Comparison of Surface Quality and Tool-Life of Glulam Window Elements after Planing

The quality of the surface of wooden elements, that have been planed, has a crucial importance in the whole production process, since the obtained effects affect the quality of wooden surface after finishing (painting). The occurrence of defects is usually the reason for qualifying a workpiece as scrap or for requiring additional work. This paper presents the selected results of research of the effect of the cutting tool wear on the surface quality of elements after planing. Research experiments were conducted on the SCM Superset Class machine tool. Glulam elements of pine wood (Pinus sylvestris L.) were researched. The raw material samples (semi-finished products), 6 m long before planing, had been machined by suppliers also by planing. These workpieces were selected according to the plant requirements, e.g. their moisture content, straightness, and other defects. This paper presents the measuring results of surface roughness and some examples of surface profiles, as well as the dependence of total length of the planed elements on the type of blade material. From an economic point of view, the results showed that the use of solid carbide blades were more cost effective.