Cloos plasma cutting robot reduces production time
Stainless-steel processor AMS is rationalising its production with a robotic plasma-arc cutting plant from Cloos.
Instead of the previous two days' manual work, the modern Cloos plant only requires four hours at the most - including programming and simulation - to cut all the holes and contours into the thick material of the container bases.
In order to increase the throughput with the same team and in the existing production area, the AMS production specialists decided last year to eliminate the time-consuming manual work of cutting the stainless-steel material by acquiring a robot.
Through market research, the company discovered that, instead of the required absolute precision of +/-1mm, bidders only wanted to guarantee 3-5mm.
Jens Barth, who is undertaking various optimising processes at AMS, said: 'That was completely unacceptable; these high production tolerances on cut-sheet casing, when rounding the steel sheet into a container casing, later lead to splits or breaks and cannot be processed further without problems.
'Furthermore, our containers are integrated into processing plants, which, due to the pipework, require perfectly positioned connecting pieces,' he added. However, Cloos, a supplier of welding and robot technology based in Haiger, Germany, provided a very stable steel construction. With an 8m length, a 3m width and a 1m stroke length, less stable portals will bend. Sigfrid Frenzel, works manager at AMS, said: 'Cloos promised us a maximum of 1mm longitudinal cut tolerance. 'In practice, the plant is even more exact; we are achieving 0.7mm,' he added.
With the new plant, it is possible to make fully automatic and 3D cuts in the various container floors up to a material thickness of 50mm. The floors can be up to 1,500mm high and have a diameter of 4m. Currently, material thicknesses up to 25mm are being processed. The plant is, however, set up for up to 50mm-thick stainless steel (up to 35mm at 45-degree phasing). At the same time, it is also possible to cut flat sheets such as the casing, including all connecting contours and cut-outs or the transport eye bolts, and to chamfer for the preparation of the weld seam.
Plasma cutting manufacturer Kjellberg has integrated a 'marking-out mode' into the control, so that the output-reduced plasma beam only marks off where later a weld seam will be positioned.
The components to be processed are guided onto two separated cutting tables, each measuring 4 x 4m. In the case of smaller parts, this enables faster production flow. While one table is being loaded or cleared, the robot can work on the other.
Tel: 0049 2773 85 326
Email: info@cloos.de
Web: www.cloos.de
For further information, visit the Carl Cloos Schweisstechnik GmBh website or Send an online request