Staircon
Machinale Houtbewerking Sjaak de Visser - Aagtekerke (Zeeland)
In Aagtekerke, on one of the beautiful Zeeland islands, you will find the joinery factory of the De Visser family, started about 15 years ago by Sjaak de Visser. In the joinery factory, high-quality staircases, window frames, windows and doors (and related products) are made. The joinery factory generally handles small projects, but series production also occasionally occurs. It has since built a good reputation in the Walcheren region. This has, among other things, meant that they can occasionally be found as far as Amsterdam.
In the meantime, the next generation (Jan de Visser) has joined the business. Jan closed his own company and fully focused on the joinery factory. Last year the joinery factory was modernised and significant investments were made in, among other things, a 5-axis CNC machine with a high working height and a laser projector. Additional staff were also hired to be able to produce the staircases (and window frames).
To simplify and automate the drawing and production of staircases, and after comparison with other parties, the decision was made to go with the Staircon CAM5 package by Elecosoft. Staircon was chosen because of its attractive and modern appearance and ease of use.
“The package simply looked good. Now that we are working with it, developing a staircase goes much faster and any changes are easier to implement. For example, a dog-leg staircase is easy to work out in Staircon and the control output to the CNC machine is also good. Measurement differences can (almost) no longer occur in this way,” says Jan de Visser.
In the future, the De Visser family wants to grow further in exclusivity and quality. A switch to Staircon CAM5+ for the production of curved strings and wreaths is possibly still an option.
Harrie Botter Trappen - Kerkenveld
For over thirty years, staircases have been made in the Dutch village of Kerkenveld by Harrie Botter. In recent years the next generation has taken on an increasingly important role within the company. The future is being carefully crafted and automating the production process is a necessary part of that.
“We have always kept up with the times and increasingly acquired machines that were digitally controlled. We also want to be ready for the future and have thought long and hard about purchasing a CNC machine. Because someone left the production team and because it was difficult to find staff, a first CNC machine turned out to be truly necessary,” say Nick and Lisa Botter.
A CNC machine, the Busellato Jet Master T XL S6/15, was purchased together with Staircon CAD/CAM software for designing staircases and controlling the CNC machine.
“With our machine supplier we have a relationship of many years. They are very familiar with our company and the way we work. They researched which CNC machine is best suited for us. As staircase software we chose Staircon because of its ease of use and the direct control of our machine.”
“Previously we designed our staircases manually with pencil and paper. We had expected the transition to be complex, but this turned out to be much easier than expected. The switch from ‘by hand’ to ‘on screen’ even went very smoothly.”
Because the machine and the software are still new to us, we sometimes still have some minor difficulties, but we can always count on the support of both our machine supplier Talen Machines and Staircon.
Nick en Lisa Botter – Harrie Botter Trappen, Nederland
