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Articles tagged with "plate"
Results: 31
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Plasma pleases plentyTechnological developments in lasers are positioning them as an attractive alternative to plasma. But fabricators are still sticking with plasma cutting for many applications where speed and cost-effective operation are concerns.
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Better cuts with plasma: High-density plasma cutting equipment opens new doors for industrial contractorOne job led Keller & Son Industrial Contractors Inc., Spartanburg, S.C., to buy a new plasma cutting table in 2001. The need for extra capacity required it to purchase another in 2006. Now the company feels it is in the perfect position to take on all types of metal fabricating jobs.
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Taking waste off the plate: Operators for C&S Metal Fabricating use controller software to improve quality, reduce costs in thermal cuttingC&S Metal Fabricating, Houston, fabricates parts for the oil and petrochemical industry. When it purchased a thermal cutting table with the latest controller technology, it took the unusual step of keeping all nest designs down on the shop floor, not in the front office as many other shops do.
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Don't rule out plasma for cutting aluminum: Clearing up the misconceptionsIn any discussion about how to cut metal, plasma cutting is right up there with laser and waterjet. The technology gets a bad rap, though, when the discussion turns to cutting aluminum. There are five preconceptions that many fabricators have about turning to plasma to cut aluminum. But according to three experts, new plasma cutting systems produce good results on aluminum.
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Putting a spark into cutting productivity: Exploring the friction alternativeThere are many ways to cut sheet, plate, tubing, and structural shapes, ranging from a hand hacksaw to power shears and lasers.
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Pursuing a plate-cutting saw: Employees team up to make a buying decisionMetal Cutting Service, City of Industry (Los Angeles), Calif., specializes in sawing metals. President David Viel explained the company's strategy: "We do not buy or sell anything, we just add value to others' products." Although it does very little advertising, the 26-employee company has customers throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, even though the cost to ship material can be substantial.
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Fabrication in transition: One-time metal supply house becomes a waterjet shop that now offers laser cutting, bending, and assemblyArcadia, Albany, N.Y., transitions from a metal supplier to a waterjet cutting shop to a laser cutting shop to a metal bender. Future plans call for the shop to evolve into a full-scale contract manufacturer.
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Fabricating technology advancements drive new plate finishing trendsThe same industry forces of nature—globalization, economic conditions, quality demands, and safety and environmental regulations—that are pressuring metal fabricators to do more, better, and faster with less are blowing no less forcefully on finishing fabricators.
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How important is sheet and plate steel flatness?: Fabricators are specifying temper-passed, leveled steel to remove coil memoryThis article examines flatness of steel, discussing the outcome of combining temper passing and leveling in the same line. It also provides the outcomes of experimentation on steel that has been leveled, temper passed, and both. Furthermore, it gives a few real world examples of who is using this process and what they are saying about it.
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Applying the theory of constraints in a structural steel plant: How keeping busy can be a BAD ideaMerely staying busy is not a determinant of success.
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Pushing plate processing productivity: To speed up fabricating efforts, remove time wasteProductivity increases when manufacturing processes are executed as quickly as possible. Maximizing productivity also means minimizing the nonproductive segments of the manufacturing cycle. When all the time associated with manufacturing—the fabricating process itself, non-process in-cycle time, out of cycle waiting time, downtime, and secondary operations—is minimized that productivity is maximized.
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Big shoulders, long strides: Four-generation family shop starts anewFamily-owned Hansen Steel Services started six years ago with a 600-ft. long empty building and a combined 144 years of experience and built it into a thriving job shop that shoulders large plate fabrications.
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Up with energy prices and wind towers: Automation, consultation help plate fabricator meet demand for wind tower mastsWith the recent increases in gasoline and natural gas prices, more attention than ever is focused on alternative energy sources. One fabricator, Aerisyn LLC, investigated manufacturing towers for use in the wind power industry. To produce towers efficiently enough to compete against imports from Asia, Aerisyn relied on an equipment vendor that had experience in demanding fields such as aerospace, nuclear, and wind power.
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Gettin' down with downtime: Reducing unprofitable die changeover timeReducing the time it takes to change dies it important to all stampers, especially for custom stampers that run small-quantity jobs. This article summarizes the ways in which automation has helped in this process and then covers two die change methods that are used in a quick change system: the standardized clamping system and the V-notch, or key, system.
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Fabricator finds tubular niche: Job shop uses laser cutting to complement CNC machiningProduction Cutting Services was founded in 1985 as a machine shop to supply parts to agricultural equipment manufacturers in and around East Moline, Ill. It used saws and CNC machining centers to provide tubular parts, but later realized it needed to add more value. It purchased two lasers from Mazak Optonics Corp. It hasn't abandoned CNC machining, though. It uses the lasers to complement its other processes.
