Lignocam

Three arguments for a programming system:

Unlike metal, wood is anisotropic. This implies that a wooden end process (for example: a half lap on a piece extremity) cannot be machined in the same way as a longitudinal process (bevel cut). This component is not found in the mechanical field.
If the mechanical industry has based its success on the production of large batches, the carpenter, stair manufacturer interests his clients by unit production, custom. In other words, a programming file (ISO code or G-Code) has a specific usage.
There is no wood structure with long span not using cambered beams. This deformation is not generally drawn up in the (CAD-CAM) software but it is applied just before production. This characteristic of wood construction is not supported by most programming software. For your information: an ISO code for a straight beam cannot be recycled for the same beam but cambered.

Development

The timber industry has developed a variety of CNC machines. These specific machines for processing wood have benefited from experience gained in the field of mechanics and become more sophisticated, powerful and fast thanks to the inflow of know-how from wood professionals.

However, the actual agenda is the following:

If the numerical methods of production have been well adapted to the wood material, the means of programming used in the mechanical field proves to be inadequate. They are based mostly on two-dimensional data (DXF) with depth and thus require much time to define tool paths, angles of pins, and the number of passes. There are three reasons that can explain this:

We, training carpenters, develop software since 1997 which reduces to almost nill the long tedious and unproductive hours of programming.

Its main advantages are the following:

Interpretation of three-dimensional data (BTL) specific to wood derived from the major CAD-CAM software employed in the timber industry.
- After reading the BTL file, processes like jack rafter cut with a dovetail, the housing and the bevel cut of a hip are recognized and interpreted automatically in Lignocam. No extra data input are required.
Instantaneous attribution of machining strategies for shaping and immediate generation of the ISO code without any user intervention.
- LIGNOCAM analyses your jack rafter cut, looks for the best strategy to process it, the ideal location and even checks for collision. Lignocam does so for all processes and even makes sure the speed and the pass is adapted for each tool available on the machine.
Camber and ISO-Code update.
- A straight bevel cut on a hip as well as drillings will be shifted and the ISO code adapted in real time. If the machine allows it, the bevel cut will be curved.
Technical assistance is ensured by competent professionals (carpenters, timber framers, engineers), online upgrades and development in close collaboration with the clients..
- Notification when an update is available online, hotline (remote technical support), user meetings.

Etymology

LIGNO: From latin lignosus, from lignum, wood. wood fibre.
CAM: Computer Aided Manufacturing