Shutter/Louver 4" - 2

This 4" - 2 shutter/louver slat measures 4.000" wide by .437" thickness, allowing the use of resawn five or solid four-quarter lumber for milling on an industrial moulder. The widely used elliptical-shaped pattern is used in the construction of interior window coverings. The profile consists of a 28-21/64" radius on the top and bottom, with a 5/32" radius half-circle on the sides. This professionally drafted CAD DXF file contains two high-precision template designs for creating cutters for this functional detail: one for the top and bottom, and the other for the left and right. The left and right cutters are designed with an axial constant with two profiles in a sixty-millimeter cutter head; these blade positions are swapped when the knives become dull, saving time in production.

Some louver manufacturers mill these profiles on the top and bottom horizontal cutterheads. Our concern with this machining approach is that you have ninety-degree cuts where the top and bottom cutters cross each side edge of the design. This practice leads to knife burning, reducing the time between sharpenings. This area is also where one eye will be when the open window covering is horizontal. Larger cutting circles on the machinery will force you to open bedplates and chip breakers while simultaneously causing snipes on the finished products. Trust us; four milling stations are the correct way to mill louver slats. It will cost more money on tooling and more time to set up the machinery, but you will have far less machining trouble in the long run, and your product will be superior to those mills doing it the less expensive way.