ASM, a manufacturer of stone cutting and sawing equipment based in northern England, is preparing to target the U.S. market. The company will officially launch its line of high-performance computerized profiling saws and free-standing block saws at StonExpo 2001. Products that will be offered by ASM in the U.S. include: CNC profiling saws, angling bridge saws, free-standing saws, block saws, splitting machines/guillotines and special purpose machinery built to customer specifications.

The company offers the angling bridge saw in a number of variations. Among the features available are blade sizes from 400 to 1,200 mm, push button rise and lowering and a turntable that rotates 360 degrees. The bridge rotates 45 degrees, allowing step cutting through a non-vertical cut without having to reposition the material. The saw comes in manual operation or fully automatic versions, the latter of which features linear straight line profiling to a template. The basic model has been designed to sit on concrete pillars, although steel supports can be specified. The saw has a lockable rack and pinion hand-driven bogey on rails, ensuring that it can be re-positioned for the optimum cutting position.