New laser provides the cutting edge

Stead & Wilkins (S&W) is a ‘one stop shop’ engineering provision. Established in 1973, the company offers a comprehensive range of design, fabrication and precision engineering resources, in addition to professional fitting and installation services.

Operating from a 15,000ft² admin and production facility in Crayford, Kent, S&W’s precision engineering capabilities include, 4-axis CNC milling, CNC turning, conventional turning and grinding.

S&W has earned an excellent reputation for expertise in sheetmetal work and fabrication across a variety of materials; ranging from stainless steel, mild steel, brass, copper, aluminium and armour plate, for both heavy and light fabrications.

Prompted by customer demand, over the past four decades S&W has extended its now all-embracing range of services. Regular purchases of the best available production equipment have been made to help extend the company’s competencies and ensure the prompt delivery of high quality products and components. To help satisfy growing demand and to enable a further expansion of S&W’s fabrication capabilities, the company recently purchased a 2D laser cutting machine from Prima Power.

Eliott Stead, operations manager at Stead & Wilkins explains: “Our production equipment procurement program is largely driven by the demands we experience from our customers. When the volume of work we subcontract for a specific process reaches a critical mass, we explore the economic viability of buying the necessary equipment, bringing the process in-house and further extending our capabilities and control over quality. An example of this is our recent purchase of a Prima Power Platino Fiber 2D laser cutting machine.

“As we had been experiencing growing demand for a wide range of materials to be cut and were confident that this would continue, rather than carry on subcontracting a great deal of this work, we came to the conclusion that it was feasible to purchase a laser cutting machine. In addition to reducing our subcontract spend, it was a major factor that an in-house laser cutting provision would enable the availability of precision cut material in minutes and hours, as opposed to days when relying on subcontractors.

He continues: “Having compiled a wish list of required features and reflected on the available machines from several leading manufacturers, we came to the conclusion that the Platino from Prima Power best matched our needs. In addition to providing the versatility that would accommodate our diverse requirements, the Platino delivered high quality results and thanks to features such as its quick set-up times, was very productive.

“Following a trouble free installation and after our operator training sessions, the new laser cutting machine is now fully operational. In addition to appreciating the machine’s hardware, our staff have found the Prima Power software very intuitive and easy to use. It is also able to communicate with our existing SolidWorks software without a problem.”

Prima Power is a leading specialist in the design and manufacture of machines and systems for sheetmetal working. The company’s offering in this field is one of the largest available and covers a wide range of applications.

The Platino Fiber, as purchased by Stead and Wilkins, is a high quality, general purpose 2D laser cutting machine that is by employed around the world for a multitude of applications. Available with a capacity of 1,500mm by 3,000mm and with laser power ranging from 2kW to 6kW and automation modules, the machine is a solution for both small batches and large scale production.

It benefits from a compact, monolithic architecture and a synthetic granite frame, resulting in a minimum footprint, in addition to excellent thermal stability and vibration damping characteristics. A cantilever machine arrangement and fully opening sliding doors provides maximum accessibility, whilst an open cabin with fully opening sliding doors and fibre-safe windows provides good visibility to the cutting process and easy accessibility for the operator. It can be used for a wide range of materials including highly-reflective metals. In addition to handling all material thicknesses, round, square and rectangular tubes can also be easily accommodated.

High levels of productivity are assured by the machine’s single focusing lens system with automatic nozzle changer and Prima Power’s programming software and operator interface. The machine’s numerical control, operator interface programming software and smart tools are also user-friendly. In addition, the cost-effectiveness of the machine is further enhanced by its impressive energy efficiency and reduced maintenance needs.

For efficient off-line programming the Platino 2.0 Fiber takes advantage of the easy to use and fast Maestro-Libellula system which provides all of the features required for the efficient programming of laser machines including CAD/CAM, post-processor, database utilities, reports and order management.

Prima offers a comprehensive range of modular automation solutions enabling customers to specify a machine to match their specific needs. The wide range of add-ons also enables users to evolve with growing requirements and to develop from, for instance a standalone machine, to a 24/7 operating FMS system.

Prima Power www.primapower.com