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per year. The shop processes $500,000 worth of 1.5- to 3.5-in.-dia. tube per year, specializing in headers and exhausts, and associated components such as hangers and clamps. But Fuller credits his optimistic outlook for the job-shop side of his business with a big boost in marketing and sales efforts.
“It also doesn’t hurt that we’ve invest- ed heavily in new technology,” notes Fuller. At the top of the new-acquisition list is a Trumpf TruLaser 3030 laser-cut- ting machine with a TruFlow 6000 6-kW CO2 resonator and 5- by 10-ft. work- table. To enable fully automated laser cutting, including lights-out operation, Fuller equipped the machine with Trumpf’s LiftMaster Compact load/ unload system (boasting a 65-sec. mate- rial-exchange time), along with the Tru- Store material-storage tower (15 com- partments and maximum load of 3000 kg per compartment).
“And, we gave the new machine some extra juice by adding Trumpf’s RotoLas tube-cutting attachment,” notes Fuller, “to help differentiate our- selves in the market and stay one step ahead.” RotoLas converts a 2D flat- material cutting table into a 3D tube cutter for profiling round and square tube, and for making through-holes and slot cuts.
A 10-yr. Track Record
Fuller moved his exhaust-system business, built primarily on tube fab- rication processes such as saw-cutting, bending and welding, into laser cutting in 2003. Welcome a Trumpf Trumatic L2530 machine with 3200-W laser and 4- by 8-ft. cutting table, with pallet changer. It immediately took on all of the firm’s exhaust-system flange-cut- ting requirements, improving speed and edge quality when cutting flanges from 3⁄8-in. stainless-steel plate.
“We cut thousands of flanges per month,” notes Fuller. Yet, flange cutting consumed only about half of the 2530’s capacity, leading Fuller to market laser time to local fabricators, stampers and equipment OEMs.
Next up was a Trumpf Trumatic L2510 cutting machine with load/unload
capabilities, to enable lights-out cut- ting. Fuller added the machine—4- by 10-ft. table, 2-kW CO2 laser—in 2007 specifically to take on longer runs of thinner material. “That became nec- essary because we started to move into heavier-gauge work processed on the 2530,” Fuller says. Customers included equipment OEMs serving the energy industry, such as builders of coal-han- dling equipment.
New Laser = New Opportunities; Fiber Next?
“With the addition of the new 6-kW machine,” continues Fuller, “we’ll like- ly replace the L2510 in a few years with a fiber-laser cutting machine, to handle work 3⁄16 in. and thinner. We just have to build more volume in that area.” Fuller’s new machine adds plenty of sheet- and plate-cutting capacity to the shop, since, as he notes, it can carve up 3⁄8-in. stainless-steel exhaust flanges at 60 in./min., compared to 20 in./min. on the 2530.
His initial customer for the tube- cutting capability of the RotoLas- equipped TruLaser 3030 is an OEM machine builder serving the plastic- processing industry. “We’re fabricat- ing machine frames from 4- by 4-in. square tube,” Fuller explains. “With the
Stainless Works’ 50,000-sq.- ft. shop houses two Trumpf laser-cutting machines—a Trumatic L2510 with 2-kW resonator (background), and a new TruLaser 3030 with a 5- by 10-ft. table and 6-kW laser. Added as an option to the TruLaser 3030 is Trumpf’s RotoLas feature that enables the machine to laser-cut tube sections fed manually into a three-jaw chuck (left).
RotoLas option, we can automatically set tube lengths—no more measuring —and cut tabs and slots in the tubes to ease fitup and welding. Positive locat- ing dramatically quickens assembly time and improves accuracy and repeatability, keeping us one step ahead of the competition.”
Noting that he opted for nearly every “bell and whistle” available on the 3030, Fuller describes the benefits of one particular new machine feature: Trumpf ’s CoolLine water-mist appli- cator. Located in a specially designed cutting head, the CoolLine nozzle directs a water mist around the laser beam as it reaches the workpiece. The water mist reduces heat transfer to the cutting zone, enabling tighter corner radii and the cutting of smaller hole diameters than would otherwise be possible. Also, according to Trumpf lit- erature, keeping the cut zone cooler allows fabricators to tighten up their nests in thick material. Optimizing material utilization and reducing scrap.
“Customers want smaller diameter holes in the heavy-gauge flanges,” says Fuller, “a 1⁄2-in. hole in 3⁄4-in. plate for example. Now we can do it, using the CoolLine nozzle. Before, we had to drill those holes—not how I want to do things.”
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