Sheet metalworking in action - profiling and bending, plus product update

A waterjet profiling machine from Maxiem, a subsidiary of Omax (01244 409199), is helping a young entrepreneur in New York produce high-end, metropolitan, interior design pieces. Yotam Kehati, the founder of Trend Manufacturing, opted out of Boston University's mechanical engineering program at age 20, realising his success in the interior design industry meant spending all of his time building his own fabrication business. While it was hard to leave his academic achievement behind, he found the decision to leave school extremely necessary. "It was time for me to move on and get serious about what I truly love – expressing myself through manufacturing on my own terms," Mr Kehati says. INTERIOR DESIGN DEMAND An early entry into the workforce paid off as he immediately won projects from niche market interior design firms, such as Mark Dizon and Josh Held. "Architects and designers from boutique firms are always enthusiastic to work with me, because I am excited by the challenge of finding a balance between form and function," offers the young entrepreneur. When researching equipment for his workshop, he quickly realised waterjet technology capabilities were limitless for the custom fabrication industry and opted for abrasive waterjet technology, in the form of a Maxiem 1530. The machine was put to work, making decorative metal structures, display mounting fixtures, light boxes made out of galvanised tubing and floor inlays cut from porcelain or brass. "Our Maxiem has transformed our creativity in manufacturing, and surpassed traditional machining and hand-crafting techniques," Mr Kehati confirms. "The waterjet allows Trend to offer quick solutions to difficult design and manufacturing dilemmas." A design dilemma presented itself immediately following installation when the company was asked to produce a complex mirror lattice grid for the drop ceiling at The Darby, a sleek downtown restaurant catering to celebrities and New York's dining elite. With the waterjet, he was able to cut 90 pre-polished 4 ft by 8 ft mirror aluminium sheets that were 1/8th of an inch thick, producing several hundred uniquely shaped pieces. After the pieces were installed with 3,000 fasteners, the mirror aluminium grid elegantly hung from the ceiling and contoured the side of the walls. The abrasive waterjet's cutting repeatability and capability to import RhinoCAD files into the Intelli-MAX control software were critical in allowing the company to produce the appropriate hole patterns desired for the critical fasteners. Afterwards, Mr Kehati was able to roll-form and hand-craft the corner pieces to produce the curvature effect. With over 15,000 of their finishing machines installed at customers' premises in more than 80 countries, every sheet metal component that goes into making them passes through Radan – the world's most powerful sheet metal CAD/CAM software – including those for a unique book spine-forming system. LARGER CAPACITY An Amada laser profiling machine is earning its keep at subcontractor Robinson Engineering, County Durham. Installed by World Machinery (01746 780154), it has allowed the company to rapidly increase its business, with faster and more flexible production allowing it to diversify and expand its customer base. Robinson Engineering provides CNC laser cutting, CNC machining, welding and finishing services, and the new Amada X1 4 kW laser profiler machine complements its existing 2 kW unit. Supplied with Lantek Expert Cut CADCAM (01684 585384) and able to process 20 mm mild steel, 12 mm aluminium, 12 mm stainless steel and other materials, the new machine's larger bed size (3,000 by 1,500 mm), pallet changer and increased power has opened up opportunities to supply bigger parts, longer production runs and allowed a faster turnaround of jobs. Managing director David Robinson explains: "The Amada has more than doubled our laser cutting capacity, due to its faster cutting capability. This has enabled us to grow, taking on bigger jobs than weren't previously possible, and subsequently bring in new customers. We can now run jobs in parallel, or share big jobs across both machines, to ensure we meet our customers' demanding timescales. OPERATING COST CONSIDERATION "Critically, we have to look hard at operating costs and long-term capital returns. At the heart of the Amada X1 is a Mitsubishi cross-flow laser and, as there is no requirement for the expensive turbo overhaul that is needed with most other laser designs, we expect longer term maintenance costs to be lower. "In fact, maintenance promises to be low overall, so we expect to keep the machine working – and earning – for a larger proportion of time. The 2 kW machine paid for itself quite quickly, and, with steady growth, we expect the same to be true for the Amada." Indeed, a job opportunity just after the new machine was installed has helped to do just that. A large automotive customer approached Robinson Engineering Ltd. with a need for a part to be reverse engineered, with 20,000 units supplied over one weekend. Using the new laser cutting machine, the order was completed successfully and Robinson Engineering is now a regular supplier to that customer. Mr Robinson concludes: "It's the ability to do the seemingly impossible that makes us stand out as subcontract sheet metalworkers of excellence." PROGRAMMING PROGRESS As part of a lean manufacturing initiative, bookmaking machine maker Watkiss Automation, which has three factories in Bedfordshire, replaced three manual set-up press brakes that had simple CNC back gauges, with