New contract is truly monumental

HadFab – a long-standing customer of Ficep – has recently secured a contract to produce the steelwork for a monument that is to be erected in Holland.

HadFab – a long-standing customer of Ficep – has recently secured a contract to produce the steelwork for a monument that is to be erected in Holland.

HadFab, based in Haddington near Edinburgh, has a number of years experience in producing complete structures, fixtures, fittings and towers for power and telecommunications applications. The latest project is to produce a statue designed by the sculptor Antony Gormley and commissioned by the Dutch government for the town of Lelystad.

Antony Gormley is a renowned sculptor and famous for the 'Angel of the North' and 'Another Place' – the latter consisting of 100 cast iron, life-size figures spread out along 3km of the foreshore on Crosby beach near Liverpool.
The new 25m high statue, depicting a crouching man, will be completely constructed from steel angle profiles produced by HadFab on the latest Ficep HP16T6 CNC angle line.

The machine has a number of optional extras available and can be configured to meet specific requirements. Featuring an in-feed transfer speed of up to 100m per minute, the machine can be equipped with: automatic feeding and loading; punching; drilling with tool changer; notching; marking utilising cassette or individual characters; quick change punch and die sets; quick change shear blades; and automatic part unloading for the out-feed conveyor. The system is further enhanced with the Steel Projects software suite.

This machine was purchased specifically for this contract and now brings the total number of Ficep machines operated by HadFab to four.

There are a number of challenges to overcome with the complex structure and Tekla software was used after the initial shape was designed in collaboration with Cambridge University. The model is then detailed in Tekla structures and interfaced with Steel Projects WinSteel to produce machine code for the Ficep Angle Line. The material is punched sheared to length by the equipment and then shaped to form up to 550 nodes consisting of up to 27 angles meeting together to form locating points around the structure. These are to be joined together with longer angles bolted and welded in position.

In total there will be 4,400 holes punched in the angle profiles and the total weight of the structure will be 60 tonnes. The statue is scheduled to take 18 months to complete.

HadFab's managing director, Simon Harrison, comments: “This is a one-off unique structure that epitomises the way software, machine technology and manual fabrication techniques can work together. Numerous companies were initially contacted by Mr Gormley to produce the complex steelwork but most refused the job after completing feasibility studies.

“We believe our expertise and the company's 'can do' attitude was instrumental in securing this contract, however, whilst there are many challenges to overcome we have every confidence in the technology we have invested in and the knowledge and experience of our staff.”

Ficep
www.ficep.co.uk
   

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