“If you have a certain demand you will inevitably have to go with Heesemann machines ”

The task

“We are a quite normal handicraft company”, the 47 years old Kai Dittmar underlines. Why he is saying this becomes obvious when you enter the production in Senden. More than 100 employees plan, measure, design, saw, plane, veneer, sand, lacquer and polish here. The floor is clean, there is nothing in the air rather than talks of colleagues and operating noise of the machines. No room the company builds equals another room. Every part must be and is processed manually, Kai Dittmar explains: “Everyone at metrica puts his heart and soul in it and dedicates himself to every detail.” At the same time the number of orders rises, the project runtimes decrease from more than 24 months to under 14 months on average, delivery times become shorter, the customers demands on quality rise. How can the quality of surfaces for example be secured under this circumstances?

The acquisition

“Our name is a synonym for unique interiors on the utmost level”, the managing director of the long-established company that looks back on 330 years says. “In order to meet the continuously rising demands of our customers and to deliver the outstanding quality we are known for, we acquired the first MFA Impression from Heesemann back in 2002.”

Configuration of the machine

The MFA Impression offers proven industrial machines technology for craftsmen, interior fitting and industry in a compact execution and at an attractive price.

A compact, rigidly structured machine design can take up to 4 calibration, cross and longitudinal sanding units and disk brush units (RUT) as well as additional brush units. As with industrial machines you are free to choose the belt access and operator side.

In 2002 the new surface sanding machine should mainly be used for veneer sanding. Therefore metrica® has chosen a configuration with three units, a cross sanding unit, a longitudinal unit with calibrating function and another longitudinal sanding unit. Even though veneer sanding has been the main focus here the machine can do a lot more of course: It is sanding that different materials like wood, veneer, solids, cork, linoleum, paper honey combs, acryl glass, plastics, rice husks, foam material, fibre cement or ballistic, bullet-resistant materials.

General review

The fast installation in only two days, the training by Heesemann technicians on site, the uncomplicated service, generally short setup-times of the machine – these are all aspects that metrica® values positive in the cooperation with Heesemann.

“A carpenter knows how important precise running of the belts is.“

Alfons Engbert, Deputy Production Manager at metrica® INTERIOR

Precise run of the belts

Then Alfons Engbert, Deputy Production Manager at metrica®, goes into detail: “A carpenter knows how important precise running of the belts is”. Only if the belts run precisely a plane surface is generated. This is essential for all further processing steps. Both sanding machines used at metrica® blaze in this point by an absolutely perfectly precise run. The company uses different sanding belts with grains between 60 and 2500.

Controlling the sanding pressure

He also wants to highlight another technical distinctive feature of the machine supporting him and his team effectively on their work on a perfect result. For the sanding result to be perfect, as plane as possible, tolerances within the work piece must be compensated. The precise control of the sanding pressure is decisive for a high-quality and even sanding quality of the surface. Like all Heesemann machines the MFA Impression utilized at metrica® are therefore equipped with the CSD® magnetic pressure beam system. “CSD” is the abbreviation for “computer-controlled selective pressure regulation”. The sanding pressure can be adjusted continuously in milliseconds at every single element of the pressure beam. Due to the elastic pressure beam differences in work piece thickness within work pieces or from one work piece to another of up to 2 mm are effectively compensated.

Brillant result

Especially in the in the meantime at metrica® customers very much asked for high-gloss sanding an absolutely plane surface is decisive. High-gloss sanding is the main task of the MFA Impression metrica® purchased from Heesemann in 2013. This machine is therefore equipped with four units, two of them cross sanding units. Due to the two cross belts the surface can be prepared for lacquering even better. A tininess of 1 μ (1 μ = 1 micron, in this case a millionth meter) is sanded away in every pass. On the whole surface a dimension is reached that is imaginable for laymen too: “If we have 75 gram of lacquer on a work piece at the end, we may have applicated 150 gram” Alfons Engbert explains. On a walk through the production area he shows a door that has just been lacquered with the 14th coat. It blazes in the deepest mahogany, a sanded-in cartridge is framed golden. Alfons Engbert asks his guest to look at the reflection of the ceiling light on the horizontally lying door. The tube is visible straightaway. Every minimal roughness in the surface after sanding and polishing would distort the image after lacquering, he comments. “Even after all these lacquer coats I value the result to be perfect. This ispossible only because the MFA Impression has sanded perfectly before“, Kai Dittmar gives a résumé of his experience with highgloss sanding. In addition to the enhanced possibilities for high-gloss sanding the most important decision criterion for this machine has been the future-oriented investment, e.g. the possibility for enhancement. The MFA has been equipped with a device for a fifth unit that has been installed in 2016.

„Heesemann offers an unbelievable quality at still reasonable prices. The price-performance ratio is excellent.”

Kai Dittmar, CEO at metrica® INTERIOR

Special effects

The result