Case Studies

The Challenge

One of Spain's leading manufacturers of high-end roller blinds requested an automated solution to create panels, both square-shaped and rectangular, using hard-to-handle materials such as zebra-fabrics and screen. This machine needed to cut with extreme precision: panels for roller blinds must be perfectly square to ensure that they roll up-and-down perfectly straight. Since the blinds' edges are in plain view, the cuts must be immaculate and seared to avoid fraying.

The Solution

For this project, we recommended our SM-375-TA, one of our flagship CAD/CAM cutting plotters, along with a customized ultrasonic cutting head and sonotrode to ensure a clean, seared cut. As this fabric is very open and the cuts are made on a non-vacuumed surface of tough stainless steel, we needed a solution to hold down the fabric on the worktop. To solve this, we converted the grip-and-pull system to hold the zebra-fabric down during the cut in an X-direction. The lower bar of the grip-and-pull system was designed to slide over the cutting surface during the length-cut and flatten the material, while the ultrasonic tool slices and sears. To make sure the bar slides smoothly, we applied a Teflon coating. Last, we installed a linear laser pointer on the machine bridge that allows the operator to make sure the fabric's position is in line with the cutting machine’s axes

Roller blinds cut with efficiency and extreme precision.

As roller blinds are always cut as rectangles, we installed our nesting software for squares and rectangles to optimize both the material and the cutting sequence. The software places the patterns ensuring the least amount of fabric is used to create the programmed patterns, then calculates the most efficient path the cutting tool should follow to ensure the job is completed in the least amount of time.

Since the customer uses zebra-fabrics and several other materials – such as Screen, blackout, Soltis, and even acrylics – we installed an 80W laser cutting tool and a rotary blade next to the ultrasonic blade and made the Spanish SM-375-Ta a truly all-round cutting solution.

The machine was installed in April 2017.

The machines were successfully installed in our customer’s manufacturing plant in Casalpusterlengo in September and October, 2015.