Machinery: SandInvent C4

machinery : ScandInvent C4

This month we look at the new C4  workcentre from Swedish manufacturers ScandInvent. Having started as a worktop manufacturer himself, ScandInvent Director Robert Jacobsson reckons he knows what the industry wants and believes his machines deliver it

Main features of the C4 workcentre

General: ScandInvent asked themselves why a CNC workcentre needs to be as big as the slab of stone being worked when only a small part of the surface actually needs to be worked to produce a sink or hob cut out and a drainer. The inspiration for their design came from a paper hole punch, where the machine only needs to be slightly wider than the distance between the holes, not as big as an A4 sheet of paper. Robert Jacobsson’s own background in worktop manufacture influenced the design of the original C3 and the new C4, introduced at the Natural Stone Show at ExCeL London in March. ScandInvent say the C4 can be installed and an operator taught to use it in less than two days because operation is intuitive and follows the way masons work by hand. It is for making worktops and does not have additional features of larger CNC workcentres that companies in the worktop sector do not need. Manuals that are as easy to use as the machines themselves are supplied and answer most questions regarding operation, maintenance and servicing.
Capabilities: The C4 can produce cut-outs for sinks and hobs, perform internal and external edge profiling and polishing, internal sharp corners, recessed drainers, draining grooves, shower trays and text engraving. It also has the capacity to work memorials.
Physical configuration: The C4 is 2550mm long, 2100mm deep and 1825mm high, making it compact enough to fit into almost any workshop. The area it can work is 1500mm x 1150mm. Maximum vertical movement of the head is 220mm.
Work surface: Stainless steel. The frames of all ScandInvent units are machined to an accuracy of 0.02mm after being welded to work to a tolerance of 0.04mm. The work can be held by suction pads or clamps.
Tool handling: In line 15-tool store with automatic tool change at the back of the machine. Tool connection to ISO40. Tools are cooled with water from the centre and outside.
Motor: A 5.76kW (7.5HP) to 16.25kW (12.5HP) inverter with feed back to the spindle and a spindle speed of
0-9,000rpm. Changing the bearings on the spindle involves replacing a £500 rotor with bearings and takes less than two hours.
Control: From the beginning, ScandInvent believed existing CAD-CAM software was too complicated for most stone workers unfamiliar with it to be able to use, so they produced their own ScandSoft software based on the Windows XP operating system familiar to most people with a PC.
    These days they also have the help of a top student from Uppsala, one of Sweden’s leading universities, to develop the programs. The result is that most people can operate the machines and the operator can draw, change and save thousands of designs without needing any special knowledge about the working of computer numerical control. There are computer templates available for downloading from the ScandInvent website – for example there are about 150 DXF-file designs for the most common sink cut-outs available.
Price: The C4 costs a little over £50,000, which ScandInvent like to look at as £206 a month if the money is borrowed – in other words, about a third or quarter of the price of a person and capable of producing more than enough profit in a day to meet a month’s repayment.
More information from: Glenn Groom of ScandInvent UK. Tel: 0208 144 7599. Mob: 0787 646 3906.