Content tagged with "plasma-cutting"
Results: 22
Article
January 8, 2010
On the cusp of recovery
During a conference presentation, Richard Kallage pointed to a slide depicting a simple timeline, something that perhaps drove so many to 2009's largest North American metal fabrication, forming, and welding tradeshow. The timeline showed the cash flow cycle, the time between getting an... Read more...
Article
November 6, 2009
Welders to the rescue
In emergency situations such as fires, health crises, or automobile accidents, we depend on firefighters and rescue personnel to respond quickly and provide assistance. In turn, rescue personnel depend on their equipment to function properly in order to provide assistance to those in need.... Read more...
Article
August 11, 2009
Plasma cutting and how it works
The basic technology for plasma cutting has been around for decades. Researchers and engineers remain focused on increasing cut speed, improving cut quality, and extending consumable life, while making systems smaller and more powerful. What Is Plasma Cutting? Once a gas is heated to... Read more...
Article
July 6, 2009
Software evolves to take a humanlike approach
Some operators tend to tweak nests. Unfortunately, the time spent tweaking may affect throughput; why invest in automatic nesting if someone spends time to manually change it? Besides, an hour spent rearranging parts for 1 percent better material utilization costs more than using the original... Read more...
Article
July 2, 2009
Rolling it just so
Figure 1 A precision operation at BEPeterson forms rolled sections to +/- 1/32 inch on circumference. Walk onto the floor at BEPeterson (BEP) and nothing looks particularly out of the ordinary for a contract manufacturer specializing in large fabrications. There' the 53-foot-long,... Read more...
Article
July 1, 2009
Counting on the combo
Figure 1 Boon Edam produces a variety of revolving doors that have some unique fabrication requirements. Next time you enter a downtown hotel or office building, push the revolving door—then look up. There you'll see what the door industry calls ceiling pies, wedge-shaped pieces... Read more...
Article
June 29, 2009
Venting on the subject of clean shop air
For a ventilation system connected to a thermal cutting machine to function properly, it is best that the equipment is placed away from open shop doors and standing fans. A moderate breeze can overpower the ventilation effort very quickly. However, another reality is that today's fabricating... Read more...
Article
March 10, 2009
You can plasma cut it, but can you weld it?
A lot happens in a plasma arc from its generation at the electrode surface to the workpiece. Among numerous other factors, the plasma forming gas and its surrounding shield material, be it gas or liquid, play a major role in the final cut quality.
A high-quality cut is characterized by a low... Read more...
Article
January 13, 2009
Article
December 14, 2008
Cut it out
Perhaps the easiest way to perform artistic plasma cutting, or to cut identical pieces, is to use a CNC plasma cutting table and a computerized art file. While tables can be purchased for about $20,000, if you don't have one, all is not lost. This article describes a simple art project... Read more...
Article
October 28, 2008
On the level: An introduction to part leveling
Figure 1 A hydraulic roller leveler works material to level parts. When metal is formed or cut, stresses occur. All thermal cutting processes, from oxyfuel and plasma cutting to advanced laser systems, put stress into metal. The processes generate an enormous temperature difference within... Read more...
Article
October 14, 2008
Growing season: Fabricating for agriculture
A worker at FSI Fabrication welds a heavy hitch onto the front of a mobile spreader. The Curfmans live in Sunnyside, Wash., an enviable place amid the wineries proliferating in the Yakima River Valley, southeast of Seattle. Their company, FSI Fabrication Inc., manufactures products for what... Read more...
Article
September 16, 2008
Cleaner consumables, cleaner cuts, better production
This article is adapted from Jim Colt, "Plasma Cutting Consumables Inspection," presented at the FABTECH® International & AWS Welding Show, Nov. 11-14, 2007, Chicago, ©2007 by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Intl., Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the American... Read more...
Article
August 26, 2008
Ultrafabrication, ultraexpansion
Figure 1 Ultra employs more than 200 welders, all trained for heavy-plate fabrication. That sums up Ultra Machine & Fabrication, a small company just three years ago. Today it employs more than 375, and over the past 24 months, managers sank some serious money into capital equipment: two... Read more...
Article
March 11, 2008
Nesting software: A tool for lean manufacturing
What Is Nesting Software? In general terms, nesting software automatically and efficiently arranges the required quantities of individual parts to be produced on sheets or plates of stock material. It does this by using part geometry from CAD files to output NC code that controls a... Read more...
Article
March 11, 2008
Plasma cutting primer
More than 50 years of effort have made plasma cutting an economically competitive choice for today's metal fabricators. Becoming knowledgeable about what you need from the process, as well as familiarizing yourself with cutting techniques and basic preventive practices, will help you get the... Read more...
Article
January 9, 2007
From Pens to Plasma Cutters
Miller Electric brought in a semitruck load of welding equipment for fabricators to try out. The Miller staff verified that their insurance premium was up-to-date, crossed their fingers, and allowed me to try manual plasma cutting and GTAW. I used the new 18-pound plasma cutter, the... Read more...
Article
November 7, 2006
Better cuts with plasma
The cutting torch on the VICON Elite plasma cutting system travels 1,500 to 2,000 IPM when cutting thin- gauge steel sheet. One job, that's all it took to change the fortunes of one company. Keller & Son Industrial Contractors Inc., Spartanburg, S.C., used to work out of a 5,000-square-foot... Read more...
Article
August 8, 2006
Theme railings can equal higher earnings
Metal fabricators are called upon to do many odd jobs, and most are within their range of skills. But when someone requests a gate or a railing with a specific theme, will your shop be up to the challenge? A themed gate may call for artistry beyond the usual uprights and scrolls. The projects... Read more...
Article
December 13, 2005
A change by design
A Great Dane just happens to watch over the entrance of Great Dane Trailers. You don't become a big dog in manufacturing without knowing about technology and innovation. For the last 100 years, Great Dane Trailers has followed that strategy and is now the largest trailer company in the... Read more...
Article
September 13, 2005
Plasma Cutting: Then and now
Plasma cutting has come a long way since paper punch machines were used to write G-codes for the cutting controller. For example, 10-gauge cold-rolled steel sheet that's cut with a high-precision plasma torch yields a part with an accuracy of ±0.012 in. It wasn't that long ago... Read more...
Article
March 13, 2003
Mechanized plasma cutting for HVAC applications
Today many HVAC shops use plasma cutters—both hand-held torches and CNC mechanized systems—to cut material for fabrication. These fabricators find that for their applications, plasma is a fast, clean, economical way for them to cut light-gauge metal. This overview of... Read more...
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