Page 28 - MetalForming-Sep-2018-issue

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Fabrication: Waterjet Cutting
power the system. He notes that the intensifier pumps can produce high pressure more consistently and with less maintenance than direct-drive pumps. He also says that this reliability is important to a service-oriented busi- ness, which absolutely must meet the demands of the power-generation industry during its high cycles.
“Our business revolves around serv- ice—24/7, 365 days a year,” Ehrlich says. “When a rush order arrives in the morning, we often have to have it shipped that afternoon.”
Acquired in 2002 to supplement the company’s production line, AP Service’s first Jet Edge system’s high productivity, superior cut quality and consistent tol- erance capabilities quickly made the old clicker presses and circle cutters obsolete. The reams of paper templates also became outdated, replaced by elec- tronically stored and easily retrievable CAD files capable of achieving far more complex shapes than paper drawings.
“With the waterjet, gaskets that once
took hours to cut are now cut in 10 to 15 min.,” Ehrlich says. “In fact, we had to transfer our five-clicker press oper- ators to the shipping department just to keep up with the stacks of parts coming off of the waterjet.”
AP Services added a second 6 by 10- ft. high-rail gantry in 2003 and began offering abrasive waterjet-cutting serv- ices for machine and fabrication shops as well as mold and die shops. It equipped the second machine with three cutting heads and powered it with a 50-hp Jet Edge intensifier pump. This proved to be such a lucrative investment that, in 2006, the company bought a third—and much larger— 12 by 10-ft. high-rail gantry system. Pow- ered by a 100-hp intensifier pump and equipped with six cutting heads, this system’s unique high-rail gantry fea- tures a 6-ft. spreader bar, providing AP Services with a 12 by 16-ft. total reach. This is critical for some of the large parts produced for some customers.
With its waterjet systems, AP Services
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26 MetalForming/September 2018
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