Plastics, Acrylic Glass, Composites and other, often very expensive, high-tech materials have their own unique consistencies and behaviors. With this in mind, special technologies are required, especially when cutting sheets.

The Schelling fk 6, a rock-solid machine thanks to its concept and design which builds on decades of know-how and yet, at the same time, paves the way through new innovative developments that stand up to  high demands on practicality, productivity and profitability.

New: electric pressure beam

"Translating the respective advantages of split, electrically driven and continuous pressure beams into the sophisticated everyday life of a Schelling fk 6 was the goal of our engineers,"  explains Markus Freuis, Business Unit Manager for Plastic Saws of Schelling Precision Solutions, "because innovations are only as good as their responses to downtime, idle time, productivity increase, and machine lifespan."

The aim of the new pressure beam is perfect clamping of parts. This is achieved with a new and innovative electric drive. In contrast to the previous pneumatic movement, digital motors provide much shorter processing times because the required pressure beam positions can be reached more accurately and quickly. It does not always have to complete the full travel path of the beam, but only has to clear the height of the material, which brings dramatic savings in time and efficiency because of high-speed and short-stroke concept, accompanied by more precision.

New: split pressure beam

Instead of a hold-down beam, the completely redesigned fk 6 now uses a double pressure beam system. Double means that the beam is divided into two parts. One part that is very close to and one of which is just below the cutting line, this depresses the plate material and hermetically closes the cutting area.

This allows, with our newest innovations, significantly cleaner dust or trim cuts on both ends of the sheet plus further allowing easy processing of thin Strips and sensitive Materials.

New: continuous pressure beam

This concept of the continuous pressure beam is designed to make it easier to cut very narrow strips, dust cuts, small parts and any other specialty Materials. The pressure beam, in the truest sense of the word however, gets in the way of the scissor clamp that leads the materials to the cutting line. This is where Schelling have used their expertise to create a special trick:

While the half of the pressure beam before the cutting line is continuous, the second half after the cutting line recesses, which the scissor clamps of the carriage with the workpiece can easily advance. This is necessary for a trim cut. The recesses would not allow a uniform contact pressure, therefore, a closing device closes all recesses as soon as the clamps return, thus ensuring a equal force of the pressure beam over its entire length.

Closing Device Cut line

For small parts and narrow strips to be produced, as well as for thin materials, the saw blade cutting line can create a problem. Strips or small parts can get cought on the cut line or simply fall down the gap.

Schelling put a stop to these problems with the fk 6, several Gap Closing devices now close the space. These sliding elements across the cutting line form a bridge to prevent narrow strips to fall down. The sliding elements remain closed in the start position and open only when the saw blade passes through.

Waste will be disposed of with the clean-up system as before. However, the sliding elements also prevent narrow waste from entering the interior of the machine table.

4-fold strip aligner

For most sheet-dividing processes, 2-fold strip aligners were sufficient, which the Schelling fk 6 had until now. However, that was not enough for parts that were cut over almost the entire cutting width.

Schelling has developed a 4-fold strip aligner, this is characterized by being able to align any strip width up to the complete width of the cutting line. This ensures alignment during cutting over the entire saw width giving fast, precise alignment of any Material width.

Intelligent material detection

The variations of different plastics and sheet thicknesses presents the operator with new challenges because every material requires different handling & cutting characters during processing, so numerous parameters for each material had to be changed manually, every time with the change of material.

The new fk 6 now recognizes the material to be cut by barcode or QR code and automatically changes all necessary Parameters. The codes are read in with the integrated scanner, which means less responsibility by the operator is required. Speeds, saw feed, saw blade, pressure beam and strip aligner clamping pressure, as well as other parameters, are adapted automatically every time a new material is loaded.

Automation with Area Storage System VS-PS

The use of fully automatic area storage was previously only available to a limited extent for plastics. The separation of many plastic sheets, with their very different properties, was too difficult. The separation of thin sheets is especially problematic.

But once again, Schelling proves their position as the technology leader and “Master of separating” and has developed a practicable process that reliably separates sheets using clever and meticulously designed suction devices. This finally makes it possible to productively use the tried-and-tested Schelling VS-PS area storage system for other applications and also integrate it within the cutting process.

Automation with linear robot

Up to now automated parts production stopped after the cutting line,  the operator had to manually unload parts and remove them from the saw. Schelling again has a Solution with the new fk 6. as an option, it offers a linear robot that largely relieves the machine operator. The so-called "Automatic Manipulation Device" automatically picks up parts, feeds them back to the saw until they are cut to size, and then transfers them to the downstream steps in the processing chain.

The use of a linear robot is much more suitable than that of a conventional robot, due to the high volumes of machined parts. The technology, which is completely new on the market, dramatically reduces non-productive time and raises cutting times by up to 60%.

Machine Performance control in real time

ZIMBA is not only the name of a majestic peak in the Western Central Alps, but also the name of the Schelling IIoT software. The optional ZIMBA dashboard has proven to be particularly useful for the operation of the plastic panel sizing saw fk 6, because it allows the saw's entire performance to be processed in a clear, graphically legible manner, even offering a real-time (from smartphone, tablet or PC) check.

This provides the service and project management with a powerful tool that allows easy and transparent monitoring and high-quality analysis of the production process.

Optimize cutting plans, Recycle leftovers

Modern plastics are too valuable to not utilize the maximum. Schelling therefore offers options not only during processing but also for the upstream and downstream phases to get the maximum out of each sheet. Upstream is the cutting plan from Schelling’s optimization HPO. This software program ensures that the sheet material is utilized to the maximum with as little waste as possible.

Downstream, the Remnant utilization software Schelling XBoB intelligently stores cut Rest pieces and recycles them as quickly as possible with the automatic & Live integration into HPO. You can also utilize the system manually or fully integrated depending on machine configuration. For example, with the options, area storage system and linear robot, this process is done completely automatically. An automatic recycling of rest pieces significantly reduces stock levels and increases the profitability for every customer.

Solid technology for the 2020s

"The industrial plastic saw Schelling fk 6 has proven itself for many years in demanding and productive practices. At K Show in Düsseldorf, The fk6 will now prove with its numerous new features and innovations that it is ready for the future and the 21^st century .”

says Markus Freuis, Head of Schelling Precision Solutions.

What remains unchanged of the proven technology of the fk 6, are the heavy duty mechanical engineering for vibration-free cuts, virtually completely chip free for a clean cutting result, and of course high dimensional accuracy and high cutting performance.

Schelling Precision Solutions is a division of IMA Schelling Austria GmbH, which is based in Schwarzach, Vorarlberg in Austria. The unit develops, produces and distributes precision saws and plants for plastics, non-ferrous metals, composites and printed circuit board materials, as well as applications and machines for their peripherals, such as infeed, automatic area storage, stacking equipment and packaging lines. The company has over 100 years of experience in saws and systems for sheet-like materials and offers solutions for every requirement: From single-sheet blanking in batch size 1 to high-end package cutting systems for series production, no customer requirement remains unfulfilled. The company employs approximately 570 people at ten locations in nine countries.