Unattended sawing and sorting

To increase production throughput, steel stockholder Schmolz + Bickenbach Stahlcenter (called Schmobi for short) in St Gallen, Switzerland has acquired a KASTOtec FC 4 automatic bandsawing centre.

The system has replaced two obsolete saws that could no longer cope with the continuously increasing demand for cut parts.
Thomas Plüss, communications officer at Schmobi says: “Our orders include large batches of more than 10,000 as well as single items. The demand on our saws is enormous. They are used continually throughout the day and some even run during the night time. We therefore need machines that process workpieces of different diameters quickly, cleanly and economically, and, above all, work reliably and without any errors.”
Schmobi uses three Kasto bandsaws for processing steel, cast iron and aluminium bars. The latest is the automatic, high-performance KASTOtec FC 4, which cuts a range of material cross sections including round, square and flat, as well as tubes and profiles.
KASTOtec FC 4 bandsaws use carbide blades, and the machine at Schmobi was supplied to Kasto Performance Cutting (KPC) specification in order to suppress vibration. The blades have a long service life and allow precision sawing to within ± 0.1 mm per 100 mm of cut length, at band speeds up to 180 m/min.
Kurt Thoma, sawmill group leader at Schmobi, says: “With the KASTOtec FC 4 we can saw different materials and diameters very economically. The minimum remnant length in automatic mode is about 35 mm, allowing us to use material efficiently and cost effectively.”
The KASTOtec FC 4 is loaded via a multi-bar magazine that is replenished from the store via an overhead crane and magnetic handling system.
For further information www.kasto.com

Mitre-cutting bandsaw unveiled

With the latest automatic machine from its HBE series, Behringer says it has come up with a way of combining the benefits of high-performance machines for one-off sawing tasks with the tried and tested characteristics of a classic mitre saw.

High cutting outputs, simple handling and precise angular cuts are said to be among the key attributes of the HBE320-523GA mitre-cutting bandsaw.
According to the company, the HBE320-523G moves the entry-level model into a whole new performance category. A high cutting rate, simple handling and precise mitre cuts are designed to make for an attractive cost-per-cut ratio.
With a cutting range on flat materials of 520 x 320 mm, the machine can produce bilateral mitre cuts of 45° (and up to 30° on the left). The inclined position of the band wheels helps prolong the life of saw blades by reducing fatigue due to cyclical bending. Furthermore, the inclined position of the bandsaw blade allows components such as girders, angled steel and U-profiles, as well as hollow rectangular profiles, to be cut at higher speed and with less burr, says the company.
The wide range of features included on the HBE320-523G saw consist of band guiding components made of vibration-dampening grey cast iron, an electrically powered chip brush, sensitive cutting-pressure control, a wide mitre-cutting range, a spray mist cooling system and more. The cutting-pressure control system allows the saw to cut profiles and pipes at twice the speed of similar saws in a comparable price bracket, says Behringer.
For further information www.behringer.net

Investment aids blade sharpening

The DCM Company from Hwaseong, South Korea manufactures high-precision circular saw blades, as well as special purpose cutters and circular knives.

Products are supplied worldwide to all industries, such as steel pipe production, automotive manufacture, shipbuilding and aerospace. The company uses a dozen Vollmer machines for manufacturing its carbide-tipped circular saw blades, with some of its most recent recent acquisitions including the CHD, CHF and CHP models for single set-up processing. In combination with an ND handling system and appropriate loading carriage for automatic tipping, the machines are ready to use around the clock.
“At the end of the 1970s, I was teaching at a vocational school and noticed that our circular saw blades were always blunt when sawing metal cylinders, and often broke,” states An Youngmoon, managing director and founder of DCM. “This was my motivation to develop high-quality circular saw blades that permanently withstand the tough conditions of metal cutting.”
The idea soon led to the development of the first high speed steel circular saw blades manufactured by DCM. By the beginning of the 1990s, the company had developed carbide-tipped circular saw blades. From the outset, the company relied on sharpening machines from Vollmer.
“South Korea has developed into a high-end market for sharpening machines in the metals and composites sector, and the demand for service and user support is growing,” states Dr Stefan Brand, CEO of the Vollmer Group. “With the subsidiary we set up in Seoul in 2016, we can look after customers such as DCM even more intensively and competently than before.”
For further information www.vollmer-group.com

Turbine days

Over 160 people attended the sixth edition of Starrag’s Turbine Technology Days, which showcased developments to further improve the efficiency of machining turbine blades, blisks and engine casings, including: a flexible manufacturing system featuring 11 Starrag NB 151 machines for automated blisk manufacture; a tool-changing angle head – a joint development with Benz – where a single head with HSK-B63 interface can replace the use of multiple angle heads; and the adaptive roughing of turbine blades, to eliminate ‘air cuts’, by using in-machine probing in conjunction with Starrag’s RCS programming routines.

For further information www.starrag.com

3D printing award winners named

Altair and the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) have announced the winners of the 6th annual Altair Enlighten Award at the 2018 CAR Management Briefing Seminars (MBS) in Traverse City, Michigan.

BMW Group claimed the Module category with the first 3D-printed metal component used in a production series vehicle, which captured a 44% component weight saving on the 2018 BMW i8 Roadster. Asahi Kasei’s lightweight pedal bracket for the Mazda MX-5 was among those taking top honours in the Enabling Technology category.
For further information www.altairenlighten.com/award