Product category:
CNC water jet cutting and profiling machines
News Release from: Jet Edge | Subject: Water jet systems at Allright Tool
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 14 January 2008
Water jet cutting increases revenue by
79%
Within two years of buying its waterjet systems, an Alabama, USA, company saw its annual revenue increase by more than 79% and it grew from 10 employees to 25.
In 2004, Allright Tool Company became the first machine shop in the Birmingham, Alabama, USA, area to offer abrasive waterjet cutting Within two years of buying its waterjet systems, the company saw its annual revenue increase by more than 79% and it grew from 10 employees to 25
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 14 Mar 2006 at 8.00am (UK)
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The innovation earned Allright Tool recognition in the Birmingham Business Journal as the eighth fastest growing small businesses in the Birmingham area.
The publication also named owner Frances Whittington and her husband Darryl Whittington as 'Outstanding Entrepreneurs' in 2005.
The Whittingtons started Allright Tool Company in their basement in 1972, taking on odd jobs for a large steel company.
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Today they run a full-service machine shop that is considered one of the most diverse shops in Alabama.
Their 22,000ft2 facility is equipped with two Jet Edge abrasive waterjet systems, four vertical CNC milling machines, two lathes with driven tooling, two surface grinders, two CNC lathes with manual tool change, and six manually operated milling machines.
In addition to fabricating and welding, the company offers reverse engineering and CAD design for prototyping and developing products in 2D or 3D mockups.
Allright Tool Company serves a variety of industries around the world, including automotive and steel production, steel tubing mills and steel pipe finishing.
It also does custom projects, and with the addition of its waterjet systems, has become well known for its stone and tile work.
* Water jet cutting - shop manager Chris Lentini attributed his company's recent rapid growth directly to its Jet Edge waterjet systems.
He said: "Prior to getting the waterjets, we were a run-of-the-mill machine shop and there were 40 machine shops in the area." Lentini said: "I knew if we were going to compete and increase our market share, we were going to have to do something different".
With its new Jet Edge systems, Allright Tool Company has tapped into new markets and has enabled its customers to do the same, he noted.
"The waterjet machines allow both our old and new customers to come up with new avenues of business in markets they dared not try before and to do the diverse machining applications available with waterjets," Lentini said.
"Often we don't know how we got along without them".
The Jet Edge systems also have helped the company increase its productivity dramatically by enabling it to cut parts in seconds that took minutes and in minutes that took hours, Lentini said.
He uses the systems both for rapid prototyping finished parts and for prepping parts to be machined.
"They have made excellent prep machines to reduce secondary machining," he said.
"Concurrently we increase productivity, which increases cash flow, and that is what every business is trying to do".
Allright Tool Company bought its first Jet Edge High Rail Gantry system in 2004.
It had the 6ft x 12ft machine equipped with two abrasivejet cutting heads on a 6ft spreader bar and an extra-large 7ft x 19ft tank, giving it an effective cutting envelope of 72in x 216in with a 12in cut height.
Just one year later, demand necessitated the purchase of a second machine, a 12ft x 8ft Jet Edge High Rail Gantry with two abrasivejet cutting heads on a 6ft spreader bar and 13ft x 15' tank, which gave it an effective cutting envelope of 168in x 144in and 12in cut height.
* More strength - this second machine was built extra long so lengthy parts can be cut in one pass.
Its work area can accommodate and process two full 6ft x 12ft sheets simultaneously making it an extremely efficient configuration for the job shop environment.
Both machines are powered by a 55,000 lb/in2 100HP Jet Edge 55-100B intensifier pump.
Lentini explained that he equipped his machines with oversized tanks so he could cut larger parts.
Jet Edge's unique high rail gantry design also will allow him to expand his machine in place as his business grows.
Allright Tool Company cuts a wide variety of materials, including AR 500 plate, T-1 plate, chromium carbide overlay plate, glass, rubber, titanium, stainless steel, brass, aluminum, copper, wood, granite, marble, porcelain, concrete and ceramic bricks.
The company cuts 12in thick tool steel on a regular basis, achieving a cut quality that has astonished customers and peers alike, Lentini said.
Allright cuts on a regular basis one part needing a 14in long, 3in wide inch slot to be cut through 12in tool steel.
Lentini cuts this on the waterjet in only 3h.
* More work - Allright Tool Company's Jet Edge systems also have enabled them to take on numerous projects that would have been impossible by any other method, Lentini added.
One such project requires the company to cut 5/8in titanium that has been fused with carbon fiber.
"You have to use a waterjet to get the desired cut or you would fray or melt the carbon fiber," Lentini said.
