Machinery Advice Please

[froggy]

We do not currently manufacture frames, but are looking at purchasing machinery. We want to be able to manufacture 700-1000 frames per week ( basic stuff, in relatively small sizes 10x8, 7x5 etc) What sort of kit would we need to make this sort of volume, with capacity to expand in the future.

Thank you for your help.

[JFeig]

Frames only, or with glass, backing mounts(mats)? Are the frames to be sold empty or with art?

Basic tools of the trade are a pneumatic miter saw and a Vnailer. You can get by with a foot operated chopper if you are young, , but that has limited growth potential for increased production.

[prospero]

Cutting:

For small mouldings a saw setup is not going to give you too much speed advantage. You could buy maybe half-a-dozen
Morsos for the price of a double mitre saw. You would need the personnel to work them, but no huge dust extractors/compressors
needed.

Joining:

Again, small mouldings (one v-nail insertion) basic machines would do the job. Bigger stuff you would benefit greatly having a programmable
machine that does all the v-nails in one corner in one operation.

Machinery apart, a lot of time can be saved in this sort of operation if you put thought into your working arrangements and try to
avoid a lot of walking to and fro. You're talking up to 4000 corners. Shave 10 secs off each corner and you save about 10 hours a week.

[Keith Hewitt]

At £2500 this kit would be a good starting point

https://www.theframersforum.com/viewtop ... =7&t=16638


Good luck in your ambitions
Always good to see a newbie starting.


Let us know how it progresses

[vintage frames]

You could produce up to 1000 frames in one week with a Morso guillotine and a basic underpinner - but- you'd be mad to try doing that every week and would leave no room for expansion.
What you would need is a double mitre saw with a large capacity compressor and as big a dust extractor as could be afforded. Even small mouldings can give up a considerable quantity of fine dust.
Then you need a production pneumatic underpinner that will "chunk" away at the frame pieces without interuption or reloading of v-nails. A coil-fed machine comes to mind.
You could overspend by buying all this new, but a better alternative is on the 2nd hand market. Most production machinery is pretty rugged and should work well, no matter how old.

[froggy]

Frames only, or with glass, backing mounts(mats)? Are the frames to be sold empty or with art?

Basic tools of the trade are a pneumatic miter saw and a Vnailer. You can get by with a foot operated chopper if you are young, , but that has limited growth potential for increased production.

Frames with hard board back board for hanging,standing etc ( probably buy these in depending on costings ). 1mm polycarb for glazing ( or suitable equivalent), can cut these on our own lasers depending on costings. Frames sold empty, we have printing equipment to produce branding inserts if we wish.