FORMING AND FABRICATING AUTOMATION
arrived in 2011, in the form of a Mazak Model HTX 4-kW CO2 machine equipped with a flexible manufacturing system (FMS). The FMS consists of a storage tower to store and retrieve sheets of various specifications, pneumatic loading for po - sitioning of sheets onto the cutting bed, and automatic unloading. With raw mate- rial loaded into towers, com - plete operation to finished part requires little to no labor, according to Mazak officials, who note that the high FMS capacity allows for unattended production throughout shifts and over weekends. In 2018, the company in-
machine, and added another of the same in 2022. Both of these units feature gantry-ro- bot loading/unloading automation, one with a material-storage tower, the other without. Bringing in the 10-kW machines has allowed for cutting of some sheet gauges at five times the speed of cutting on the 4-kW machine, so automation becomes a must to keep material moving. Once offloaded, laser-cut sheets are stacked near deburring and other secondary opera- tions for manual part removal and sorting, which doesn’t impede cutting production.
Nelson Steel Products installed a 10-kW Mazak OptiPlex 3015 fiber-laser cutting machine in 2020, and added another of the same in 2022. Both units feature gantry-robot loading/ unloading automation, one with a material-storage tower, the other without.“Now all of our flat-sheet laser cutting machines— the 3- and 4-kW machines and the two 10-kW machines—have automation,” says Ross Ryzenga, company president. “We switch through multiple gauges of steel every day on those laser cutting machines, so we try to batch jobs with the same material thicknesses. The towers really help with organizing all of that.”
CLICK FOR
FULL ARTICLE
Smooth Moves via Laser Cutting Automation A utomation pays off for a variety of processes at this Michigan metal former and fabricator, especially for sheet load/unload of its stable of laser cutting machines.
stalled a Mazak STX 3-kW fiber laser cutting machine and fit it into the FMS, thus develop- ing a two-machine automated cutting cell. Nelson Steel Products then began its as - cent into higher-power laser cutting in 2020 with a 10-kW Mazak OptiPlex 3015 fiber-laser
Here, MetalForming takes a hands-on look at Nelson Steel Products, Holland, MI, a sin- gle source for complete metal fabrication, including robotic welding, laser sheet and tube cutting, and assembly and packaging. Laser cutting with automation at the firm
Page 76
www.metalformingmagazine.com
Powered by FlippingBook