New equipment and projects

December was a very busy month for us with finishing up a few projects and with year-end.  That is the reason for the lull in blog posts.  However we have some new equipment and projects to show.  There should be a greater frequency of blog posts in the future.  We are in the process of developing a new product that will take some time to prove out, so stay tuned for future details!

We didn’t take many photos in December of the projects worked on, but this one turned out really nice.  It’s cut out of 10ga steel, weighs 10.5lbs and is 30″x18″ in size.  The small detail that isn’t seen is that there are two center marked/punched areas on the top of the sails.  They are each 4.5″ on either side of the COG (center of gravity) of the part.  So that way when the holes are drilled out and it is hung, it will be put even tension on either chain/cable/rope when it’s suspended.

We have also been busy taking note of our clients requirements over the last year and acquiring more equipment in the shop to fulfill those needs.  We’re setting up a refrigerated air dryer to ensure that our compressed air system in the shop is as dry as it can possibly be.  We’ve had the odd issue here and there when cutting material and having a bit of moisture pass through the nozzle of the plasma torch.  It’s sometimes enough that we have to recut the part, reset the origin of the CNC table, etc…  Basically wasting time and material, this air dryer will solve that problem and ensure that our CNC table, bead blast cabinet, powder coating  and any other air tools in the shop receive moisture free compressed air.

The parts to the left of the air dryer is a DIY hydraulic finger brake kit.  Once TIG welded together it’ll be stationed in the 50 ton hydraulic press and allow us to bend in steel (aluminum will be rated slightly higher and stainless steel will be rated slightly less):

• 19″ = ≤ 3/16″
• 15″ = 1/4″
• 13″ = 5/16″
• 11″ = 3/8″
• 6″ = 1/2″
• 3″ = 5/8″

This brake will allow the bending of heavier materials (at limited width), however we have another brake showing up that will allow us to do up to 12ga steel (16ga stainless steel) at 40″ in width.  After quite a bit of research it was settled that the best option would be a Baileigh Industrial BB-4012F box and pan brake.  Here’s a photo of it from Baileigh’s website. We’ll be sure to snap some photos when it arrives and makes its new home next to the CNC plasma table.

In the past we’ve been able to get by slitting seams during the CNC plasma cutting process in order to reduce the amount of effort required to bend a piece of material.  However this isn’t practical in all applications, and due to feedback from our clients we are always striving to improve our final product or find deficiencies in our processes that could be improved.  Bending plate or sheet was something we had to improve on and we did!

Keep posted for setup pictures of the new equipment and new service pages added once we get everything dialed in and running.