Page 82 - MetalForming October 2017

Plasma-Cutting Upgrade
Marking Capability a Huge Plus
A major plus for Midwestern is the new machine’s marking capabilities.
“Marking is huge for us,” says Beffer, noting that marking limitations repre- sented a sore point for Midwestern in the past. “When we bought the new machine, we knew that it was going to do what we wanted it to from an etch- ing standpoint. As we cut, we convert the system to mark part numbers to the size we want, and the quality of the lettering is spot-on. The machine etches to an ideal depth so that when painted, the numbers disappear, which is what we want.
“Then,” he continues, “when we want to etch deeper and actually scribe, such as when customers prefer to place serial numbers on our attachments, we can adjust quickly and provide leg- ible numbering and lettering that remains legible when painted.”
Midwestern also performs center- marking for drilling operations on the
The newfound ability to burn precise holes via plasma cutting allows Midwest- ern to cut back on time-consuming sec- ondary drilling.
new plasma machine.
“This capability saves us substantial
man-hours in layout and drilling oper- ations,” Beffer says.
Though only a couple of months into production, Midwestern has logged numerous examples of efficien-
cy and quality improvements via the new plasma cutter. Included is fabri- cation of a winch-box base plate, meas- uring 3-ft. square and made from 1.5- in.-thick mild steel. Key here, according to Beffer, is Hypertherm’s True Hole cutting technology, which working in conjuction with Hypertherm’s ProNest and CNC software, reportedly can deliver bolt-hole quality automatically, and virtually eliminates hole taper.
“We place about 10 holes in that piece,” Beffer says. “Before, we would cut the square, lay it out, and then drill. With the new machine, we can burn three holes on the base plate, which eliminates 45 minutes of drill time. We still need to drill the other holes, but we use the plasma cutter to mark the layouts, which saves an hour based on how we previously manufactured the plate. Those savings are just to cut one part, and the last time I looked we had six of those parts waiting to go through the process, so the savings really add up.” M F
80 MetalForming/October 2017
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