Product category:
Timber Buildings and Timber Products
News Release from: Eleco Timberframe | Subject: StairCon design software
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 10 January 2008
Staircon helps Woodbase maintain quality
and price
Woodbase Joiners using speed, accuracy and flexibility of StairCon design software from Consultec UK to stay competitive in the manufacture of high quality staircases.
StairCon was created to meet the specific needs of staircase manufacturers and enables efficiencies at every stage from initial design to final machining As Woodbase's Managing Director Simon Bartlett explains, "The staircases we make are invariably one offs, typically for use in roof space conversions, extensions and new-build projects at the upper end of the market"
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 4 Oct 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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""We knew that we needed to buy a CADCAM package and move into CNC machining because of the way the market was changing.
People will only pay so much for the high quality product we offer, so we were finding it harder and harder to hold our price position"".
"The company has been using StairCon since January 2007, and Simon says that the benefits were apparent straight away".
""It is very flexible, and we can create what we want very quickly.
We seldom seem to do anything straightforward and compared to using the drawing board StairCon is quicker, and easily lets us try out different ideas out.
He adds that the accuracy of the drawings is spot on.
And from having designed the staircase it just takes a few clicks and all the machining files are on a screen in the workshop ready to pick the program you want to run.
He was and continues to be impressed with the precision of the components he can now produce on his 5 axis CNC machine".
"When you first start it is hard to believe they can be that good, but they are spot on to within tenths of a millimetre".
"You can even program in whether you want a joint to have a loose or a tight fit," he says.
Another advantage for Woodbase is that it can show customers 3D images of what their staircase will look like.
These can be sent by email, and the customer can move the image to look at the staircase from different directions".
"Sometimes it can be very hard to visualize a staircase from a drawing," says Simon, "After all, people don't order many of them in a lifetime".
He says that the StairCon software has more than proved its worth and is was the right choice to support his investment in CNC technology".
"We looked at several other packages, but they were either more complicated or not as well developed".
"I'm happy that we made the right decision and StairCon has even exceeded our expectations.".
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