Page 51 - MetalForming Magazine June/July 2022 80th Anniversary Issue

Fabrication: Laser Cutting
the five-axis machines and three of the flat-sheet cutters, with the rest in Lapeer. Also, the company counts five Trumpf machines among its 23 press brakes, with two Trumpf TruBend 7050 brakes set for install by year’s end.
And, expected to be completed by press time: installation in Lapeer of two more Trumpf 12-kW TruLaser 5040 fiber flat-sheet machines, each with Trumpf TruStore compact storage and material handling units, joining an existing machine, also with a TruStore package.
“We cut a lot of 3-mm-thick steel, and these machines cut at 1400 in./min.,” Peterson says of the 12-kW cutters. “The first time I saw one of these machines, it was cutting holes 10 ft. away, and it traveled back toward me so quickly that I jumped back away from the window.”
Together, 3-Dimensional Services’ stamping and laser cutting equipment serve each other’s needs, according to Peterson.
Material handling and storage systems such as this one can keep product flowing through Urgent Design & Manufacturing’s new Trumpf 12-kW TruLaser 5040 flat-sheet fiber laser cutting machines. “We cut a lot of 3-mm-thick steel, and these machines cut at 1400 in./min.,” Doug Peterson, founder of 3-Dimensional Services, says of the 12-kW cutters. “The first time I saw one of these machines, it was cutting holes 10 ft. away, and it traveled back toward me so quickly that I jumped back away from the window.”
cutting machine for the holes and trim work. Then that finished stamping might endupinasub- assembly or final assembly. The five-axis fiber laser cutting for these parts takes only about 2 min.—not as fast as flat-sheet cut- ting, but older technology would take7or8min. On this work the five-axis fiber laser cutting gives us huge produc-
“We might laser cut a steel or alu- minum flat blank,” he explains, “then take it to a press, and then stamp it but without holes or trimming. Then we’ll take that part to a five-axis laser
tivity gains.”
Adding to these gains: use of large
17.5-ft. rotating tables that allow oper- ators to load and unload parts while a series of five new Trumpf TruLaser Cell 7040 6-kW five-axis machines cut. Fur- ther efficiencies result from the com- pany’s placement of raw material very close to the flat-sheet fiber laser cutting machines.
The company still employs a half dozen of the NTC CO2 machines for support.
“A low-quantity job using thin steel, especially if we're busy on the on the fiber laser cutting machines, will be sent to the CO2 machines for cutting,” Peterson says.
New to the product mix for the five- axis machines: cutting of holes and features into aluminum extrusions.
Keeping all of the laser cutting equipment fed are Linde Gas high- capacity gas-storage systems—such infrastructure proves a must as 3- Dimensional Systems constantly adds to its equipment roster. And, expect the additions to continue as the com- pany seeks to keep adding work.
“For every job we have to bid against three or four competitors—no one just hands us work—so we stay aggressive,” Peterson concludes. “We’re a hunting dog, not a lap dog.” MF
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48 MetalForming/June/July 2022
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