CNC machine
About
The CNC (or ‘Computer Numerical Control’ machine) enables the scenic construction team to cut complex shapes in wood and plastic with a bare minimum of manual intervention. All that is needed is a design, which can be fed to the machine direct from a CAD (Computer Aided Design) package.
People featured in this video include:
Paul Evans, Head of Scenic Construction
John Pickersgill, Draughtsperson / Senior Carpenter
Ken Rose, Deputy Head of Scenic Construction
Transcript
Paul Evans: CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control and it’s basically a router controlled by a computer which can cut or shape hard materials; practically any material that’s non-ferrous.
Ken Rose: Generally it’s ideal for doing repetition; it will do the same part over and over again and they’re all exactly the same and perfect.
Paul Evans: If we’ve got a lot of formers for rostra or staircases, treads, that type of thing we can just draw up one shape and cut 40 of them very, very quickly and the components go to the carpenters to be assembled. The other side of it is that we can do artistic stuff where, in the past, it would have been highly labour intensive and everything would have to have been done by hand set out over a long period of time and then all the individual components done by hand. Whereas now you just take a drawing, feed it into the machine and half an hour later out comes that part; it’s much, much quicker.
John Pickersgill: Even the best carpenter and the person with the best hand skills is never going to be able to compete with a CNC machine. So in the past someone would, quite rightly, say to a designer “that sounds great but, with the best will in the world, we don’t have the time or the money to achieve that.” Whereas a CNC machine now can achieve those design requirements quite easily.
