Water jets profile intricate tile shapes

Investing in a water jet cutting machine has enabled a company to satisfy present and future demand for an ever-increasing variety of ceramic and glass floor and wall tile styles.

Investing in the capabilities of a KMT Waterjet Systems powered cutting machine has enabled Ceramic Prints (part of the CP Group) to satisfy present and future demand for an ever-increasing variety of ceramic and glass floor and wall tiles.

It enables the cutting of special and intricate features to be easily performed on the production line.

Ceramic Prints bought the waterjet cutting machine in response to the current trend for tiles with different inserts.

The machine has been made by Muototera of Finland and supplied by Ebor in the UK.

These tiles require holes of varying sizes to be quickly cut in the tile without risking breakage or damage to the material.

Previously this would have been contracted-out but the new waterjet system allows the operation, as well as the partial cutting of tiles - where the top of the tile is taken out to form a mosaic effect - to be performed in-house.

At the heart of the Muototera waterjet machine is a KMT Waterjet Systems Streamline SL-V plus high pressure intensifier that provides a maximum continuous operating pressure of 4,100bar/60,000 lb/in2.

A bed size of 1.3m x 1.3m and twin cutting heads cutting 20 x 20cm tiles allows a production run of eighteen tiles at a time to be cut within a cycle time of three minutes.

Additionally, the machine is used for low-volume production runs or specials.

Information is downloaded directly from the company's design department to the machine where any required profile in any thickness can be rapidly produced.

Phil Margrave, Assistant Works Manager at Ceramic Prints, along with a Supervisor and four Technicians, were trained by KMT.

They can all be called upon to operate the machine throughout a daily eight-hour shift.

"The training was very comprehensive".

"Considering we had never used an intensifier before, we certainly learned a lot and it gave us the confidence to maintain the machine should we need to," he said.

Established as a major supplier to the UK's largest DIY multiples, including B and Q, Homebase, Wickes and Focus, and with an expanding marketplace in the USA, Ceramic Prints has to be able to guarantee supplies, something that is only possible with reliable machinery.

"The KMT pump has been so reliable that it has only ever needed the odd seal changing".

"It really has been excellent.

said Margrave.

Back to top