Steel Construction Vol 40 No 2 - Tubular Steel Feature | Page 7

SAISC profile
before each process and the great quality
cuts and holes that the machine produces,
the end result is a very cost effective
combination 1 station machine that saves on
space, stock holding and storage, EOT cranes
and the like.
So is it the answer to every fabricators needs?
The answer is a simple no. It’s throughput
per day would be substantially less than a 3
station combination mentioned above.
Is it flexible in the types of profiles that can
be cut? You bet! Any profile that fits into a
355 circle, whether hot rolled beams and
columns, channels, flat bars, angles and
hollow profiles that have steel thicknesses of
less than 20mm.
After careful market research into what their
future customer’s needs could be and to
what equipment was available in the market
place, the TWTLP team chose a BLM LT 14
tube laser, which comes from Italy.
Being an ex-Alfa Romeo (Alfetta GTV to be
precise) driver, the author could not help
but ask, was this state of the art Italian
designed machine going to behave like an
Alfa? (For those of you who have not driven

an Alfa, if you are a perfectionist don’t ever
try one.They are great concepts, they have
magnificent mechanicals (whilst running),
handling and braking, which is great as long
as you don’t mind window winders falling
off, the sun roof leaking, the boot latch
not holding, rust, rust and more rust). The
answer was a resounding no,“we have Italian
design and structure but German brains” – all
the controls are Siemens equipment with
their reputation for reliability and precision.
From a programming point of view, it’s
ease of communication with 3D detailing
packages including Tekla make the
programming straight forward and not
needing further draughtsman input. It has
mind boggling accuracy and precision
assisted by independent probes that take into
account out of straightness and the like of
input material. An absolute win-win for the
right applications, and yes gents there are
plenty applications out there.

It is a state of the art staggeringly fast 2
axis machine that by clever detailing and
programming does away with the need
for complicated layouts or jigs to assist in
assembling complicated jobs by means of
tabs that fit into slots in exactly the right
place. Another win-win for the downstream
fabricator.

What are the draw backs I hear you ask,
perhaps the slowish set-up time is the only
one I could detect.

What a great afternoon visit I had to TWTLP,
leaving me once again rueing my age that
made me miss out on these great modern
advances in steel fabrication.

The second machine is a BLM LT Fiber
tube laser.This machine can handle profiles
that will fit into a 140mm diameter circle.

For more details of the machines capabilities
Metalworking News, January 2016 has an in
depth article on the machines.

Steel Construction Vol. 40 No. 1 2016

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