Olicana Products, which provides a high-volume CNC tube bending and cutting service – complemented by robot welding and powder coating – has now bought the production of flat sheet metal products in-house.
The company, which was previously reliant on outside suppliers for these components, now produces them on its BLM LS7 flat-bed, fibre-laser cutting machine.
The decision to take this step was spurred by the disruption to the supply of sheet metal components from external subcontractors during the Covid pandemic. Initially Olicana purchased a second-hand, flat-bed, CO2 laser cutting machine to manufacture the components and this demonstrated that in-house laser cutting was the right way to go. The natural next step was to invest in a new, modern, fibre-laser profiling centre.
Stephen Thorpe, Olicana’s technical director commented, “The BLM LS7 was selected due to it being a top-class machine, coupled with the fact that we have been using tube bending machines from BLM since 2001 and have been very satisfied with both the equipment and the service they provide.”
Outsourcing cost savings will soon amortise the cost of the 6 kW BLM LS7 fibre-laser cutting centre.
Mr Thorpe appreciates the modern features of the machine, including automatic sheet position sensing and alignment with the programmed path; active nozzle centring to maintain productivity, particularly during unattended operation; and active zoom, which changes the diameter of the laser beam to optimise cut quality and speed according to the gauge of sheet being processed.
Similar steel materials – mild, high-tensile and stainless – are laser profiled into components nested across 2.5 x 1.25 metre sheets. Tolerances of 50 microns are achieved, consistent with reliable fabrication of the components with the tubular elements.
Minimal time is wasted between processing one sheet and the next, as the outgoing movement of the table carrying the cut parts and skeleton, and the movement of the incoming table carrying a fresh sheet, are simultaneous. Table exchange is completed in under nine seconds, notably the fastest on the market. Supporting such high-speed motions is the machine’s steel base filled with a vibration-damping polymer that also provides strength and rigidity, enabling axis acceleration up to 2g and excellent trajectory accuracy during cutting.
About 95% of parts in the Ilkley facility are produced from sheet under 8 mm thick using nitrogen as the service gas, enabling fast, clean cutting that delivers a high-quality edge with no oxidation, ideal for subsequent painting. Oxygen is used for thicker gauge materials, allowing more productive cutting compared to using an inert gas. Lantek software is employed for highly efficient nesting of parts, ensuring minimal material wastage.
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