Method and machine tool for finishing article of furniture

Abstract

There is described a method for finishing an article of furniture comprising or consisting of: a top panel, a bottom panel and two side walls assembled together to form a housing defining a compartment with an access opening; in an assembled furniture article, the top panel, the bottom panel and the two side walls each have a front edge forming the periphery of the opening and having a substantially flat surface; the surface is decorated or colored by passing a printhead over or through the surface of the top panel, the bottom panel, and the front edge of the side wall to deposit a dye there.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a method and a numerically controlled machine tool for decorating or coloring articles of furniture. Background Art

[0002] In the production of custom furniture, one variable is color, particularly the color of the front edge of the furniture (see Figure 1 ). The furniture article 10 is composed of or includes the following components: a top panel 12 parallel to a bottom panel 14, and two side panels 16-1, 16-2 parallel to each other. The panels 12, 14, 16-1, 16-2 are assembled together to define a parallelepiped box-shaped compartment 18 with an inlet and outlet opening; and have front edges 12b, 14b, 16b respectively that constitute the periphery of the opening and are colored according to the customization of the furniture. For this purpose, the panels 12, 14, 16-1, 16-2 are usually colored on their edges 12b, 14b, 16b respectively before assembly and then stored in a warehouse with different codes. According to the production order, the customized panels are taken out of the warehouse and sent to the assembly line of the furniture article 10. However, this solution has the problem of a very large number of products to be managed in the warehouse, because the panels of each color and shape must be produced and stored in advance, resulting in high costs and complex management.

[0003] Some manufacturers manually apply colored material strips to the edges 12b, 14b, 16b of the assembled furniture product 10 after tearing off the original strips, but this will reduce the quality of the furniture and is very labor-intensive. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The main object of the present invention is to improve the prior art.

[0005] Another object of the present invention is to achieve an improved production method and a relative machine tool for implementing the method, which can alleviate the above-mentioned problems and in particular can color or decorate the edges 12b and / or 14b and / or 16b in a more effective way.

[0006] These and other objects are achieved by what is described in the accompanying claims; advantageous technical features are defined in the dependent claims.

[0007] The furniture article manufactured according to the present invention comprises or consists of the following components: a top panel, a bottom panel and two side walls assembled together to form a shell defining a compartment with an inlet and outlet opening. Specifically, the top panel is parallel to the bottom panel, and the two side walls are parallel to each other.

[0008] In the assembled article of furniture, the top panel, the bottom panel and the two side walls each have a front edge that forms the perimeter of the opening and typically has a substantially flat surface. The article of furniture may also include, for example, a rear wall for enclosing the rear of the compartment and / or a shelf mounted within the compartment (e.g. Figure 1 In particular, the or each shelf is mounted within the compartment so as to present a front edge 100b within the perimeter of the opening (see Figure 1 ). That is, the article of furniture in the method may also include, for example, one or more horizontal shelves mounted within the compartment, perpendicular to and between the side walls, and parallel to the top and bottom panels. One or each shelf has a front edge 100b that may be colored according to the method.

[0009] The top panel, bottom panel and side walls may be rectangular panels, with the front edge coinciding with a lateral rectangular strip of the panel, one side of which is the thickness of the panel. Specifically, the strip is contained in a cladding that covers the panel edge.

[0010] A method of finishing the article of furniture is proposed, wherein the surfaces of the top panel, the bottom panel and the front edges of the side walls are decorated or colored by the following steps:

[0011] (i) preferably immobilizes the article of furniture, and

[0012] (ii) Coloring or decorating a surface by passing or drawing a print head over the surface to deposit a dye (eg, paint or ink) thereon.

[0013] The proposed method eliminates the need for custom-made individual panels, thus reducing warehouse inventory and limiting picking operations to panels of a single size variation. Furthermore, it offers the advantage that the edges of assembled furniture pieces can be painted or stained as desired.

[0014] In the method, the surface is preferably coloured by passing or drawing a print head over the surface of the front edge of the shelf to deposit a dye (e.g. paint or ink) thereon. That is, the front edge of the or each shelf is coloured in the same manner as the front edge thereof, before or during step (ii) above.

