That holiday party you went to at your neighbor’s house – didn’t you secretly run your hand over the smooth, stone countertop in the kitchen, feeling the cool perfection, tracing the grain with your finger, admiring the window light reflecting off the perfectly polished surface? As a consumer, you appreciate the beauty and utility of fine, flat stonework. As a professional, you admire the quality product created by the right choice of reliable, quality flat stone processing equipment.
Of course, flat slabs can be used for much more than kitchen counters. They may be used for floors or walls, tabletops, artwork, or any other purpose to which human ingenuity can turn a piece of stone. These different applications require different preparations and finishes, and a range of stone processing equipment.
Every finished stone produce started out solidly locked up as part of some massive stone formation somewhere: a hillside, a mountain, a cliff, a cave. Quarrying this rock to remove manageable pieces may be done by a combination of blasting, wedge extraction, enormous diamond-tipped circular saws or chain saws, or by using a diamond wire saw. The most economical method will depend on the type of stone being removed. Advances in diamond wire saw technology have increased its popularity over time, especially for expensive stone, because it results in a better initial surface and less material loss during quarrying.
After removal from the main rock mass, flat stone is usually further processed on site at the quarry into slabs that can easily be trucked to a flat stone finishing factory. A gang frame saw with up to 80 parallel diamond-tipped reciprocating saw blades is a frequently used and very impressive tool used for this purpose. The gang saw is the most efficient way to reduce a block to near-final thickness slabs, but depending on the stone and the application, slabs may be removed one at a time using wedges to split sedimentary rock, a chainsaw or a circular blade saw.
Subsequent processes depend on the application. If a rough or natural surface is acceptable (or even desirable!), it remains only to size the slab into the final, desired, rough dimensions, generally using a bridge saw. For eventual polished slab work, a bridge saw is again the go-to piece of equipment for achieving final dimensions. This stone processing equipment is available at every level of automation from completely manual to fully automatic CNC machines. Another sizing option, which gives the manufacturer the ultimate in stone prep flexibility, is the waterjet cutting machine. For a somewhat higher initial capital investment, this computer-controlled machine allows the producer to create complex shapes with very tight tolerances at a high rate of speed with surface finishes that may be acceptable with no further steps.
Once cut to their final shape, many architectural and decorative stone applications require a high-quality, brilliant surface finish. Several classes of stone equipment may be used to achieve the final, desired surface appearance: slab polishers, edge polishers / bevelers and radial arm multitaskers. A radial arm multitasker is an all-purpose machine that can handle a number of different tasks, including machine-assisted manual polishing for shops with low-volume production. A slab polisher is just what it sounds like: a stone processing machine that imparts the desired surface quality to prepared flat stonework. Perhaps a matte finish, perhaps a glossy polish – it all depends on the polishing medium and machine settings selected. Finally, when cosmetic appeal of the edge of a stone product is important, – for example the edges of a countertop facing into the room – a combination edge polisher and beveling machine can be employed to knock the sharp corners off a slab and then polish the entire edge, leaving a smooth surface that won’t catch on anything and looks just as good as the main surface area.
Conclusion
Stone Machinery Direct brings its experience in the stone equipment business to fabricators looking for any of the flat stone processing machinery described here, and much more. Contact us today if you are looking for quality, used stone equipment to expand your business capabilities.
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