PRODUCT REVIEWS
Robust plasma cutting
Kjellberg has released new HiFinox cathodes for its Q , Smart Focus and HiFocus plasma power sources .
“ The cut quality is clear in metallically bright cut surfaces , narrow kerfs and significantly less dross . The cathodes can be used for stainless steel and aluminium from 1- to 6mm . Due to the new design of the cathodes , the optimised production process and new patent-pending technology , we have considerably increased the lifetime of the cathodes – with a cutting current of 60 A by factor 5 to 10 .
Tube and pipe forming
Sharpe Products , a North American specialist in custom tube and pipe bending , has purchased its eighth Unison Breeze all-electric CNC tube bender . The machine , an 80mm ( 3 ”) single-stack model , will be installed at Sharpe Products ’ Wisconsin-based manufacturing centre , where it will be used to further expand the company ’ s production capability for its increasingly diverse customer base .
Sharpe Products and UK-based Unison Ltd . have a long history of working together . Sharpe ’ s President and CEO , Paul Krickeberg , bought into the concept of all-electric tube bending many years ago , when it was still a relatively new technology .
“ Our new Unison Breeze tube bending machine will help further support our capacity to offer short lead times and consistent accuracy – attributes that are essential to our customers ,” he told ISMR .
“ All-electric tube bending technology , with the advantages of automatic setup , has equipped Sharpe Products with the ability to take on all manner of tube manipulation challenges , including projects involving traditionally difficult-to-bend alloys ,” commented Unison Ltd ’ s managing director , Alan Pickering .
The 80mm single-stack Unison Breeze machine is equipped with recently upgraded Unibend software , which offers cycle time speed improvements in the region of 25 %, compared to earlier versions , and incorporates new teach routine and simulation features . The 80mm ( maximum tube diameter ) Breeze also offers rapid set-up ; fast tooling changes ; rigid mechanical design and all-electric control for right-first-time repeat subcontract work , or immediately after producing a single trial part .
Other Unison Breeze machines operated by Sharpe Products include a 50mm ( 2 ”) Unison Breeze-Revolution tube bender – a machine equipped with a rotating head , enabling it to make left-hand and right-hand bends in one continuous manufacturing cycle . Sharpe also has 76mm ( 3 ”), 80mm ( 3 ”) and 130mm ( 5 ”) multi-stack Breeze machines which can accommodate several tools for rapid changeover between bending cycles - and a 100mm ( 4 ”) single-stack model . n
Metallic blank cut surfaces with the HiFinox technology for plasma cutting of stainless steel and aluminium (© Photo : Kjellberg Finsterwalde ).
“ The low backburn of the cathodes guarantees consistently high cutting quality , which is shown in metallic blank surfaces with significantly less dross ,” it told ISMR .
The new cathodes ( E042 , F042 + and G042 +) are standard consumables for all Kjellberg ’ s current Q , Smart Focus and HiFocus plasma power sources and can be used by applying existing cutting data . n
. kjellberg . de
AI-based solutions in manufacturing
Google Cloud and Siemens have announced a new cooperative agreement to optimise factory processes and improve productivity on the shop floor . Siemens intends to integrate Google Cloud ’ s data cloud and artificial intelligence / machine learning ( AI / ML ) technologies with its factory automation solutions to help manufacturers innovate for the future .
“ Data drives today ’ s industrial processes , but many manufacturers continue to use legacy software and multiple systems to analyse plant information , which is resource-intensive and requires frequent manual updates to ensure accuracy . In addition , while AI projects have been deployed by many companies in ‘ islands ’ across the plant floor , manufacturers have struggled to implement AI at scale across their global operations ,” said Siemens .
“ The potential for artificial intelligence to radically transform the plant floor is far from being exhausted . Many manufacturers are still stuck in AI ‘ pilot projects ’ today – we want to change that ,” said Axel Lorenz , VP of Control , Factory Automation of Siemens Digital Industries . “ Combining AI / ML technology from Google Cloud with Siemens ’ solutions for Industrial Edge and industrial operation will be a game-changer for the manufacturing industry .”
By combining Google Cloud ’ s data cloud and AI / ML capabilities with Siemens ’ Digital Industries Factory Automation portfolio , manufacturers will be able to harmonise their factory data , run cloudbased AI / ML models on top of that data and deploy algorithms at the network edge . This enables applications such as visual inspection of products or predicting the wear-and-tear of machines on the assembly line . n
https :// sie . ag / 3seQWIz
56 | sheetmetalplus . com | ISMR June 2021