[0015] A preferred step of the method is to color the thickness of the coating by passing or passing a print head over the thickness of the coating to deposit a dye (e.g. paint or ink) therein. In this step, the print head can be the same as in step (ii). The print head is oriented in space towards the thickness of the coating, in particular by rotating the axis of application of the dye by 90° (in the Figure 1 In the embodiment, the axis will be orthogonal to the side walls 16-1, 16-2).

[0016] Specifically, the step of coloring the leading edge is to pass the print head over the leading edge in sequence to deposit dye there.

[0017] A preferred step of the method is to manipulate the furniture article so that its side walls remain vertical while the front edge is being colored, specifically, to move the furniture article forward along the production line while its side walls remain vertical. In this way, the necessary dimensions of the production line can be shortened.

[0018] A preferred step of the method envisages depositing the dye by spraying or atomizing the dye.

[0019] A preferred step of the method envisages depositing the dye while keeping the print head 2÷5 mm away from the leading edge in order to minimize the spreading of the dye.

[0020] A preferred step of the method envisages that, for the purpose of carrying out step (i), the side wall of the furniture article is placed against and attached to a vertical flat reference surface. This has the advantage that tolerances and printing errors are minimized, as the vertical flat reference surface mechanically corrects for dimensional defects in the side wall. A more preferred step of the method envisages that the side wall is pulled or pushed towards the flat reference surface, for example using a suction cup, to better correct for dimensional defects.

[0021] A further preferred step of the method envisages that, before step (ii), the side wall opposite to the side wall attached to the flat reference surface is pushed towards the flat reference surface, thereby improving the adhesion between the flat reference surface and the side wall and making the correction of the dimensional defect more precise.

[0022] A more preferred step of the method envisages that, prior to step (ii), the two side walls of the furniture article are placed between two vertical flat reference surfaces parallel to each other and at least one of the two vertical flat reference surfaces is moved closer to the other so as to respectively contact one vertical wall of the furniture and constrain the two side walls in a position between the two vertical flat reference surfaces.

[0023] Since the contours of the components that make up the furniture are not straight and the thickness is not constant, the printing accuracy of the assembled furniture product is affected by the tolerances of the individual components and the tolerances generated by the assembled components. Therefore, a more preferred step of the method envisages checking the dimensional tolerances of the flat reference surface before step (ii), in particular generating a virtual contour of the flat reference surface.

[0024] More specifically, the dimensional tolerance of the flat reference surface is detected by optically scanning the flat reference surface and detecting dimensional data representing the deviation of the flat reference surface from an ideal plane.

[0025] More preferably, dimensional tolerances of the flat reference surface are compensated for by moving the print head and / or deflecting its dye jet according to said dimensional tolerances as the print head moves along the leading edge so that dye is deposited only in the surface of the leading edge.

[0026] Corrective logic could be to move the print head and / or deflect its dye jet in the following directions:

[0027] a direction orthogonal to its direction of travel along the edge, and / or

[0028] The direction opposite to the deviation from the ideal imaginary plane calculated using the dimensional data.

[0029] This way, the position measurement of the leading edge is referenced to the reference surface, which improves accuracy.

[0030] For the same purpose, preferably, the dimensional tolerance of the leading edge to be colored is checked, for example before or after step (ii), when the leading edge rests against a reference surface.

[0031] Preferably, a shallow linear slot or groove is present between the reference surface and the surface of the sidewall to be measured, making it easier for the position detection system to identify where the leading edge ends and the reference surface begins.

[0032] In particular, the thickness profile and / or the position of the surface to be printed on the leading edge is detected over the entire length of the edge itself.

[0033] More preferably, the dimensional tolerance of the edge before coloring is detected by:

[0034] Optical scanning of the front edge profile to detect dimensional data,

[0035] These dimensional data are used to calculate the deviation of the front edge profile from the imaginary ideal straight line.

[0036] Preferably, the print head is guided and / or controlled along one of the leading edges by compensating for said deviation.

