Unicam South Africa Relocates to Larger Premises in Cape Town
Cape Town, South Africa – Unicam South Africa (PTY) Ltd, a leading manufacturer of industrial automation equipment, has recently relocated to a larger space within the same industrial complex in Cape Town. This move comes as the company experiences remarkable growth in spite of the current trend of companies consolidating and downsizing.
One of the driving factors behind UNICAM’s success is the increasing demand for reliable and efficient industrial automation equipment. With load-shedding posing significant challenges for the manufacturing sector in South Africa, businesses are recognizing that automation is essential for their survival. UNICAM’s CNC units provide an optimal solution to this problem, as they can produce a remarkable amount of finished product compared to human resources alone when power is available.
“We are thrilled to announce our move to larger premises, which will allow us to expand our operations and better serve our growing customer base,” said Jean-Marc Duquenoy, MANAGING DIRECTOR of UNICAM. “Our CNC units are known for their durability, reliability, and efficiency, and we are proud to offer products that are 100% manufactured in South Africa.”
UNICAM CNC is committed to providing exceptional service and support to its customers, with guaranteed parts availability and local support. For further information on these high-performance CNC units, please visit their website or contact them directly.
The growth of the manufacturing sector can have a significant impact on South Africa by creating jobs, contributing to economic growth, increasing export earnings, fostering technological advancement, diversifying the economy, and developing skills. This is significant in fueling small business growth,
This can impact South Africa in several ways:
- Job creation: The manufacturing sector is one of the largest employers in South Africa. As the sector grows, it can create more job opportunities, which can help reduce unemployment and poverty rates.
- Economic growth: Manufacturing is an important contributor to South Africa’s economy, accounting for around 15% of GDP. As the sector grows, it can contribute to overall economic growth by increasing the production of goods and services.
- Export earnings: South Africa has a strong export orientation, and the manufacturing sector is a key contributor to the country’s exports. As the sector grows, it can increase export earnings, which can contribute to foreign exchange reserves and strengthen the country’s economy.
- Technological advancement: The growth of the manufacturing sector can lead to technological advancements and innovation, which can increase productivity and efficiency, and contribute to the overall development of the country.
- Diversification: A strong manufacturing sector can help diversify South Africa’s economy, reducing the country’s reliance on a few key industries, and making it more resilient to external shocks.
- Skills development: The manufacturing sector requires a skilled workforce, and the growth of the sector can create opportunities for skills development and training, which can benefit the broader economy by increasing the overall skill level of the workforce.
Unicam’s role in the growth of manufacturing and Small Business in South Africa
CNC routers are versatile machines that can be used to produce a wide range of products, from furniture to signage, making them a valuable asset for small businesses looking to expand their product offerings.
By supplying other businesses with CNC machines, Unicam can help create more manufacturing capacity in South Africa, which can increase the production of goods and services, leading to economic growth.
Furthermore, we encourage entrepreneurship through the provision of our CNC machines to help create new businesses and employment opportunities that contribute to the growth of South Africa’s economy. Depending on the sector, customers can see an ROI within 6 months.
This entrepreneurship drive will lead to the creation of innovative products and services, which can help diversify the economy and make it more resilient to external shocks, and address the high levels of unemployment and inequality in South Africa.
Unicam not only supplies the customer with the machinery but also oversees the installation of the machines, training the operators, training customers in producing the G-Code that runs the machines, and training customers in CAM software to convert drawings into G-Code. Once the customer is producing, Unicam continues to service the machines or does additional training as per the customers’ requirements.
Many of the machines that Unicam South Africa supplies are used to produce items that are exported, and we are also slowly getting into the export market.
Unicam South Africa is a company that has been providing CNC and automation solutions to the local industry since 2016. During this time, they produced industrial machines such as:
- Heavy Industrial CNC Routers for cutting wood, aluminium, plastics, and composites.
- Aluminium machining stations for producing aluminium window profiles, and canopy profiles.
- Oscillating knife cutting systems for cutting foam, rubber mats, and gaskets.
- Aluminium “Part Makers” produce parts such as brackets for Solar Panels, Hinges, Components for mounting Window frames and Door Frames, and Custom production machined parts. All from aluminium profiles.
- Auto feed cut-off saws.
- Steel cutting routers for cutting reference faces onto machine frames.
- Automation upgrades for Milling machines and lathes
- Automation of mining safety net production process.
- Rotary cutting of packaging equipment parts.
