Laser Cutting

Laser Cutting has been offered at SPM since 1995. Laser cutting provides short lead times, no tooling costs and excellent material usage, making it a fast, flexible and economical means of sheet metal cutting. Lasers can handle profiles from the simplest round hole to almost limitless complexity, making it a good tool for both pre-production samples and small to moderate sized production batches.

The ability to laser cut complex shapes can eliminate the need for additional operations. The narrow laser kerf (cut) and computer-assisted part nesting allows maximum material utilization.

Laser cutting offers a superior cut-edge quality with parallel sides and no burrs.

General Laser Cutting Capabilities

• Laser cutting consists of using specialized lenses to focus extreme energy density into a pinpoint spot on the material and melt the material while using a high pressure gas jet to blow the molten material out of the cut.

Special Laser Cutting Capabilities

• Fully automated system with loading and unloading capabilities.

Automation

• Our entire laser cutting system is automated.

Inspection Capabilities

• Quality Control department utilizes special equipment to thoroughly review products for quality before they are shipped to you, including but not limited to InspectVision, Romer Arm, Height Gauges, Calipers, Micrometers, and Precision Linear Scales.

Quality Assurance

• In compliance with and certified to ISO 9001:2008.

Data Exchange

• AutoCAD Inventor
• Solidworks 2007 and 2008
• ProEngineer (Pro-E) Wildfire
• DXF, IGES, STEP for direct importation into our CAD systems.
• PDF, TIF, JPEG, BMP, PNG, and EPS (for graphics)

Special Services

• Laser Nesting with SigmaNest
• ESI-Early Supplier Involvement (Concept)
• Concurrent Engineering (Design)
• Value Add Engineering (Sustaining)
• Lean Initiatives and Kaizen Blitzes

Critical Tolerance

• Industry standard tolerances apply
• Hole diameters +/-.005 unless otherwise specified
• Hole to hole centers +/-.005
• Flange dimensions +/-.010
• Overall formed/welded dimensions +/-.030"

Critical Tolerance

• 4' x 8' Sheet Size, Cutting capacities: 1/2" Steel, .125 Aluminum
• 4' x 8' Sheet Size, Cutting capacities: 1" Steel, .375 Aluminum

Typical Annual Volume

• From prototypes to 10,000 pieces annually
• Discrete orders
• Blanket orders
• Quarterly Buys
• Annual Contracts

Materials

• Sheet Metal
• Mild Steel
• Stainless Steel
• Aluminum
• Some Plastics

Equipment (As of 10/08)

• MAZAK Six Shelf Automated Laser FMS:
• (2) MAZAK NTX48 1.5KW Laser Cutting System
• (1) MAZAK STX48 Mark IV, 4KW Laser Cutting System