[0037] More preferably, deviations detected on the leading edge to be colored are compensated by moving the print head and / or deflecting its dye jet while the print head is moved along the leading edge in the following directions:

[0038] a direction orthogonal to its direction of travel along that edge, and / or

[0039] in the opposite direction of the stated deviation.

[0040] More preferably, the dimensional tolerance is compensated by the following steps:

[0041] processing the dimension data obtained from the edge scan to calculate a virtual profile of the leading edge using the dimension data, and

[0042] The print head is controlled according to the virtual contour so as to deposit dye considering the virtual contour as a printing boundary, ie for example the dye jet is controlled such that it does not overflow from the virtual contour outside the detected leading edge.

[0043] Preferably, before the step of depositing the dye:

[0044] Checking dimensional tolerances on flat reference surfaces and / or leading edges,

[0045] Generate a virtual profile of the front edge according to dimensional tolerances, and

[0046] To compensate for the dimensional tolerances and confine the dye to the periphery of the leading edge, the position of the print head and / or its dye jet is controlled according to the contour so that the dye is deposited on the surface of the leading edge considering the contour as the print boundary.

[0047] In order to avoid printing problems beyond the margins or missing prints, it is preferred to accurately locate the start and end points of the leading edge during the scanning process. To this end, it is preferred that the spatial resolution of the acquisition is increased when scanning the ends of the leading edge (e.g., by at least 0.1 mm each time, i.e., the position data of the leading edge are acquired at points that are at most 0.1 mm apart from each other) compared to the spatial resolution used during the step of scanning the center of the leading edge.

[0048] Preferably, the vertical flat reference surface is moved with the article of furniture attached thereto to bring the article of furniture to a station where step (ii) is carried out.

[0049] Preferably, the articles of furniture are loaded onto flat reference surfaces which are vertical flat reference surfaces arranged in a circle, and

[0050] The circularly arranged vertical flat reference surfaces are rotated at a certain angle to bring the furniture article to each of the circularly arranged workstations arranged concentrically with the circularly arranged flat reference surfaces, in particular to keep the side walls of the furniture article always vertical during the entire angular movement.

[0051] Preferably, after the furniture articles have visited all stations and the front edges of the furniture articles have been painted, the furniture articles are unloaded from the circularly arranged flat reference surface.

[0052] Preferably, only the front edges which are parallel to one another are colored in each station.

[0053] Preferably, in one or each station, the leading edge where the dye is to be deposited is cleaned.

[0054] Preferably, the dye deposited on the leading edge is dried in one or each station, for example via UV irradiation.

[0055] Another aspect of the invention relates to a method for decorating the above-mentioned furniture article (see for example Figure 1 ), the CNC machine tool comprising:

[0056] Multiple processing stations arranged in a circle (e.g. fixed);

[0057] A workbench that:

[0058] - rotatable about a vertical axis coinciding with the center of a plurality of stations arranged in a circle,

[0059] - a plurality of supports arranged in a circle are provided, which are mounted on the workbench concentrically with the plurality of workstations arranged in a circle and are configured to support the furniture article,

[0060] - configured to rotate about said axis so as to allow each support to access each station in turn,

[0061] One or each station comprises a movable print head configured to deposit a dye, such as paint or ink, by passing or traversing the surface of the leading edge.

[0062] The plurality of stations arranged in a circle may be circumscribed or inscribed (located outside or inside) the plurality of supports arranged in a circle.

[0063] In particular, a plurality of workstations arranged in a circle and / or a plurality of mounted supports arranged in a circle are arranged in a highly symmetrical manner and, for example, at constant angular spacings.

[0064] In a preferred variant, one or each station comprises means for cleaning the leading edge prior to dye deposition. Such means are preferably a plasma treatment unit, a cleaning agent application unit or a corona effect unit.

[0065] In a preferred variant, one or each station comprises means for drying the dye after it has been deposited on the leading edge, preferably a source of UV radiation.

[0066] In a more preferred variant, the print head is mounted on the support in a controlled orientation so as to be able to direct the dye in a direction parallel to the surface of the leading edge to be colored.

