Levibreton KFG 3600 a project that has been a striking industrial success for both Breton, the producer, and the customers.
The NEW Levibreton KFG 3600, combining ground-breaking concepts with well-tried solutions, is the evolution of the renowned several models of KFG 3000 that were tested wherever in the world marble is processed.
LEVIBRETON KFG 3600:
a productive philosophy
Nowadays, the Levibreton KFG 3600 polishing lines for marble are the most valued and leading-edge answer for companies requiring high productivity combined with low conversion costs.
Breton was the first to develop the continuous polishing machines for marble slabs, thus bringing a revolution in the field. Today concepts such as automation, productivity, user-friendliness, easy care and low operating costs are absolutely familiar to Breton who knew how applying them masterly to the superlative Levibreton KFG 3600.
LEVIBRETON
KFG
A 30-YEAR WORLDWIDE SUCCESS
Honing-polishing units
The new design of the aluminium-alloy honing-polishing units allows their weight to be reduced and their stiffness increased.
The spindle raising-lowering system is perfectly balanced and features two pistons with protected internal rods. The abrasive holding plates are raised and lowered in fractions of a second, with minimal lifting from the surface of the slab, thus enabling the slab edges to be polished better and the operating speed to be increased.
The analogue manometers displaying the pressure of each single abrasive holding plate as well as the manual pressure regulators are placed close to each spindle unit on the machine front, just above the sliding doors.
Special Breton plates
Each spindle unit of polishing machine is equipped with a high-performance special Breton abrasive-holding plate with a diameter of 550mm, holding 9 abrasives, which ensure an extremely high removal capacity and work stability for a perfect and uniform polishing even up to the edges of the material.
The special Breton plates are equipped with an exclusive one-way shock-absorbing system ensuring the correct flexibility and a homogeneous and optimal working pressure.
Besides giving an unequalled polish, this also results in a lower consumption of abrasives.
Beam
The arc-welded steel beam has a special design with box-type section in order to reduce weight and provide high stiffness. The spindle/beam assembly is thus very light and dynamic and enables fast acceleration/deceleration ramps and a travel speed up to 70 m/min.
Beam drive
The beam is actuated by two brushless-type motors at each end of the beam, which are mechanically synchronized so as to ensure a high dynamic movement without stressing the mechanical components.
Motion is transmitted by means of a rack and pinion mechanism: the simplest, most efficient and reliable system. Beam working speed reaches 70 m/min. When the beam slows down, “energy recovery” drives supply energy to the electricity grid, thus saving energy.
Supporting structure and bench
The supporting structure is a distortion-proof, arc-welded steel monobloc provided with 12 sturdy supporting legs.
The conveyor belt slides upon a thick steel table, milled as a single unit to ensure perfect flatness.
The conveyor belt is driven by brushless-type motor to guarantee better control of the feed speed.
The beam is fixed to two shoulders sliding along two sturdy, cast-iron supports, which house hardened, ground and thick tracks with large diameter roller slides in an oil bath, and a micro pinion. The slideways are protected by stainless steel labyrinth guards.
Slab profile and thickness readers
A photoelectric barrier reader detects the slab profile with 10x10 mm resolution while a sonar reader senses its thickness. This system can accurately read even slabs with a smooth surface (such as slabs that have already been polished or resin-treated). The system allows the head lifting-lowering to be controlled automatically, ensures the beam travel self-adjustment to the width of the slabs and guarantees that the front, anti-splash and sound-proof protection guards are positioned automatically to match the thickness of the slabs.
The water plant
Water flows vertically from the main pipe to the slabs inside the shaft of the spindle unit.
With this system, when the machine is stopped, all the water inside the piping automatically flows out by gravity thus avoiding any possible stagnation and consequent build-up of solid residues inside the pipes.
Automatic control of abrasives consumption
This system monitors continuously the abrasive consumption of each single head, sending video advice notes and warning signals before the tool is completely worn out.
It also ensures the minimal lifting of the abrasive holding plates at the slab entrance/exit and their subsequent rapid descent to permit better polishing of the edges and higher operating speed.
Water is supplied to the abrasive holding plates through a common, large-diameter, PVC central piping, placed above the spindle units.
Electric and electronic plant
The electric and electronic plant is wired with the “field-bus” technique that transmits digitally all the PC signals through a single cable to the different control units installed on the machine.
Signal transmission is safe and the identification of possible failures is greatly simplified.
The stationary part of the machine is electrically connected to the mobile beam by a parallel sheathing system ensuring safer working conditions and a longer cable life.
All the electric and electronic equipment, including the PC installed on the machine, is supplied by first-class international manufacturers so as to make technical assistance easier and spare parts readily available virtually throughout the world.
Automatic centralized lubrication system
A centralized system, consisting of a grease reservoir, electrically controlled pump, sequential distributors and flexible high-pressure pipes, automatically lubricates both the spindle units and the other moving components of the machine. The master distributors are equipped with overpressure indicators enabling to easily locate any possible clogging.
Slab cleaning
A rubber wiper fixed at the back of the machine removes water from the slab surface.
A pneumatically controlled spindle unit, integral with the beam and equipped with a brush, cleans the slabs as they pass though, once they are polished.
Guards, ergonomics and all parameters under control
A control board provided with analogue pressure display, manual pressure regulator and abrasive holding plate raising/lowering selector is installed on the top part, in an ergonomic and safe position, far from water and moisture and close to each single spindle unit. The abrasive holding plate raising/lowering selector completes the board.
The accident-prevention, sound-deadening, sliding, frontal panels have a sandwich-like structure. Panels are made of ABS and polyurethane, are heavy-duty and resistant to water and process wastes.
Sound-deadening splash guards with a stainless steel sandwich-type structure are installed on the beam, in front of the abrasive holding plates, at the same level as the slab. The positioning of the splash guards is motorized and automatic in order to match the slab thickness and simplify the change of abrasives.
Management and programming
The colour touch-screen video and advanced, user-friendly processing software enables the main processing functions to be managed, including:
• possibility of storing (and recalling) different work programs for various types of material;
• speed of the conveyor and synchronization of the whole line, including loaders and connection roller conveyors;
• beam movement (speed and customized programming of acceleration and deceleration ramps);
• operating pressure of each single abrasive holding plate;
• interpolation of the operating pressure of each single abrasive holding plate with the precise position of the beam thanks to metering valves;
• back-slipping correction of badly-sawn, bent slabs on the anti-skid conveyor, for both single slabs and packs of slabs;
• automatic, non-stop monitoring of the abrasive consumption for each single plate, with video advice notes and warning signals before the tool is completely worn out;
• possibility of disabling from the process all, some or one single slab, or even a portion of slab (head, end, corner).
Levibreton KFG 3600 is provided with an advanced software in order to be networked with Breton service, thus facilitating remote trouble-shooting and expediting solutions.
Statistics
Furthermore, the PC gathers and organizes statistical data relating to production and consumption, such as:
• production statistics based on partial periods, or per job order, per working shift, progressive or accumulative (hours of machine switched on, in operation, in alarm, square meters processed…);
• tool wear statistics (per single abrasive holding plate, square metres produced in a certain period while the tool is working, square metres produced with the last tool replaced…);
• diagnostics of the machine condition, with video display of any alarm occurred;
• maintenance programming with video displayed alarm when preventive maintenance has expired;
• file of processed slabs (as they are detected by the reader installed at the front part of the machine)
