A-grader - Top of the class
The A-grader determines the stiffness of timber using sound waves. This new technology allows stiffness to be measured on green rough-sawn, dry gauged lumber, and long and short timber blocks. The versatility of the A-grader cannot be matched.
A significant amount of time, energy and money is regularly spent of these rejected products. The logical approach is to grade the raw material first, culling out substandard pieces. This dramatically decreases the reject studs at the end of the process.
The A-grader can stiffness grade pieces of lumber at production speed, so they can be sorted into groups corresponding to the final product stiffness requirements.
The A-grader has been installed by a number of sawmills and remanufacturing companies in New Zealand. This technology is being applied in the following applications:
- Sorting by stiffness on green rough-sawn, random size, and random length lumber on the green chain.
- Stiffness grading of finger joint blocks.
- Sorting by density for efficient kiln drying.
- Stiffness grading on random length dried and gauged structural lumber.
The ability to sort for stiffness prior to kiln drying saves on drying low stiffness lengths that are normally rejected later on in the sawmill.
Unique testing system
The soundwave technology used by the A-grader was developed by Ensis in conjunction with Taranaki-based Falcon Engineering.
For more information, contact:
Doug Gaunt
Ensis Wood Processing, Rotorua, New Zealand.
Tel +64 7 343 5777 Mobile +64 25 276 1687
Greg Trowbridge
Falcon Engineering, Taranaki, New Zealand
Tel +64 6 756 8079, Mobile +64 27 495 3440
Download Flyer - A-grader.pdf [368 KB PDF]