[0067] In a preferred variant, the or each support is arranged to maintain the side wall of the article of furniture in an upright position at all times.

[0068] In a more preferred variant, one or each support comprises a flat surface lying in an imaginary vertical plane and configured to cause a side wall of the item of furniture to rest against and adhere thereto.

[0069] In a more preferred variant, one or each support comprises first and second planar surfaces lying in respective first and second imaginary vertical planes parallel to each other, at least one of the first or second planar surfaces being translatable towards the other planar surface to accommodate the article of furniture therebetween and to cause a side wall to rest against one planar surface respectively.

[0070] In particular, one or each planar surface comprises means for attracting said side walls, such as suction cups or clamps.

[0071] In a more preferred variant, one or each support comprises a movable element for urging the side wall against the first or second planar surface.

[0072] In a preferred variant, one or each station comprises a dimensional detection and measurement device configured to detect the dimensions of the front edge and / or the dimensions of the edge of the first or second planar surface, such a device being, for example, a probe, a laser scanner, a single-point laser triangulation sensor, a laser or LED scanning optical micrometer, or an image sensor.

[0073] In a preferred variant, the movable print head and / or the device for cleaning the leading edge and / or the device for drying the dye and / or the size detection and measuring device are mounted on a movable member of the support, which is driven by a motor to move along at least two axes in a plane.

[0074] In a preferred variant, one or each support comprises a frame or bracket comprising two parallel vertical uprights connected together by a lower cross-beam and an upper cross-beam, wherein the vertical uprights and the cross-beams form a rectangular or square chassis.

[0075] In particular, one or each said reference surface lies in a plane orthogonal to a tangent to the circumference of the circle on which the support is arranged.

[0076] In particular, one or each of the workstations comprises a frame or support including two parallel vertical uprights and a crossbeam mounted on the uprights so as to be movably mounted in a vertical direction.

[0077] Preferably, the calculation and / or processing and / or control operations are performed electronically, for example via an electronic processor. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0078] Further advantages will become apparent from the following description, which relates to a preferred embodiment of a machine tool, in which:

[0079] - Figure 1 A known article of furniture is shown;

[0080] - Figure 2 shows a plan view of the machine tool;

[0081] - Figure 3 Shown Figure 2 A 3D view of a component of a machine tool;

[0082] - Figure 4 Shown Figure 2 A 3D view of another component of the machine tool;

[0083] - Figure 5 Shown Figure 4 A front view of the components in FIG.

[0084] - Figure 6 Shown Figure 3 Details of the components in . DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0085] The same reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same or substantially the same components; in order to avoid cluttering the drawings, the same elements are sometimes not numbered.

[0086] Figure 2 A machine tool 20 is shown comprising a central rotary table 22 rotatable about an axis Y1 (vertical axis in use) and on which supports 30 are mounted, preferably in a highly symmetrical manner (in this example, five supports 30 are mounted, for example identical). Each support 30 is configured to receive an article of furniture to be painted, for example Figure 1 In the furniture article 10, zero, one or more shelves 100 can be installed in the furniture article 10.

[0087] A plurality of processing stations 60 (four in the illustrated example) are arranged in a circular array around the work table 22 , with an angular spacing equal to the angular spacing of the supports 30 .

[0088] The table 22 can be rotated in a controlled manner about the axis Y1 (see arrow F1) so as to move the article of furniture 10 along a circle C (shown in dashed lines) and thus sequentially access all the workstations 60 where the article of furniture 10 stays for a period of time to undergo a processing operation.

[0089] Preferably, the robot 98 is placed and operated near the space S and is programmed to pick up the furniture article 10 from the production line 96, load it onto a support 30 accessible in the space S, and unload the furniture article 10 from the same support 30 after the support 30 has rotated a full circle around the workbench 22 and the furniture article 10 loaded therein has been colored on the edges 12b and / or 14b and / or 16b.

[0090] The furniture article 10 can also be removed manually or by a different means and loaded onto the support 30 .

