Accord – for furniture

You may not have considered SCM’s new Accord 500 or Accord 600 models for manufacturing solid wood furniture but new features should now put them on your radar.

At first glance, you may wonder why we’re featuring super heavyweight window and door production machinery like SCM’s latestAccord 500andAccord 600in a furniture magazine. These open frame machines are certainly not found anything like as often in furniture-making factories as the open gantry Morbidelli M100 and M200 machines, which, to a point, are capable of performing much the same tasks. But with the latest versions of the Accord, SCM has introduced some key features that will capture the interest of furniture manufacturers who need the extra weight in the frame and value the increased stability and better finish when machining solid wood all day, every day. And with the new features come options for a much reduced footprint, further enhancing their appeal to furniture manufacturing workshops where space is at a premium.

“The main difference between the Morbidelli M-series machines and the Accords is that the Accords have a gantry structure,” Bruno Di Napoli, SCM’s Business Unit Manager for Working Centres and Drilling Machines, explains. “Having a gantry structure means it is bigger and heavier. The M200 can do the same job as the Accord but only up to a certain level. On the Accord, the units are big, the drilling block is big, and the configuration can include two routers of more than 20kW. You can have two tool-changers mounted on them and have up to 106 tools available.

“When it was launched three years ago, the Accord was presented in a configuration dedicated to windows, stairs, and doors applications – really heavyweight solid material processing. While solid materials means wooden windows most of the time, and the first Accords were equipped for window production, in reality these machines will also work well for manufacturers who are producing furniture from solid wood. The two machines we have in the Tech Centre [Rimini] have been equipped and designed for manufacturing kitchens, tables, offices, etc.

“They are equipped with different kinds of tool-changers, different kinds of drilling blocks, different kinds of systems to lock the panels onto the machine. They are also wider machines. Before, the Accord was only 1600mm, and for windows, you don’t need more than that. The new Accords can be either 1600mm or 1900mm wide, because if you make tables or office furniture, for example, you need much more space.

“The Accords are now available with the Flexmatic table, a very successful automatic table we’ve been using with the Morbidelli M100 and M200 for more than 10 years. It’s extremely effective for furniture manufacturing but less appropriate to window production, and it’s being used more and more in furniture manufacturing environments.”

One of the key developments to the Accord machines is the way in which the rails work. “If there are eight rails on the machine, everybody assumes they work as four plus four. They see a wall in between. The reason is because on most of our competitors’ machines, when you move a rail, there is a vacuum pipe that moves with it. That pipe has a certain length and when it reaches its extreme, the rail can be moved no further. If the pipe is too long, it becomes difficult to hide within the machine when it is not extended. Therefore it must be short.

“With the Morbidelli M200, we removed that physical limit some years ago by using a system we invented that involved moving the pipes horizontally underneath the table. This enabled them to move wherever they were needed. Suddenly, four plus four was a thing of the past. An eight bar machine of five meters could have all of the bars on the left, or all on the right. It could have five on the left, three on the right, whatever you wanted. That was an incredible advantage.”

There were numerous software issues that had to be resolved along the way but the brand-new, patented Optizone system that’s now available with the latest generation of Accord machines has transformed pod and rail operations. With a simple click, the size of the two working areas can be defined and customised to suit the pieces to be machined during programming. The clamps can also be moved. “You still have a red line in the control that defines the two working areas but you can move the line wherever you want. You can tell the machine that you want one meter in one field, three meters in the other field, or two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half. You decide how many bars you want to have on the left side and how many bars you want to have on the right. If you have twelve bars, you can have 10 and two, or seven and five. It’s been years in development but now you can work every panel differently to the next. You can work a panel of two meters, or two together with a panel of one meter in a very compact machine.

“And there is another advantage to the latest Accords: instead of buying a machine of five meters, you can now buy a machine of three metres in length that will do the same job for a furniture manufacturer, saving money and enabling you to have a machine with a much smaller footprint. To have a solution like this, it’s a revolution because all of a sudden, it can be really flexible, really easy.”

There have also been some significant changes to the tool-changers on the new model Accords: “We have tool-changers for all the electrospindles. Three years ago, we invented a tool-changer called Caddy, which had 35 tools on the side. We have developed Caddy into a new version called Quadro. Quadro is square. It holds 35 tools like Caddy but there is also space for a very big saw blade as well. Instead of being on the side, we moved it onto the beam of the machine, so it travels with the machine. It means the machine has a reduced footprint, faster pickup and increased safety.”

Equipping the Accord 500 with options like a TRB side tool-changer, Caddy, a Rapid rear tool-changer, the new Quadro, a FAST on-board tool-changer and a Veloce onboard tool-changer, means up to 106 tools are always available. The Quadro 35 and Caddy 35 tool-changers provide commonly used tools in extra-quick time while the main tool-changer acts as a warehouse, supplying the other on-board tool-changers when necessary. Combined with new five-axis operating units equipped with 20kW electrospindles and multifunction units that further increase the routing speed, it makes for a very powerful and flexible machine.

“If you are a window manufacturer, you want quality. If you need to work on furniture, you need extra flexibility. If you want to work on panels, you need the structure, the speed, the software, the dynamic, the vacuum system of the Morbidelli X. It really boils down to having the right frame design for the application. You only need the bigger frame and the thicker casting of the Accord if you are doing continuous heavy work.

“The difference between the Accord 500 and the Accord 600 is only in the way we put units on the machine. The Accord 500 has three units. The Accord 600 can have double routers, or routers with a mechanical locking system that enable it to work with very big tools that are essential for windows as well as solid wood furniture. We can retrofit other items for solid woodworking to provide a machine that’s either dedicated to windows and gives you the best technical solution you can find on the market, or a machine that gives you the best for furniture.

“You cannot use a machine with a frame that’s designed for furniture and much smaller material removals, then use it for windows without paying a price. We don’t want you to have a machine designed for furniture that can work solid wood windows; it’s better to have a machine designed for windows that also makes furniture. That’s the thinking behind the new Accords. They have a much heavier frame to avoid any kind of vibration and this will help ensure longevity while undertaking really heavy duty work. That’s why the Accord 500 and Accord 600 are such good solutions for furniture manufacturers who want a machine that will do the job tirelessly and provide them with both flexibility and longevity.”

For more information on the Accord 500 and Accord 600, if you are reading this article with the free Furniture Journal app, using your smart device, touch the picture marked with a link sign to watch a video, or call SCM in Nottingham on 0115 977 0044. Alternatively, visit www.scmgroup.com/en_GB/scmwood