BACKGROUND:
In a typical wood production facility, the wood is hand fed into many machines such as rip saw, planer, edger etc. The SRU system allows one operator to feed boards into a planer and the SRU handles the board to the optimizing saw. The optimizing saw is named for its ability to cut off a minimal amount of material off one side of the board (leaving a perfectly straight edge) so that the maximum amount of useable board remains. The SRU eliminates the human element from boards being fed into the optimizing saw resulting in a truly optimized cut.

OPERATION:
The line is set up such that the planer feeds the SRU and the SRU feeds the optimizing saw. The "U" in SRU designates that the machines are arranged in a "U" shape so that the operator that feeds boards into the planer will have boards coming back at him out of the optimizing saw. Keep in mind that the standard SRU system can handle board lengths from five feet to 17 feet long in combination with any board width (only limited to what the planer and optimizing saw can handle).

Sequence of Events:

• Operator feeds board into planer.
• Planer sands top side of board for a uniform board thickness.
• DDX portion of the SRU accepts the board from the planer and quickly gets it out of the way of the next board to come through the planer.
• The board is then transferred to the accumulation section side by side with other boards.
• Once the downstream photoeye clears, meaning the next stage of the SRU needs another board, the accumulation fingers drop and allow one board to pass by. Each finger operates independely on a photoeye that senses a gap between the boards. Once it sees a gap, each finger actuates to stop the next board from being staged.
• The final staging of the SRU holds boards until the previous board has cleared the end of the SRU going through the optimizing saw. The "fingers" in this section ensure that the board is straight and all operate together to release the board to the rip fence at the same time.
• The board is transferred at high speed to the rip fence via the transfer chains.
• The transfer chains drop out from under the board so that the board rests on still feed rollers.
• The board is moved back by the rip fence (parallel to the saw blade) until a laser array (arranged perfectly inline with the saw blade) sees the bow in the board.
• The rip fence stops and the feed rollers are engaged to feed the board into the optimizing saw.
• One or two pinch rollers are engaged off the rip fence to ensure the board maintains its orientation into the optimizing saw.
• The optimizing saw trims the board leaving a perfectly straight edge.
• The operator accepts the board from the optimizing saw and places it in a stack.