[0091] Preferably, when the robot 98 is arranged so that the space S around the work table 22 is free for loading / unloading the furniture article to be painted, the following relationship holds true when loading / unloading the furniture article on the work station 60:

[0092] The number of supports 30 = (the number of workstations 60 ) − 1.

[0093] Alternatively, preferably the following relationship holds:

[0094] The number of workstations 60 = the number of supports 30 .

[0095] Figure 3 A preferred embodiment of a support member 30 is shown separately. The support member 30 includes a frame or stand 32 comprising two parallel vertical posts 34 connected together by a lower cross-beam 36 and an upper cross-beam 38. The vertical posts 34 and cross-beams 36, 38 form a rectangular or square chassis.

[0096] Mounted on the frame or bracket 32 ​​is a vertical abutment wall 40 having a flat surface 42 and a base 43 for supporting the article of furniture 10 from below.

[0097] The surface 42 lies, for example, on a plane normal to a tangent to the circumference C. The surface 42 is provided with means for holding the side panel 16-1 or 16-2 thereon, such as suction cups 44, clamps or clips.

[0098] Preferably, a second vertical abutment wall 50 is mounted on the frame or bracket 32, having a flat surface 52 parallel to and facing the surface 42. More preferably, the surface 52 is also provided with means for holding the side panel 16-1 or 16-2 thereon, such as suction cups, clamps or clamps.

[0099] The wall 40 can be moved back and forth relative to the frame or support 32 via the drive 60 , in particular it can be moved while remaining parallel to itself, ie the wall 40 can translate in a direction P parallel to a tangent to the circumference C (see arrow F2 ).

[0100] Specifically, the crossbars 36, 38 are also oriented longitudinally parallel to the direction P, and the wall 40 can slide along the lower crossbar 36 and / or the upper crossbar 38. As will be described below, this degree of freedom of the wall 40 allows the position of the wall 40 to be adjusted according to the width of the furniture article 10 (i.e., the distance between the panels 16-1 and 16-2).

[0101] Preferably, wall 50 is also movable like wall 40, more preferably by the same mechanism and in the same direction. Thus, the two walls 40, 50 can be moved closer to or further away from each other while remaining parallel to each other to sandwich the furniture article 10 therebetween; each of the two walls 40 contacts one of the two panels 16-1, 16-2.

[0102] Figure 4 One embodiment of a workstation 60 is shown in isolation.

[0103] The station 60 comprises a support or frame 80 formed by two parallel vertical uprights 82 and a crossbeam 84 mounted movably in the vertical direction on the uprights 82. The crossbeam 84 is movable along an axis Y2 parallel to the axis Y1.

[0104] A trolley 90 (see FIG. 1 ) is mounted on the crossbeam 84 and is linearly movable (see direction F3 parallel to arrow F2) by a known drive 70. Figure 5 ), the trolley 90 is equipped with:

[0105] Print head 96, such as an inkjet head, and / or

[0106] Dimension detection and measurement device 94, and / or

[0107] A pre-curing device 92, such as a UV radiation emitting device (which may be integrated with the print head or arranged side by side), and / or

[0108] Cleaning device 88.

[0109] The pre-curing device 92 is active after printing and preferably emits UV radiation to the printed surface to cross-link the dye and render it in a state where it can be handled without leaving fingerprints thereon.

[0110] Since the dye is usually ready only after the time required for complete drying has elapsed, a similar curing device dedicated to complete cross-linking is preferably arranged in the last station 60 of the machine tool 20 (before unloading).

[0111] The cleaning device 88 is preferably arranged in the first station 60 of the machine tool 20 along the angular advance direction (along the circumference C), and is preferably a plasma treatment system and / or a detergent application unit. If the edges 12b, 14b, 16b, 100b are strips pasted on the semi-finished panel, they are usually made of polymer materials, such as PVC and ABS, and come off the production line without surface and / or cleaning treatment. Organic residues may remain during the production process or during the manipulation of the edges 12b, 14b and 16b, which will result in poor adhesion of the printing dye and ultimately unqualified quality. It has been found that plasma treatment of the PVC surface to be colored can improve dye adhesion because it can increase the surface energy of the material itself. The distribution of the dye is also improved. In addition, the strong ion flow towards the leading edge can remove organic residues on the surface and achieve excellent cleanliness, which is an ideal condition for printing and coating processes.

