Bacci - an innovator in the field of industrial machinery for the production of chairs

Chair manufacturing is a special area of the furniture industry. The complexity of the product, its strength, design and comfort requirements, and its special features make it very difficult to combine the production of chairs with other pieces of furniture. As a result, there are factories where the machinery, flow and technologies are dedicated only to manufacture of chairs and there are machine manufacturers who have improved in this direction. One of the best known is Bacci, represented in Romania by Ligna Dumi Techfrom Brasov. The specific technology developed by the Italian company over the years, the innovations and the international patents obtained have made Bacci a reference name in the field of chair-making machines.

A long-established name in industrial chair manufacturing

For those curious to find out who Bacci is, the company makes it simple:

• 100% Italian company with 4 generations of experience
• world leader in the production of 5-axis and multi-axis CNCs
• over 50 international patents
• over 4000 CNCs sold worldwide.

It began in 1918, after the First World War, when Paolino Bacci started the production of band saws for the workshops in the Cascina area (Pisa), where the company is still based. In 1950, Paolino's son Giuseppe took over the management of the company, which specialised in machinery for processing solid wood, and began manufacturing machines for the production of chairs. It was a period when Italy was specialising in this field, becoming an important player on the international market. Constant contact with chair manufacturers enabled the development of high-performance technologies and the manufacture of reliable, robust and precise machines.

In 1986 Bacci became the first Italian company to win the IWF USA (International Woodworking Fair, Atlanta) award, and in 1995 it produced the first 5-axis CNC with multiple outputs. From this point on, the company starts developing more and more complex and high-performance machines, continually improving CNCs in the field of chair making, but also in other sectors of the furniture industry.

Innovations have taken CNC chair manufacturing to a new level

What makes the Bacci name a benchmark in woodworking machinery is continuous innovation. Machines capable of simultaneous machining with the same precision and safety have been developed from innovative ideas that have led to international patents. The development has also extended to other areas - machines for making sofas, sports equipment, musical instruments, stairs, patio doors - but chairs remain the benchmark.

Modern chairs are not as simple as classic chairs. Moulded plywood allows for chairs with one-piece seat and backrest or flowing, atypical shapes. For continuous machining and to avoid moving the part, the CNC has to have multiple machining axes and special clamping systems. Additional machining axes, in addition to the 5 spindle axes, are those provided by the work table (on the X and Y axes) and by the rotation of the workpiece around its own axis. Thus, operations such as drilling, milling, planing, decorative milling, and making connections between elements can be done in a single step.

Multi-axis processing is not enough. You also need a fixture capable of providing safety as well as mobility. Such a fixture is ''free jig device'' and is BACCI patent. The tweezers can be moved in space so that all the machining operations can be carried out on all 6 sides of the wooden piece. And when some machining cannot be done on one of the faces, the system allows the devices to hand each other the reference to be machined on all faces (360°).

Another Bacci patent - changing tools on the chuck. The manufacture of chair elements is complex and requires a large number of tools to perform all the operations. In 1995 Bacci patented the 5-axis CNC with multiple electrospindles on the same workhead, which makes it possible to mount 2, 3 or 4 basic tools and to carry out machining operations without changing the tool. This has reduced waiting time while increasing productivity.

Another milestone in Bacci's journey was in 1998 when it became the first company in the world to produce a 5-axis CNC with two heads. With this type of CNC it is possible to machine both ends of a piece of wood simultaneously. All these innovations were made possible thanks to the anti-collision software PITAGORA which allows the management of the working heads and movements of all independent (5) and interpolated (6-12) axes. The program has special functions that allow to reduce working times by up to 50%. But about Pythagoras software and its performance, at length in another article.

Bacci classic machines for small and medium workshops and factories

Although Bacci means CNC technology and state-of-the-art machinery for young people working in the field of chair production, those who have been in the industry for a long time have not forgotten the machines for drilling and cutting, copying milling or making tooth joints that they used to work with 40-50 years ago. The company has a special division that still produces classic machines for small and medium-sized workshops and factories. The robust, reliable and precise machines, with cast-iron shafts and hardened steel drive elements as they were made in the past, now have state-of-the-art electronic and pneumatic systems.

Bacci machines are not new to the Romanian market. Ligna Dumi Tech specialists still meet old craftsmen at trade fairs who remember with pleasure the Bacci machines they worked on. There are now more than 350 new BACCI machines in the country, including 150 CNCs. Among the customers Ligna Dumi TechBacci's representative in Romania, are renowned names in the field of chair production: Plimob, Aviva, Becker, Sortilemn, Iris, ITA Production, Laguna.

We plan to return to Bacci's machines and innovations in future articles. The important changes in the field of chair manufacturing made with their help are worth highlighting and exploring.