Let’s admit it right away: the title of this article is provocative.
Anyone working in our industry knows that so-called “zero maintenance” is a myth: a sales pitch that some vendors continue to promote, but which is consistently disproved by the daily reality of carpentry. Dust, shavings, vibrations and wear and tear are the natural enemies of any mechanical device.
Yet there is a grain of truth in that phrase. There is a way to “forget” the anxiety of sudden machine downtime, the frustration of constant recalibrations and the hidden costs of emergency repairs.
The secret is not magic, it is engineering. At Saomad, we have chosen a specific path: to build machines that are not only high-performing, but structurally indestructible.
The invisible enemy: vibrations
In the wooden window and door industry, most maintenance problems do not arise from a defective component, but from a structural problem: lack of rigidity.
Machining hardwoods at high speeds generates continuous vibrations. When the machine is designed without due attention to mass and structural rigidity, these vibrations are transmitted directly to screws, guides and bearings, with obvious consequences on precision, wear and reliability over time.
The result?
- Screws that loosen.
- Guides that lose their alignment.
- Electronics that become stressed.
The determining factor is the mass of the machine.
Our machines are built on thick electro-welded steel bases. But using a lot of iron is not enough: our structures undergo thermal stabilisation (normalisation) processes to eliminate internal stresses in the steel.
What does this mean for you? It means that the base is a solid, stable structure capable of limiting the vibrations transmitted to delicate components. A structure designed not to deform today and which will maintain the same stability even in 30 years’ time.
High-end standard components: the guarantee against obsolescence
Another maintenance nightmare is the availability of spare parts. Many manufacturers use proprietary electronics or exclusive components to tie the customer to the parent company’s support.
We believe in transparency and recognised quality.
Our machining centres integrate components from the world’s best technology partners (such as Siemens, Beckhoff, HSD). This translates into two immediate advantages:
- Superior reliability: The mean time between failures is significantly higher.
- Future availability: In ten or twenty years’ time, you will still be able to find spare parts on the market, protecting your investment from planned obsolescence.
Design for maintenance: when maintenance becomes routine (and not a problem)
“Forgetting about problems” means transforming maintenance from an unexpected nightmare into a quick, planned routine. We have designed the machines with the operator who will be working on them in mind:
- Total accessibility: no contortions. The areas requiring intervention are large and easily accessible. If cleaning a sensor is easy, the operator will do it. If it is difficult, they will not (and the machine will stop).
- Automatic centralised lubrication: we have eliminated human error. The system dispenses the perfect amount of lubricant in the right place at the right time. No more seizures due to “forgetfulness”.
- Hermetic protection: dust abrasion is the silent killer of linear guides. Our casing and bellows systems are designed to keep chips away from vital parts, preserving precision over time.
The true cost of a machine (TCO)
When considering the purchase of a new CNC machining centre, the list price is only the tip of the iceberg. The true cost is the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership).
A lighter machine may have a lower purchase price, but what is the real cost? How much does it cost you:
- a three-day machine downtime during peak season?
- Frequent replacement of spindles worn out by vibrations?
- Loss of precision that forces you to rework the frames by hand?
Purchasing a Saomad machine means having excellence immediately and, at the same time, making a plan for the future: you spend money today to prioritise appropriately sized robustness, so that you can save tens of thousands of euros in technical interventions tomorrow.
Conclusion
We are not promising that you will never have to change a filter or clean the machine again. We are promising that, with a Saomad, maintenance will cease to be a source of concern and will become a mere footnote in your production.
Robustness is not an abstract concept, it is something you can touch.
We invite you to visit our factory. Come and see (and touch) the bases of our machines before they are encased. Only by feeling the solidity of the steel will you understand why a Saomad is designed to last a lifetime.