"There is no other way to do this." Lentini said he has been able to cut these parts so precisely on the Jet Edge that his customer no longer bothers sampling them for accuracy.
"This is a true testament to the Jet Edge machine," he added.
"Of 300 parts they tested, all were within +/-0.001in repeatability and +/-0.002in machined surface".
"That just 'blows' people away.
It's unheard of." Allright Tool Company has completed a number of high-profile projects with its Jet Edge systems, including cutting 20 12ft x 6f logos for Busch Stadium in St.
Louis.
The extra-large waterjet tank was instrumental for the Busch Stadium project because it allowed Lentini to place 12ft sheets of 1/4in aluminum on the table and cut them in one pass.
Allright Tool Company also cut an intricate vinyl flooring inlay for Alabama baseball/football legend Bo Jackson's high school, a project that required 500 separate programs, 8h of programming and three days of cutting.
Lentini also is very proud of a decorative motorcycle part his company cut for bike designer Greg Dotson of Nightstalkers (aka The Bike Barn).
Dotson's custom chopper took 'Best in Show' at the 2006 O'Reilly World of Wheels competition in Birmingham, Alabama.
* Water jet cutting choice - Lentini recalled that he was originally going to buy his waterjet systems from another major manufacturer, but he decided to go with Jet Edge after meeting with several of its customers.
"Some of them had worked with both machines and they pointed out the pros and cons of each system.
The first thing I liked about the Jet Edge was the availability of the dual head which I really liked because, in the same amount of time, you can cut twice the parts.
You can't go wrong with that.
Second was the table size; the competitor did not build the size I wanted, and third was the repeatability and longevity".
* High rail design - Lentini said he favored Jet Edge's high rail design, which preserves drive components by keeping the ball screws and drives up and out of the way of airborne particulates.
Jet Edge protects its mechanical components with sheet metal enclosures rather than the bellows system used by other manufacturers.
While bellows systems have a tendency to tear or puncture, allowing water and garnet to damage motion components, Jet Edge's sheet metal enclosures fully protect the motion components from the harsh environment created by the waterjet process.
In addition, when bellows are 'stretched' or extended, a negative pressure condition is created and unwanted environmental elements are sucked into the interior of the bellows and consequently onto the motion components.
Jet Edge uses a filtered blower on each enclosure to introduce a constant positive air pressure that ensures there is no chance of a negative pressure condition in the enclosure system.
Lentini has been so happy with his Jet Edge systems, he welcomes potential Jet Edge customers into his shop on a regular basis in return for the waterjet manufacturer's first-class customer service.
"I tell people, 'when it breaks, these guys are going to be here to fix it.
That's important because that's your livelihood.
You need that thing cutting.
If we have a problem with the mill or the lathes, I'm on the phone with some guy in Korea and I'm down a couple of months waiting for parts.
Meanwhile, you're just getting killed.
It's not like that with Jet Edge.
They have put parts on a plane for me when I needed them.
I don't understand why anyone would buy a different machine.
Jet Edge sells the intangibles: service, reliability and repeatability".
* About Jet Edge - Jet Edge is a global designer and manufacturer of ultra-high pressure waterjet systems for precision cutting, surface preparation and coating removal.
Jet Edge systems are used around the world in a broad range of industries, from the world's leading airlines to automotive, aerospace, industrial manufacturers, machine and job shops.
Jet Edge's customers include Ford, Toyota, General Motors, Boeing, American Airlines, and General Electric.
* Advantages of Jet Edge Waterjets - Jet Edge waterjets offer many productivity and flexibility advantages over traditional cutting methods including: no sharpening and no burrs requiring secondary finishing.
Waterjets completely eliminate heat-affected zones, toxic fumes, recast layers, work hardening, and thermal stress, and offer a hygienic method for cutting food.
Jet Edge waterjets can hold a positional accuracy of 0.005in (0.13mm) with a repeatability of 0.001in (0.03mm) over the entire work envelope.
They have been known to cut materials up to 15in (380mm) thick.
Waterjets are environmentally friendly and produce no hazardous waste, reducing waste disposal costs.
They can cut off large pieces of reusable scrap material that might have been lost using traditional cutting methods, parts can be closely nested to maximize material use, and the waterjet saves material by creating very little kerf.
Waterjets use very little water (a half gallon to approximately one gallon/min depending on cutting head orifice size), and the water that is used can be recycled using a closed-looped system.
Waste water usually is clean enough to filter and dispose of down a drain.
The garnet abrasive is a non-toxic natural substance that can be recycled for repeated use.
Garnet usually can be disposed of in a landfill.
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