Following orders

Wood burning stove manufacturer and vitreous enamellers, AJ Wells & Sons from the Isle of Wight for example, has ordered and taken delivery of two machines. The enquiry originated at MACH 2010 and comprises a Bystronic Byspeed 3015 4.4kW laser cutting machine together with a Bystronic Xpert 150 Tonne x 3m 10-axis pressbrake.

The purchase comes at a time when the company has seen record growth in sales of its ‘Charnwood' wood burning stoves and investment in new technology became essential in order to increase production and meet demand.

The Byspeed machine can produce holes at up to 600 per minute and cut up to 25mm material if necessary. AJ Wells specifically ordered the machine with an automatic nozzle changer that was being demonstrated for the first time in the UK at the MACH. The nozzle changer, together with single head cutting technology, allows materials of various gauges to be cut without downtime and in lights out situations.

Using this system, up to 40 nozzles can be exchanged within a time of 15 seconds without any manual action being necessary. The user benefits through the greater autonomy of the laser cutting system, since fewer operator interventions are required. And since the optimal nozzle is automatically selected for every cutting plan, flexibility is increased and process reliability and component quality is enhanced. Furthermore, a monitoring function ensures trouble free nozzle changing.

The intention is that, ideally next year, the laser machine will be complemented with a material tower store, allowing up to 75 tonnes of material to be stored, automatically loaded into the machine and then fed back cut for storage or unloaded for use.

The increased cutting capacity has been further supplemented by the installation of the Xpert Pressbrake as operations director Guy Wells explains: “The Bystronic's automatic sheet lifting facility and its improved accuracy over other machines helped make the decision that this was the correct machine for our company. Operational speed and efficiency was also a deciding factor in our choice.

The Xpert Pressbrake is equipped with a bending aid, which lifts and supports the material during the bending process via hydraulic tool clamping, allowing tools to be changed in seconds. Additionally, the latest control from Bystronic is database-driven enabling previously bent material to be formed with almost no correction.

AJ Wells manufacture the ‘Charnwood' brand of wood burning stoves and produce vitreous enamelled signage and architectural cladding for customers including London Underground and National Railways.

A second order, which has recently been installed, was placed by AET (Advanced Engineering Techniques). The machine – AET's sixth Bystronic laser cutting machine – is a 6 kW Bystar 4m by 2.5m with a rotary axis. It can be used for tube cutting as well as flat plate cutting up to 25mm capacity.

AET, based in Sheffield, manufacture a range of subcontract engineering components for various customers as well as a range of professional grass care equipment of its own design. The company specialises in being able to offer a complete service from design to manufacture of both machined laser cut and welded components through to finished assemblies.

AET's managing director, David Birch comments: “We have enjoyed a long association with Bystronic, having used their pressbrakes and laser machines since the early 1990s. We evaluated the market thoroughly before making any purchasing decisions and decided that the performance of the Bystronic 6kW machine together with Bystronic's exemplary levels of service reinforced the decisions made many years ago.

“The cutting performance of the 6kW resonator gave considerable cutting speed advantages over our 4KW machines with very little extra power consumption. The flexibility of the Bystar design has been well proven over the years and we believe that many of the components that we cut on this machine such as large box sections couldn't be cut on other laser cutting machines."

Bystronic's managing director, David Larcombe adds: “It was a very happy moment when AET decided to place the order with Bystronic. The company is indeed a fitting customer to test our new order acknowledgement system!"

Bystronic
www.bystronic.com