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Press, 17 November 1976, Page 15

Waltzes are used to shape.n form, and precompress the' ma’eriai. before it is finally J rut to exact size by the fly-1 injt cut-off saw, and isli transported by the speed-up < and storage conveyors to the < loading stage of the press. i Sheets can be formed inn

anv desired thickness from 10 to 20 mm. and from Bft length to 4ft widths. The photograph above shows the pre-compressing operation, while the photos graph on the middle right shows a slab of fibre on the way to the press.

The conveyor belt — from; the forming of the fibre slab] to the finished product — is! more than 250 m long. An impressive' array of! controls and warning lights! allow press operator Merv Buckley finger-tip control of the huge press, which forms!

JIO sheets of custom wood at I the time. i It only takes ID minutes jto form the 24ft 6inch by four foot sheets. Total outiput of the mill is 100 tons a day. The press, which is 80ft high and stands in a pit 30ft deep, forms the sheets uider pressures of 531 b per i square inch.

The layer of wood fibre —1 after being formed by the forming machines on the : conveyor belt — is shaped, adjusted, and sawn into slabs of the correct size by the swining saw (photograph ' above). i

' After that it proceeds to the press, where it is automatically stacked in ten floors, and compressed to the required thickness (see photograph previous page on right).