Sawing upgrade for stage and film

Doughty Engineering – a leading manufacturer of rigging and lifting equipment for film, TV and theatre – has ordered a new NC circular saw from cutting technology specialist, Addison Saws.

The saw, a Profilma 400V from German company Pressta Eisele, was installed at Doughty's Hampshire manufacturing facility in August this year. Most significantly, it will accelerate production of the company's wide range of suspension brackets – reducing the cutting time per bracket from approximately one minute to around eight seconds.

With its current sawing line becoming due for scheduled replacement, Doughty began the search for a solution that would deliver a greater number of cuts per hour and reduce the amount of finishing required to components in its bracketing assembly shop.

“Initially we considered upgrading to the latest versions of the three saws we currently use,” comments general manager, Stuart Rodgers. “As a benchmark, we currently achieve approximately one cut per minute, per saw in aircraft grade aluminium extrusions; we load 3m lengths and cut to widths of 30mm – 50mm. With two saws in operation at any one time, that equates to around 1,000 cuts per eight hour shift.

“Addison Saws, however, was able to demonstrate that by switching to one Profilma 400V circular saw from their Pressta Eisele range, we should achieve one cut every eight seconds, or 450 cuts per hour. That level of performance is seven times faster than one of our existing machines. As a result, we plan to retire two machines, keeping just one in-situ as a backup and freeing up valuable floorspace.”

With Doughty's products recognised globally for their quality, it was essential for Addison to demonstrate that switching to the Profilma 400V saw was a sound business decision. Accordingly, cutting trials were arranged to show the high level of surface finish that was offered by the Pressta Eisele machine.

Designed especially for the precise, high-speed cutting of heavy-duty aluminium and ferrous components, the Profilma 400V ordered by Doughty Engineering will be equipped with a 6m infeed roller table and an intelligent 1m outfeed/extraction system.

The outfeed/extractor will automatically differentiate between cut components and trim cuts, removing even the smallest particles of swarf from components and leaving them ready for final polishing/coating and assembly. To help provide the cleanest possible working environment, all machining swarf and trim cuts will be delivered directly to a compactor, ready for recycling.

Some of the features found on the Profilma 400V NC circular saw include: fully automatic cutting of aluminium/non-ferrous metals; NC control with touchscreen display; piece counter showing target/actual number of pieces; piece multiplier when cutting bundles; indication of cycle time; multiple feed device – maximum feed 3.250mm; electronic material feeder; float mounting feeder to balance bend profiles and automatic cut-out when bar is finished. To see the Profilma 400V in action visit:

The Addison Saws product range includes everything from simple, manually operated machines to highly sophisticated, fully automated sawing lines. It has recently been increased with the addition of heavy duty 3, 3+1, 4 and 5-axis long-bed multi-piece machining centres. Addison Saws is part of the Addison Group, an organisation that also includes sawblade re-manufacturing specialist Dynashape and tube bending technology specialist, Tubefab.

ADDISON SAWS
www.addisonsaws.co.uk