Page 57 - MetalForming April 2013

trade show in Las Vegas last fall. The company, which works out of a 55,000- sq.-ft. shop in Bridgeport, TX, found the answer to the rhetorical question when it spied on the FABTECH show floor new Campath TRM+ program- ming software from Murata Machinery, Charlotte, NC.
Murata engineers displaying the software at the tradeshow explained to T Top personnel that “it is the ulti- mate operator-support tool for turret- punch presses,” says T Top engineering manager Mike Dugan. “And ever since we installed it on our shop floor, I’d have to agree.”
Dugan explains that the shop “focuses everything we do around punching. Our newest turret press includes load/unload automation and, compared to our previous press, larger tooling stations and upgraded form- ing capabilities that open new doors to new customers. Same can be said of our new punch-plasma machine. Now the addition of the Campath TRM+ software has allowed us to increase throughput on these two new money- making machines.”
New Machines— the Fuel for Growth
The new machines Dugan speaks of are fueling the company’s rapid growth, from around 15 active cus- tomers 5 yr. ago to more than 75 cus- tomers today. The firm primarily fab- ricates aluminum (0.040 to 1⁄4 in. thick) and stainless-steel (18 to 11 gauge) sheet and plate to supply customers in the oil-field, transportation and other industries. Company president Mark Tate started the business in a barn at his father’s dairy farm in 1997, moved to an 18,000-sq.-ft. shop in 2002, and moved to the current 55,000-sq.-ft. shop early in 2011. T Top employs 48 people, and in addition to CNC punch- ing also performs waterjet cutting, CNC pipe bending and press-brake form- ing, sawing, welding and assembly.
Coincident with its most recent address change, T Top acquired in Sep- tember 2011 a Motorum 2558 turret press (from Murata Machinery)
equipped with a model F1G-1500 5- by 10-ft. automated load-unload sys- tem. The press boasts a servo-motor drive system with 25-metric-ton punch capacity, a 44-station turret, bend- height capacity to 20 mm, and a max- imum sheet size of 60 by 98.5 in. Then, late in 2012 the firm brought in a Mura- ta Magnum-5000 Plasma punch-plas- ma machine, rated to 41 metric tons of punching force to tackle 10-mm plate
as large as 5 by 10 ft. with one reposi- tioning, 60 by 72 in. without reposi- tioning. The machine also can con- tour-cut material—rather than using a nibbling tool—as it is equipped with a Hypertherm HT2000 plasma-cutting system rated from 40 to 200 A.
“Our newly acquired punching capabilities allow us to provide opti- mum edge quality (plasma cutting) without having to deburr nibbled
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