then provides the tool path information, G-Code, Labels for each part and any other information you could need. The process is so fast, so easy and the accuracy is 100%.”
Getting REAL Automation is all about accurate data To work effectively, today’s CNC machinery needs to be given accurate and complete data.
Many software drawing packages are designed to provide rendered drawings for appraisal or selling purposes and have severe limitations when it comes to providing sufficient machining data for unusual or complex products.
This project is a great example of how to provide accurate data even for the most complex shapes. This means you can make anything with full automation if you just have the right software.
QuickCAM Systems and AutoCAD together provide a unique system designed to save you time, save you money while keeping accuracy at 100%.