A Little Bit About Gannomat
Gannomat is a woodworking machinery company that develops and builds its machinery in Austria. Since its birth in 1956, Gannomat has been a family-owned company into the 2nd and 3rd generations. For years, Gannomat has specialized in woodworking machinery trade and production. As a result of nearly sixty years in the highest quality development and production of woodworking machinery, Gannomat machinery has gained a world renowned reputation for its quality, accuracy, and innovation.
What is a Case Clamp?
A case clamp has just one simple job in a wood shop: draw the joints together, and square up the box using hydraulic or pneumatic pressure. Case clamps can be used on cabinet boxes, furniture, and drawer boxes.
Stationary, or manual, case clamps require the operator to manually feed a box into the machine, use the controls to adjust and clamp the box, and then manually remove the box from the machine once it has been squared and assembled. New advancements in case clamp technology have led to what is called “throughfeed” clamps. The throughfeed clamps work by a more automated process.
After a craftsman has constructed a box, with a throughfeed clamp, he would place the box on a conveyor that feeds it into the clamp. The clamp itself is then able to note the size of the box, apply the appropriate pressure, and then feed the box out the other end of the machine once it has been completed.
Parts of a Case Clamp
- Frame – Gives the entire machine support and are the axes of movement for the beams.
- Beams – Vertical and horizontal beams that apply the pressure to the box. Case clamps can vary quite a bit in number and type of frames. They can be equipped with lamellar clamps, or interlocking beams that exert an even pressure on each side of the box. The beams adjust to accommodate the size and shape of each box.
- Legs – Vertical panels that support the machine
- Case Support – This is the working surface of the machine. It supports the boxes and cabinets that will be squared and clamped.
- Control Panel – Contains the six directional buttons that adjust how the frames apply pressure to the box
Our Case Clamp
Our Gannomat case clamp was purchased in 2012 to help increase the speed and accuracy in which we produce custom cabinetry.
One of the most notable features of this machine is the incredibly simple operation panel. This panel features six operational buttons which allow the operator to apply a variety of directional sequences when applying pressure to the product. It has two separate “potentiometers” that allow the operator to adjust the amount of force desired, three pressing velocities, and also adjustable clamping cycle times from 0-30 minutes.
Another obvious feature of our own case clamp is the “Lamellar” clamps. These particular clamps are interlaced and exert even and accurate pressure on each side of the box. This machine allows us to clamp one cabinet, or several, given that they all fit in the workable area of the machine.
We can clamp mitered boxes and boxes with overlapping tops with little setup and adjustment time. Whether we need to clamp a few drawer boxes, or large retail fixtures, our case clamp has proven itself as an invaluable workhorse in our shop.
Tune into the D.P. Juza Woods & Fixtures blog each week for an inside look at the machines that power our Shell Lake woodworking shop. For a closer look at the quality of our work, we invite you to view our recently completed pieces in our project gallery.