Case Study

A recent example is provided by "de Houtdraaier", a Dutch organization that specialises in producing extreme wood carving products. In this case the company was asked to help create some uniquely formed metal chairs on behalf of the internationally renowned artist Ron Arad (www.ronarad.com ).

In order to form the rounded metal shape needed for the chairs "de Houtdraaier" required a water cooled high speed spindle motor running at 30,000 rpm. This was used to smooth the special round shapes used in the chairs. Following comprehensive testing, the Invertek Optidrive P2 series was considered the optimum choice for regulating the speed of the bespoke 5.5kW high speed spindle motor.

Supplied by Rotero Holland BV, the Sales Partner of Invertek Drives responsible for servicing the Netherlands, the Optidrive has proven ideal for the application. Mr Doornekamp , owner of "de Houtdraaier", said: "The drive provides highly consistent and reliable performance throughout the extremely wide range of speeds required to carve these unusually shaped forms."

Mr. Doornekamp had previously designed a 3-axis unit to carve unusual wood creations that measure up to 20 metres long and 3 metres wide, many of which can be viewed on the web site www.dehoutdraaier .nl. An entirely new dynamic 3-axis system incorporating a high speed spindle unit with an Optidrive P2 was developed to provide the capability to shape the stunning design shapes required for the Ron Arad chairs.