Laser profiler doubles up on speed in steel

The laser profiler, versus conventional machines, has doubled profiling speed and piercing in 10mm mild steel is 75 per cent quicker, while cut-outs sharper and exhibit better geometry.

Alan Pinkney, managing director of CHK Engineering, did not believe his eyes when he saw the video of Finn-Power's new linear motor FPL laser profiler at Mach 2000.

However, he was sufficiently impressed to visit Bologna later the same year to see the real thing in action.

Then he placed an order for one with UK agent, Press and Shear, complete with pallet stacker, automated load/unload and component sorting capability.

Since then the laser profiler, CHK's fifth, has demonstrated its superiority over conventional machines.

Profiling speed is double, piercing in 10mm mild steel is 75 per cent quicker and cut-outs are more sharply defined with better geometry.

Moreover it offers minimally manned / unmanned running capability so productivity is higher.

Founded in 1964, the family owned company in Crewe has grown into a major supplier to HGV, off-highway vehicle, fork lift truck, railway and mobile transformer OEMs.

Currently it operates under the Fabline and Fabshop banners, manufacturing defined products and general fabrications respectively.

However the FPL laser, which sits in a newly built extension, will in April 2002 be joined by a Finn-Power LP6 laser-punch press to create a new sheet metal division called Metshop.

"Eighty per cent of throughput is currently light plate work in the 5mm to 10mm thickness range," Mr Pinkney confirmed.

"However the new investment is aimed mainly at lighter gauge work.

That said, the attraction of the FPL is its ability to do anything that we want it to.

On one hand we can laser profile as quickly or faster than a punch press; but the machine's 3.5 kW laser gives us the capability to cut up to 20mm mild steel if we need to.

CHK has made a major success of its existing business, most of which is long term contractual supply of fabricated components and sub-assemblies.

Whereas a few years ago it relied almost entirely on plasma profiling, these machines have been superseded by lasers as they provide the profile accuracy needed for highly accurate welded assembly, either robotic or manual.

The company now supplies a lot of straight-to-line sub-assemblies including suspension parts; these demand tight positional tolerances on pressed-in bushings.

In addition it is responding to increasing customer demand for ready-to-fit kits of components.

Development of group technology, cell-based manufacture has slashed work in progress while the company is well versed in co-operative value improvement programs and prototype development.

Batches are manufactured either to customers' schedules or on a kan ban / just-in-time basis as required.

"We always try to look ahead," said Mr Pinkney.

"Our move into lighter gauge sheet metal work is a form of diversification which complements our business and uses many of the existing skills.

By going in with the most advanced systems currently available we have been able to enter the market at the top.

We have also been fortunate in being able to develop the application at its own pace.

When we bought the FPL we did not actually need it for existing production.

However it has shown itself to be a very capable machine which combines phenomenal accuracy with blistering speed.

The FPL is managed by Jess Barker and Ken Sullivan.

Mr Barker commented, "Depending on the gauge of material being processed the FPL can profile at least twice as quickly as our older machines.

That combines with on-line availability of material and automatic loading to give it a significant productivity advantage.

Because of the machine's speed and flexibility it allows us to call off smaller batches as there is no set-up penalty.

The stacker tower on the FPL system has ten shelves and is capable of storing material up to 8 mm thick.

Whereas on a manually loaded machine it would be counterproductive to set up for a couple of sheets worth of parts, the FPL almost encourages small batch production.

"The machine gets though the work very quickly," Mr Sullivan agreed.

"A typical batch is one to two hundred components rather than big batches.

Most production is from full size 3 metre by 1.5 metre sheets although some cut blanks are used.

The majority of nests are mixed components, which optimises material usage.

While most of CHK's throughput is mild steel, it has been noticed that the FPL is highly effective when profiling stainless steel and aluminium, producing a cleaner edge than other machines.

However it is on overall speed that the new machine scores most heavily.

"On 2 mm cold rolled sheet the FPL profiles at 6,500mm/min while our other machines can only manage 3,000mm/min," Mr Barker confirms.

"But it is also much, much faster on piercing so if we have a lot of small parts or components with a lot of holes and cut-outs it will leave our older machines standing.

"On 10mm plate, for instance we can pierce in two to three seconds on the FPL whereas one of the older machines takes 10 seconds.

Likewise the positional control available with the linear motor drives is excellent, and provides very good roundness and corner definition.

Overall the system is highly rated, as is the technical support provided by both Press and Shear and Finn-Power.

CHK has a Teleservice contract on the machine, which has proved invaluable during the development phase of the application.

"The Teleservice system works very well and we always get a good response from Press and Shear," Mr Barker concluded.

"The FPL has performed extremely reliably and a high proportion of running is now unmanned, giving us the production economies that we hoped for at the outset.

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(This was Manufacturingtalk's Top Story on 11 March 2002).

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