an LVD 3 m press brake with Cadman touch controller and Easyform measuring system (01295 676800). And to program it, the company has installed Radan's Radbend (0844 800 1248). Previously, bending the punched components produced on their Amada Vipros 358 King punch press (01562 749500) was extremely time consuming, as the operator manually worked out the bends and bend sequence from the drawing, and then physically tried them on a piece of metal. Technical director Mike Watkiss says if the company didn't run all three manual press brakes at the same time, the bending operation formed a bottleneck. "Once the bend sequence had been created during the prototyping, it still took about 15 minutes to set up a machine for each individual bend for the production run, and a part may have two or three bends. So, if we were making two parts, it'd take about an hour to set up. "Now, with the LVD driven by Radbend, it takes around seven minutes. Also, because the programming is done offline in the office, the machines can be used for production at the same time and we see the entire process on the computer simulation before it even gets to the press brake. "You don't need to be a skilled sheet metalworker, or even understand how to bend, to operate a press brake driven by Radan. The machine tool and program comes through from the computer to the press brake in an easy-to-understand format, showing exactly the sequence to follow. It's almost like bending by numbers." Watkiss Automation also employs Radan software, TrueShape Nester, to support nesting on its Amada punch press. The combination of the two software packages has proved to be essential to the new, leaner way the company operates. Explains Mr Watkiss: "While we want to create multiple parts in short runs now, we still need to be able to fill a sheet and Radan's TrueShape nester does that for us. Historically, we'd just fill a sheet with the same part. Even if we only needed 10 and a sheet would hold 35, we'd punch all 35 and put the rest into stock, as we didn't want to waste material. That meant we'd be clogging up the production flow with parts that were going to stock and our stores would be getting bigger." In an average week, the company may need to make about 245 different parts, comprising around 3,500 individual components, frequently including a number of new R & D parts, which, thanks to the TrueShape nester, can be nested on the same sheets as the production run. In addition, Radan offers the capability to nest parts from across the full range of the company's print finishing machines on the same nests. Box item Post-processor partnership Omax Corporation (UK, 01244 409199) and post-processor specialist ICAM Technologies Corporation (www.icam.com) are working together to provide manufacturers with NC post-processing software that easily connects Omax and Maxiem abrasive waterjet machines to all major CADCAM systems, including CATIA, ProE (Creo Parametric), SIEMENS NX and Mastercam. By combining Intelli-MAX with advanced NC post-processors from ICAM, Omax and Maxiem, owners stand to benefit from the sophisticated features that exist within high-end 3D CADCAM packages. For example, Omax and Maxiem waterjet operators can program complex multi-axis tool paths, while simultaneously achieving the speed and accuracy that comes with the Intelli-MAX Software Suite. Furthermore, operators can program multi-process tool paths within a single CADCAM system. "We are collaborating with ICAM, because of their extensive skills and experience in implementing and supporting advanced machining applications," explains Carl Olsen, senior software engineer for Omax. "We were especially impressed with ICAM's manufacturing expertise within the aerospace and automotive sectors, because these are two of the many industry segments that greatly benefit from the speed and flexibility of our waterjet machines." ICAM's product suite includes CAM-POST for NC post-processor development, with the option for integrated machine tool simulation, using Virtual Machine. ICAM also supports G-code verification, driven by Control Emulator inside Virtual Machine. Box item More on the web [] Following competitive trials, the Waterjet Group, one of the largest waterjet subcontractors in Europe and the UK, has installed a FLOW 6,500 bar Dynamic Waterjet Model Mach3 4020 at its Darton facility in Yorkshire for processing titanium parts – www.machinery.co.uk/41405 Maxiem Waterjets, a division of OMAX Corporation, has expanded its line-up of waterjet cutting centres to include a range of 16 new machines – www.machinery.co.uk/39683 [] The LVD Vari-Vee V30-140 CNC adjustable V-die is available for the company's complete range of PPEB and Easy-Form precision press brakes. This smaller version of LVD's heavy duty Vari-Vee option offers the benefits of a variable and adjustable bottom V-die to LVD press brake models from 320 to 1,000 tons and up to 8 m in length – www.machinery.co.uk/40974 [] Mate Tooling Solutions Eliminator pads – designed to keep the punch tool tip lubricated throughout the punching process – prevent punch galling, while maintaining the edge quality of parts produced – www.machinery.co.uk/40355 [] The Strippit M-1525, which has joined LVD's M-Series line of mid-range 200 kN CNC turret punch presses, handles large or oversized workpieces up to 1,524 by 4,000 mm, with only one sheet repositioning, and can process sheet up to 6.35 mm thick. It is therefore described as ideal for the fabrication of large panels in cellular manufacturing or job shop environment – www.machinery.co.uk/39290 First published in Machinery, May 2012