[0112] Cleaning device 88 can also be a corona effect system. The purpose of polymer surface treatment is to improve surface wettability through electrical discharge. Because polymer substrates have low surface energy, this often results in poor adhesion of inks, glues, and paints. To achieve optimal adhesion, it is necessary to increase the surface energy between the substrate and the material being coated.

[0113] The placement of the trolley 90 at each workstation 60 depends on the angular position of the workstation 60 along the circumference C.

[0114] For example, in the four stations 60 shown, Figure 2 Looking clockwise, we can see:

[0115] The trolley 90 of the first station 60 is equipped with a cleaning device 88;

[0116] The trolley 90 of the second station 60 is equipped with a printing head 96, a size detection and measurement device 94 and a drying device 92;

[0117] The trolley 90 of the third station 60 is equipped with a print head 96, a size detection and measurement device 94 and a drying device 92; and

[0118] The trolley 90 of the fourth station 60 is equipped with a drying device 92 .

[0119] operate

[0120] The overall operation of the machine tool 20 is performed in the following preferred order:

[0121] (i) the article of furniture 10 arrives assembled, for example, on a production line 96, in the same spatial orientation as it will be used, i.e., with panel 16 positioned vertically and panels 12 and 14 positioned horizontally;

[0122] (ii) the furniture item 10 is picked up, for example, by a robot 98 or an operator, and placed on a support 30 (herein defined as support 30*) in the space S. On the support 30*, the furniture item 10 maintains its spatial orientation during use, i.e., the panel 16 is placed vertically, throughout its movement on the workbench 22;

[0123] (iii) placing the furniture article 10 on the support 30 with the outer surface of the side panel (eg, panel 16-1) in contact with the flat surface 42 and then activating the retaining device on the flat surface 42 to obtain a permanent attachment between the panel 16-1 and the flat surface 42.

[0124] If the support 30 has a second vertical abutment wall 50, the flat surface 52 is moved away from the surface 42 by a distance greater than the distance between the panels 16-1 and 16-2 (the width of the furniture article 10) to facilitate assembly of the furniture article 10 on the support 30*; thereafter, the flat surface 52 is brought closer to the surface 42 until it contacts the other panel 16-2, thereby sandwiching the furniture article 10 between the surfaces 42 and 52;

[0125] (iv) The workbench 22 always moves in the same direction ( Figure 2 The support 30* then rotates clockwise (in the middle), and reaches the first station 60. Here, the corresponding trolley 90 and crossbeam 84 are operated so that the cleaning device 88 is located in front of the edges 12b, 14b, 16b (and 100b, if any) and cleans along their length. The path of the cleaning device 88 is, for example, the perimeter of a square or rectangle;

[0126] (v) The table 22 is rotated and the support 30* arrives at the second station 60 together with the furniture article 10. The corresponding trolley 90 and the crossbeam 84 are operated so that the detection device 94 is located in front of the edge 16b and moves vertically along the length of the edge 16b in sequence to scan its profile and obtain the relative dimensional deviation compared with the perfect flat ideal panel. Then, the trolley 90 and the crossbeam 84 are operated so that the print head 96 is located in front of the edge 16b. Then, the print head 96 moves along the length of the edge 16b in sequence and deposits dye on the edge. The dye jet and / or the print head 96 are controlled so that the deposited dye does not exceed the scan profile and flow to the outside of the edge 16b (in fact, the scan profile is used as a variable printing margin);

[0127] (vi) The work table 22 rotates, and the support 30* delivers the furniture article 10 to the third station 60. The corresponding trolley 90 and crossbar 84 are operated so that the detection device 94 is positioned in front of the edges 12b and 14b and moves horizontally along the length of the edges in turn to scan their profiles and obtain relative dimensional deviations compared to a perfectly flat ideal panel. Then, the trolley 90 and crossbar 84 are operated so that the print head 96 is positioned in front of the edges 12b and 14b and moves horizontally along the length of the edges in turn to deposit dye thereon using the same logic as step (v);

