Page 24 - MetalForming January 2014
P. 24
Laser Cutting
22 MetalForming/January 2014
www.metalformingmagazine.com
We watched the Trumatic L2510 cut PVC-coated stainless steel, first vaporizing a 3⁄16- in.-wide strip of the coating away from the cut line. This eliminates any fuzz on the back of the cut edge as a result of the PVC driving down through the cut, and causes the PVC to adhere better to the edge of the part so it won’t peel away during press-brake bending.
Vaporizing PVC
Typifying the shop’s thin-sheet work is cutting Type 410 16-gauge stainless- steel sheet to fabricate the skins of bank-vault doors. “We’ll typically process 25,000 lb. of sheet per order,” says Fuller, “on the 2510. We can stack the sheets on one side of the machine and walk away and let it run for hours unattended.”
We spied the 2510 cutting PVC-coat- ed stock, a common occurrence at Stain- less Works. Fuller’s operator has per- fected the art of vaporizing the coating around the cut line—a 1⁄16-in.-wide path or so—to optimize cut-edge quality.
“He powers down the beam a bit and raises the standoff distance,” explains Fuller, “to remove the coat- ing prior to cutting. While this increas- es production time by about 20 per- cent, it eliminates any fuzz on the back of the cut edge that we might otherwise see, as a result of the PVC driving down through the cut.
“The parts look flawless—we do this on all of the bank-vault door skins, and on other parts,” Fuller continues. “And, the extra processing step also causes the PVC to adhere better to the edge of the part so it won’t peel away during downstream press-brake bend- ing operations.”
Getting Engineers Out of the Office and Into the Shop
Fuller’s added two Trumpf CNC press brakes to the shop in recent years, to become a full-service con- tract manufacturer. He’s also equipped four manual arc-welding booths with the latest Lincoln gas-tungsten-arc- welding equipment, and purchased a self-contained Panasonic robotic gas- metal-arc-welding cell. Additional processes offered include assembly, finishing and machining. Customers come from numerous industries including automotive, computer, elec- trical, heavy equipment and restau- rant equipment.
On staff are two engineers that allow Stainless Works to offer engineering support to customers. And, Fuller proudly exclaims that his engineers are not allowed to take the all-too-com- mon attitude that ‘if we can draw it they can make it.’
“Instead, I require our engineers to come down to the shop and run the machines,” Fuller says, “if for no other reason but to make them fully aware of what it takes to actually make the parts they design. They then can apply that knowledge during the design process, improving part designs for our cus- tomers and often allowing us to run
