Waterjet cutting speeds toolmaking
An
Ingersoll-Rand European Sales product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Apr 8, 2003
The acquisition of an Ingersoll-Rand powered Waterjet Sweden cutting machine has given Harper and Simmons the biggest advance in reducing lead times in recent years.
Press tool designer and manufacturer Harper and Simmons produces tools for automotive manufacturers.
To remain competitive the company has to keep abreast of the latest technology, offering its customers solid modelling CAD/CAM, automatic blank developing software and CNC machining.
However, the acquisition of an Ingersoll-Rand powered Waterjet Sweden cutting machine has given the biggest advance in reducing lead times in recent years.
The 50hp waterjet machine produces up to 3800bar, allowing Harper and Simmons to carry out rapid sample development for press tools while the tooling is in the press.
Up to 30 different shaped blanks may need to be tried out before the correct shape is found to enable manufacture of the blank tool.
The CNC controlled waterjet cutting system is employed to cut the relevant material quickly - usually carbon or stainless steel, spring steel or aluminium, in any required thickness, without any distortion or heat affected zones.
The versatility of the waterjet cutting machine is such that Harper and Simmons also use the technology for accurately cutting and slotting a very wide range of press tool components including base plates up to 60mm thick, gauges, locations, shims and packing plates where usually a more traditional machining method would be used.
As components are produced so quickly on the new machine - the twin head design allowing two components to be cut simultaneously - Harper and Simmons has found that it is often left with spare capacity.
This has now allowed the company to offer its own subcontract cutting service, even finding that it is regularly undertaking cutting for the same laser cutting business that used to supply Harper and Simmons.
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