[0128] (vii) the work table 22 rotates and the support 30* brings the furniture article 10 to the fourth station 60. The corresponding trolley 90 and beam 84 are operated so that the drying device 92 is located in front of the edges 12b, 14b and 16b and moves along their length in sequence to dry the dye thereon;

[0129] (viii) Finally, the table 22 rotates and the support 30* brings the article of furniture 10 back to the space S, where it is unloaded, for example, by the robot 98; the cycle then starts again with another article of furniture 10.

[0130] If the shelf 100 is present, the corresponding edge 100b is similarly processed in the above steps.

[0131] The number of workstations on the workstation 22 may vary. Considering that the number of workstations is inversely proportional to the cycle time, the longer the cycle time, the fewer the number of workstations is preferred because more operations can be performed at the same workstation.

[0132] Depending on the required cycle time, the number of workstations 22 can be reduced by combining more operations in the same station.

[0133] In order to better obtain the contour of the front edge to be colored, the wall 40 is preferably constructed so that an empty groove 110 ( Figure 6 Grooves 110 allow surface 42 to be clearly separated from sidewall 16b so that detection device 94 can better distinguish between them.

[0134] The detection device 94 may be a probe, a laser scanner, a single point laser triangulation sensor, a laser or LED scanning optical micrometer, or an image sensor.

Claims

1. A method for finishing an article of furniture, the article of furniture comprising or consisting of a top panel, a bottom panel, and two side walls assembled together to form a shell defining a compartment with an access opening; in the assembled article of furniture, the top panel, the bottom panel, and the two side walls each having a front edge forming a perimeter of the opening and having a substantially flat surface; in, The surfaces are decorated or colored by passing or passing a print head over the surfaces of the top panel, the bottom panel, and the front edges of the side walls to deposit dye thereon.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein While the front edge is being painted, the furniture article is manipulated to keep its side walls upright.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: Prior to said step of depositing dye, the side walls of said article of furniture are placed against and adhered to a vertical flat reference surface.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The sidewall is pulled or pushed toward the flat reference surface.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, wherein: Before the step of depositing the dye: checking the dimensional tolerances of said flat reference surface, generating a virtual profile of the front edge according to the dimensional tolerance, and In order to compensate for the dimensional tolerances and confine the dye to the periphery of the leading edge, the position of the print head and / or its dye jet is controlled according to the contour so that the dye is deposited on the surface of the leading edge considering the contour as a printing boundary.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims 3 to 5, wherein: Before the step of depositing the dye, Checking the dimensional tolerance of the front edge, generating a virtual profile of the front edge according to the dimensional tolerance, and In order to compensate for the dimensional tolerances and confine the dye to the periphery of the leading edge, the position of the print head and / or its dye jet is controlled according to the contour so that the dye is deposited on the surface of the leading edge considering the contour as a printing boundary.

7. A numerically controlled machine tool for upholstering an article of furniture according to the method of any preceding claim, comprising: Multiple processing stations arranged in a circle; A workbench, wherein the workbench: - capable of rotating about a vertical axis coinciding with the center of the plurality of processing stations arranged in a circle, - a plurality of supports arranged in a circular pattern are provided, the plurality of supports arranged in a circular pattern are mounted on the workbench concentrically with the plurality of processing stations arranged in a circular pattern and are configured to support the furniture article, - configured to rotate about said axis so as to allow each support to access each station in turn, The or each station comprises a movable print head configured to deposit dye by passing or traversing the surface of the leading edge.

8. The machine tool according to claim 7, wherein: The or each support comprises a planar surface lying in an imaginary vertical plane and configured so that the side wall of the article of furniture is affixed to the planar surface.

9. The machine tool according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: The or each work station comprises a dimensional detection and measurement device configured to detect the profile of the front edge and / or the profile of the edge of said planar surface.

10. The machine tool according to claim 8 or 9, wherein: The planar surface includes means for attracting the sidewall.

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