Alphastone Helps APS Masonry Stay A Cut Above The Competition

The company's pedigree includes fine stonework on the colleges of Oxford University, renovation of the spire at Christchurch Cathedral, and work on The Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace. Likewise, it covers everything from prestigious new build projects, such as Tusmore House near Bicester in Oxfordshire, to palatial private residences in Palm Beach and Wisconsin in the USA.

The company, which is part of the Symm Group, is today continuing its success by harnessing advanced technology to augment traditional skills.

At the heart of its capabilities is a major investment in a Brembana G-Rex CNC milling and routing machine, controlled by Alphastone software from Coventry-based Alphacam.

The Italian machine is the first of its type to be installed at a UK masonry company; boasting an impressive 3.2 metre by 2.8 metre bed, with a machining envelope of up to 1.3 metres on the Z-axis. The G-Rex also provides full 5-axis machining capabilities and is equipped with a 13-station automatic tool rack.

"In common with most other business sectors, stonemasonry is becoming an increasingly competitive market," says APS Masonry's Production Manager, Maurice O'Donoghue. "But, that’s where the benefits of Alphastone really come to the fore.

"Firstly, it provides the flexibility to enable us to utilise our in-house skills and experience to best effect. Furthermore, it is a powerful, yet intuitive tool, which removes many of the labour intensive aspects of our work, by providing fast and highly accurate machining of even intricate parts."

In operation, the software enables geometry to be imported in any of a series of standard file formats, such as IGES, or modelled from scratch using the system’s in-built design tools. The required machining strategies can then be assigned, using company-standard or user-defined tools, along with relevant cutting speeds and feed rates. These can be stored as individual machining styles, ready for immediate re-use, or to provide substantial time savings in the programming of similar components or materials.

According to O'Donoghue, APS normally runs a full tool simulation to check for potential collisions with clamps or gouging of the workpiece by any of the tools during the machining sequence. Once verified, the toolpath is converted by Alphastone into a fully defined CNC programme at the touch of a button, ready for transfer to the Brembana by DNC link.

"Most programmes represent several hours machining, enabling the Brembana to be run unattended overnight," adds O'Donoghue. "This provides obvious productivity benefits. However, tool wear can be an issue on some jobs, particularly with highly abrasive materials such as Derbyshire grit. In these cases, tool compensation needs to be applied to the final programme. However, this is easily achieved using the Alphastone system."

Finished results are not only impressive in terms of their dimensional accuracy, but also their speed of production. O'Donoghue cites an example of a series of fluted columns that would have taken something in the region of 35 hours to complete using traditional methods. "On the Brembana, the job was completed in well under half a day! On another project - which was expected to take six weeks to finish - we completed the work in two, including all design and programming time," he reports.

Yet the investment in new technology has not led to any reduction in the company's need for skilled staff. "Quite the reverse in fact," explains O'Donoghue. "The increase in throughput creates a corresponding requirement for more banker masons to undertake detail finishing work. Indeed, recently our efforts to recruit skilled staff have led us as far afield as Poland and France to find craftsmen capable of meeting our standards."

Perhaps the ability of the new technology to remove much of the drudgery of traditional stonemasonry also accounts for the fact that the company has been able to attract some high calibre apprentices to help drive it forward during the next phase of its development. Either way, the Brembana/Alphastone combination reinforces APS Masonry’s commitment to quality and service - two of its cornerstones of success during the past 200 years.

Alphacam provides world-class CAD/CAM software for the engineering, woodworking and stone markets from 2D parts through to complex 5-Axis applications and offers a significant return on investment. Alphacam is a principal brand of the Planit group.

Planit is a global supplier of design and manufacturing software for the engineering, woodworking and stone industries. The company provides its customers with products and services that enable them to improve the productivity of their machine tools, shorten design and manufacturing time, optimise material usage and deliver high quality goods and services to their customers. Planit's solutions are best-in-class within their respective markets and are integral to the success of thousands of companies of every size around the globe.