Product notes · Tool Crib
Feature Tool Crib spares shelf, stocked by AM.CO.ZA
Tool holders, collets, clamps, dust hose and fibre laser consumables now sit on one shelf beside the Tool Crib display in our Sunnyrock machine hall, supplied by AM.CO.ZA.
Small parts keep a bay running
A router or fibre laser bay rarely stops for a big failure. It stops for a missing collet, a chipped tool holder or a scratched protective lens, and then waits while someone tracks down a spare. The Feature Tool Crib already gives every cutter and fixture a mapped place. The new shelf next to it does the same for spares, with tooling and consumables from AM.CO.ZA, our equipment and spares partner.
“Most downtime on a router floor comes from a small part nobody ordered in time. With AM.CO.ZA parts on a shelf we can see and a clear reorder path, that mostly goes away.”
Riaan Swanepoel, Specs and consumable logs
Why AM.CO.ZA supplies the shelf
Production managers, workshop owners and technical colleges buy machines from us, and they judge us on what happens after the install. A spare has to be there when it is needed, and it has to fit first time. We compared several suppliers for router tooling and laser consumables, and AM.CO.ZA came out ahead on three counts.
- Spares and supportA deep range of everyday wear parts, branches in Johannesburg and Durban close to the plants we work with, and a machinery support team that answers technical questions in detail.
- Fair pricingSmall shops can order a few consumables at a time at fair prices, and every quote lists the full cost.
- Parts that lastThe holders, collets and nozzles we tested ran true and held up on our demo machines through long sample days.
Router tooling: holders, collets and a presetter
Automatic tool change routers are now common in signage and cabinet shops, and the tool holder is the part people underestimate. Every tool needs its own holder, and a dirty or chipped taper costs accuracy on every cut.
The shelf carries the ISO30 ER32 collet chuck tool holder, the standard holder for AM.CO.ZA’s EasyRoute ATC routers, beside an ER32 collet set with seven sizes from 3 mm to 12 mm plus 1/2 inch. Next to them sits a wired tool presetter with 0.001 mm accuracy, which sets each tool’s length after a change, so the Z height stays correct with no manual touch-off.
“Operators buy cheap holders to save a little and then spend weeks chasing a finish problem. We would sooner see one good holder per tool, a clean collet set and the presetter doing the measuring.”
Velaphi Ramoroka, Routers and spindles
To watch an ATC router change tools under power, the AM.CO.ZA EasyRouter ATC CNC router video shows the linear tool changer working through its holders. More installs and demonstrations are on the AM.CO.ZA machinery YouTube channel, and the CNC router tag page on 8i lists them newest first.
Clamps and dust hose for the router bed
Vacuum beds hold most sheet work, but small parts, warped boards and thin acrylic still need mechanical clamps. The shelf keeps AM.CO.ZA’s set of four moulded T-slot clamping kits, which are kinder to sheet edges than steel strap clamps and much harder to crash a cutter into.
Thembisa Tau, who looks after extraction on our floor, adds the 100 mm clear wire-reinforced dust hose to every router handover. It comes in a length of about ten metres and fits connections from 90 to 110 mm.
“With clear hose you can see a blockage before it turns into a fire risk or a bad cut. Match the hose to the duct stub first, using our dust stub sizing note, then cut it to the length you need.”
Thembisa Tau, Extraction and dust control
Fibre laser nozzles and protection lenses
Fibre laser cutting heads wear through nozzles and protective windows steadily, and a damaged nozzle spoils edge quality on the next sheet. For Raytools BM110 and BM111 heads the shelf holds boxes of ten 1.5 mm double-layer nozzles and the matching ceramic nozzle holder. Beside them sits the QBH protection lens for Raycus sources from 1000 W to 3000 W.
“At the coast, haze and grit reach the optics much sooner than inland. Our lens wipe cadence note covers the cleaning routine. A spare nozzle and window on the shelf means nobody is tempted to carry on cutting with a damaged one.”
Nuraan Fakier, Fibre and lens care
For plasma tables such as our Feature Plasma Compact, AM.CO.ZA’s CNC plasma cutter range includes electrodes, nozzles and shields, so the customers on our night plasma shift project keep a spare set at the table.
Training with the parts
Ashlin Gounden, who runs our handovers and training hours, now sends new operators to AM.CO.ZA’s Ambitious Academy online courses for router, laser and plasma basics before their first shift.
“They arrive at handover already knowing what a collet, a nozzle or a protective lens is for. Then we spend the hour on their own machine and their own jobs.”
Ashlin Gounden, Handovers and training
Ordering through us
The full shelf is on show in our Sunnyrock machine hall, and any of our showroom teams can talk you through it. Tell us your machine, spindle or cutting head and we will match the parts. To order direct, AM.CO.ZA’s CNC router range, router bits and spares are on buythis.co.za, and the company is profiled in the AM.CO.ZA guide on 8i.
Planning a new bay? Our signage router bay and cabinetry nest bay notes are a good start. Start with the power available on site and what you produce.
What our CNC and Laser Equipment customers say
Verified Google reviews