- CNC production of custom rifle stocks.
- The Skorpio, is a Single phase router that plugs into a 15 amp plug. It has a half-sheet bed (1250 x 1250) and a steel frame. This little machine can really do some work.
Small businesses in South Africa can benefit greatly from investing in CNC machinery such as CNC routers, which can help to automate and streamline manufacturing processes.
With the use of a CNC router, these small businesses in South Africa can achieve a high degree of precision and accuracy in their manufacturing processes, which can lead to increased productivity and cost savings.
By incorporating a CNC router into their manufacturing processes, small businesses in South Africa can gain a competitive edge in the market, as the technology enables faster production times and greater consistency in product quality.
The use of a CNC router can also allow small businesses in South Africa to take on more complex projects and designs, as the technology is capable of producing intricate shapes and patterns with ease.”
Unicam South Africa is determined to assist South Africa to grow its manufacturing sector, and in so doing grow our economy and the ability for South Africa to employ its people by creating more manufacturing capacity, new businesses, and employment opportunities which leads to economic growth and prosperity.
Why your Router Table should be Rigid and Heavy
Unicam makes its Router Table rigid and heavy, but why spend money on solid Router Table? It all depends on the speed and the quality of cut that you want from your Router Table. If you get a light Router Table, then it will vibrate, and you will only be able to cut at a low feed rate or you will break cutters or have rough cutting surfaces. A heavy solid table on the other hand will vibrate less, and this will allow you to run at a higher feed-rate.
What makes the Router Table Vibrate?
If you look at most of the European Router Tables that are imported into South Africa, they have Cast Iron or Welded frames with Large Bent Sheet Steel components as part of their frames. Why do they use these solid Router Tables?
When you look at what is happening when a Router is cutting, the spindle is turning at between 10 000 and 40 000 Revs per Minute. The spindle has a cutter with between 1 and 4 Flutes. Each time one of the cutting faces bites into the material that you are cutting, a shock wave is produced. This shock wave causes vibration which affects the quality of the Cut.
Let’s look at a scenario where you are cutting aluminium with a single flute cutter at 16 000 RPM, with a feed speed of 5 Meters a Minute.
Calculating the frequency and distance of induced vibration
16000 RPM / 60 Sec x 1 Flute = 266 impacts per second
5000 mm / 60 Sec = 83 mm per second
83 mm / 266 impacts = 0.31 mm
This will result in a surface that has a repetitive pattern every 0.31 mm, or to us, it will have a roughness. For most applications, you would think this is acceptable, but the frame also distorts from this impact, and it may not be at the primary frequency, it may be at one of the harmonics that suit the frame’s resonant frequencies.
Let’s assume that the above cutting is happening on a machine that can distort at a natural frequency at 88 Hz. This would mean that the third harmonic of the cutting frequency would resonate and give you a cut that has a 0.93 mm-wave in it. If the distortion of the frame were 0.5 mm, then the wave would be 0.93 mm long with an amplitude of 0.5 mm.
This would result in having to clean up the edges of your cuts by hand after machine.
So how can we improve the cut quality?
- More Rigid and Solid machines to reduce machine flex.
- Heavier base to lower the natural frequency of the base.
- Reducing Backlash on the drive system.
- Use a cutter with more flutes.
- Use a cutter with better cutting geometry.
- Better material fixing.
- Faster spindle speed.
- Slower feed speed.
- Using a more ridged cutter.
Other resources on this subject
Although this subject has major implications for all serious users of CNC routers, relevant information on the internet is misleading and conflicting. This is partly because the internet gets most of its information from unqualified people on forums, so when looking for information, try to find serious websites that are trying to help their customers get better finishes on their own machines. Another reason why information is often conflicting is because the environment that is being discussed is different. For example, chatter on a milling machine at 50 Hz is a completely different situation to chatter on a router at 20 000 Hz.
Steel T-Slot Router
Want a Workhorse Router that you can secure jigs onto, or that you can machine Wood, Plastics, Composites or Non-Ferrous Metals? Then look no further than our Steel T-Slot Router. The substructure is precision machined by our partners Chantex so that the surface is true. The BMS deck is then bolted down onto the already true frame. The final step is to skim the surface of the BMS using the machine’s own spindle.
The end result is a bed that is true, highly accurate, and tough enough for any job. One of our customers uses his Steel T-Slot Router to fasten down blocks that he machines to be moulds in his foundry. Another uses his to mount jigs for holding production parts while they are being machined.