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Curving out a niche: Chicago fabricator helps McDonald's mark milestone, reaches one of its ownIn celebration of its 50th anniversary in April 2005, McDonald's® opened a 24,000-sq.-ft. restaurant in Chicago. The restaurant's most eye-catching feature is a pair of parabolic arches that stand 60 ft. high. Constructed from 20-in. by 12-in. tubes, the arches were curved by Chicago Metal Rolled Products, an OEM component subcontractor. Operating within a tight time frame, CMRP helped the structural steel fabricator and erector, Tefft Bridge & Iron LLC, by bending the tubes in multiple locations on longer sections to reduce the number of weld splices needed.
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Mastering the art of welding—it's all about proper technique |
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Up with energy prices and wind towers: Automation, consultation help plate fabricator meet demand for wind tower mastsWith the recent increases in gasoline and natural gas prices, more attention than ever is focused on alternative energy sources. One fabricator, Aerisyn LLC, investigated manufacturing towers for use in the wind power industry. To produce towers efficiently enough to compete against imports from Asia, Aerisyn relied on an equipment vendor that had experience in demanding fields such as aerospace, nuclear, and wind power.
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Pressure to perform: Pressure vessel fabricator compensates for worker shortage with increased productivityA fabricator of large pressure vessels implements a welding power source to help it meet growing customer demand and ensure stringent quality standards without expanding its work force.
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Up with energy prices and wind towers - Automation, consultation help plate fabricator meet demand for wind tower mastsWith the recent increases in gasoline and natural gas prices, more attention than ever is focused on alternative energy sources. One fabricator, Aerisyn LLC, investigated manufacturing towers for use in the wind power industry. To produce towers efficiently enough to compete against imports from Asia, Aerisyn relied on an equipment vendor that had experience in demanding fields such as aerospace, nuclear, and wind power.
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Metal fabricating in a new millennium: How metal fabricators elevated plate cutting, bending, welding, and finishing to an art form to create Millennium Park's Cloud GateThe forming and fabricating of the 925-foot BP Pedestrian Bridge located at the east section of Chicago's Millennium Park, and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion is explored.
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Optimizing flow through robotic welding workcells: A 'Case' Study RevisitedRobotic welding systems can enhance a company's production and bottom line. However, using these systems requires careful thought and planning, building the right infrastructure, and achieving the right balance between robotic and manual operations. This article presents an overview of one company's successful implementation of robotic welding.
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Cracking the case: How to choose the right filler metals to weld AR plateBefore welding abrasion-resistant plate, it's important to take certain precautions and choose the most appropriate filler metal for your application and weld metal.
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Roll bending a wind tower with a three-roll bender: How to get a good leading edgeThree-roll bending with a variable axis offers an advantage over four-roll bending for bending conical sections in that it allows for a good leading edge and rolling without having to lift the plate to pivot it with a bridge crant.
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Pipe fabricator saves big time with big bends: 4 lessons to learn from Universal Pipe and Steel Supply and its four-roll benderUniversal Pipe and Steel Supply, Fort Myers, Fla., needed a roll bender with greater capacity to capitalize on the market for larger pipe sections. The company found its answer with a four-roll bender from Bertsch.
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New roll bender 'bales' out farm implement manufacturer: Powder River reduces scrap and time needed to make horse feedersPowder River, a Provo, Utah-based fabricator of farm implements, turned to KNUTH Machine Tools USA for a three-roll bender the company uses to make its round bale feeders for horses.
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One nesting software for all: Maurer Manufacturing now uses one software package for its plasma and laser cutting machinesMaurer Manufacturing, Spencer, Iowa, purchased a new plasma cutting table in late 2006 and decided it wanted one nesting program to run both the new plasma table and its slightly older Cincinnati laser cutting machine. After a slight stumble, the company found the solution it needed with MTC Software's ProNest program.
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Turning up the power: Using lasers to cut thick plateThe most common power levels ranged between 1,500 and 2,000 watts. However, a statistical survey conducted by the AMT Laser System Product Group indicates a steady increase during the last 12 months of installations for high-power 3,000- to 4,000-watt laser systems and a decline in sales of lasers with power levels less than 2,000 watts.
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High-powered lasers take a bite out of plate: How wattage, mode, and assist gas work togetherCO2 lasers are available in wattages that can cut plate more than 1 in. thick. The wattage, however, isn't the only factor that affects total speed and power. The assist gas chosen and the mode of the laser also influence final results.
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Getting into the thick of high-powered lasers: Increased resonator wattage opens the door to plenty of opportunitiesThe new high-powered lasers allow fab shops to serve a broader range of custom needs.
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New dimension, familiar direction: H.W. Metals invests in a laser cutter for jobs where plasma doesn’t cut itH.W. Metals offers punching, shearing, arc welding, machining, oxyfuel cutting, and standard and high-definition plasma cutting. The company found that there was more and more work it couldn't do for its customers because some jobs required laser-cut parts. The company decided to purchase a laser to expand capabilities in its current markets by offering an alternative to plasma cutting. In October, the company installed a Prima Maximo laser cutting system, which will allow the company to provide more capabilities to existing customers.
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