An upright rectangular frame has a roller conveyor in its lower horizontal member, carries hydraulically operated clamps on its upright members, and movably supports a carrier for a tilting circular saw on its upper horizontal member. A panel of plywood and the like can be cut horizontally into two sections while the lower edge of the lower section rests on the roller conveyor and the upper section is clamped to the frame. The lower section may then be shifted horizontally on the roller conveyor in the original plane of the panel and further divided into parts by vertical saw cuts, whereupon the upper panel section is lowered to the roller conveyor, and the procedure is repeated until the panel is entirely divided into portions of desired size.
In a mechanism for cutting panels, including an approximately vertically standing backing structure for the panels to be cut and a lower panel edge support to define a work area through which a saw mounted on a carrier may be moved, the panels may be secured in their working position and moved into and out of the work area by means of a cantilever arm mounted on the backing structure outside the work area for pivotal movement, whereby a gripping device on the free end of the arm is moved into and out of the work area.
A system for clamping sheet material against an underlying support surface employs linear arrays of clamp units, each unit including a separate clamping member having a head portion with a flat top surface and a peripheral element constructed to engage an edge portion of the sheet material. The clamping members are disposed in spaced relationship along marginal portions of the support surface, and an actuating device is providing for effecting movement of the clamping members between release and clamp positions. The cutting head utilizes a blade magazine-mounting slide, the travel of which is positively limited and which has a unique pin arrangement for facilitating the interchange of separate magazines adapted for specific cutting modes.
An apparatus for machining vertical panels is provided including a frame 10 for supporting a panel in a substantially vertical plane, a tool mount 22, and a mechanism 14, 18, 20 supporting the tool mount 22 for movement in two directions over the panel plane. The tool mount 22 has an axis 24 along which a tool on the mount can be moved towards and away from the panel plane and about which the tool can be rotated to change its orientation relative to the panel plane.
