The Cefla Finishing Group is a world leader in its field and Homag UK has been the exclusive UK distributor for Cefla products for many years.

The partnership between the companies is a perfect match; the Homag Group has established its position as the world leader in the woodworking industry and only partners with companies whose business ethos matches that of the Group.

“Cefla has emerged as the dominant force in automated paint and finishing equipment,” explains Simon Brooks, sales and marketing director of Homag UK.

“It therefore made complete sense for us, as part of the market leading Homag Group, to partner with them here in the UK. The Cefla range is becoming more and more popular as companies of all sizes look to automate their finishing processes to improve consistency and reduce costs.

“A case in point is the new updated and upgraded Cefla Easy reciprocating spray machine which is now more cost-effective, efficient and easy-to-use. It provides exceptional finish quality for wood products and is also ideal for many other applications such as plastics, glass, glue, metal, fibre cement and composites.”

The Easy sets new standards for state-of-the-art two-arm oscillating spray machines. Its spray control arms provide industry-leading articulation with simple programming which improves production speeds, reduces waste and lowers maintenance costs.

High-precision spraying with patented coatings recovery system

The Easy features high-precision photo diodes which enable precise part visioning to minimise overspray, increase productivity and reduce coatings waste. The 1950 mm wide solvent-proof carbon-fibre conveyor belt guarantees a longer life and allows for the production of a wider variety of part sizes.

Cefla has introduced a patented coatings recovery system on the Easy. This all-new ‘counter-rotating’ roller removes and recovers more usable material from the belt without the negative effects seen with competitive ‘belt scraping’ systems. This results in lower cleaning, coatings consumption and overall maintenance costs.

The Cefla Easy also features an airsphere plenum system whereby a patented airflow and material-recovery system improves the transfer efficiency and finish quality. At the same time, this system returns more coatings material for recycling thus reducing costs and equipment maintenance time.

iGiottoApp: Six-axis articulating robotic sprayer for complex 2D and 3D surfaces

The iGiottoApp is the result of 20 years of experience in designing and producing spraying robots. It is an anthropomorphic (having human characteristics) robot with a high-precision conveying system which is controlled by Cefla’s internally developed software.

“The iGiottoApp is an impressive piece of kit,” claims Simon Brooks. “The machine can handle parts of all shapes and sizes up to 3.0m x 1.3m; these are scanned automatically as they enter the machine.”

The reading system can be either 2D with a photo-diode barrier or 3D with a laser and a vision system provided by a camera capable of reading the different shapes of the work pieces to be sprayed. The iGiottoApp automatically generates the spraying paths of the robot without the need for the paths to be pre-set via Autocad files.

The spray gun holder is set up for three guns: two for surface applications and one for edges. The system can either be open with wire meshes and infrared barriers to comply with current health and safety regulations, or in closed booths with large windows and a pressurisation system for high quality finishing.

A commitment to continuous improvement

The Cefla Finishing Group offers the broadest range of finishing and coatings application equipment on the market today. It is committed to continuous improvement and offers solutions to coat virtually any substrate from wood, metal and glass to plastics and composites.

Simon Brooks concludes: “Whether you’re in the furniture production, door, window or stairs market, panel processing, flooring or case goods industries, Cefla has a solution to help with its spray equipment, roller and vacuum coaters, and other automated systems. As part of the company’s commitment to engineering excellence, Cefla operates with the utmost respect for the environment through the continuous development of coating processes and equipment to meet regulations throughout the world.”