Off-Topic

[Dynamic]

Hi guys,

I have a problem here at work. We have a vertical bandsaw which an operator uses to cut parts. Because of the production environment, they have been forced into the habbit of feeding the parts into the blade as fast as possible to make sure they keep up with production. They do not let the tool do the cutting which would be nice and easy, they force the part into the blade to get a faster cut (it can be sloppy, as the part gets linished after). Because of this, the operator uses his back too much, and gets sore after a few days, then takes time off work because of injuries.

I would like an alternative to the bandsaw. I tried making a jig up for a plasma cutter yesterday, which worked well. There were two problems.

1) The slag underneath stopped the part from sliding freely, so a nice straight cut is not possible.
2) It can only be used on certain parts, not all of them.

I am now thinking to go laser. I am completely unfamiliar with lasers, but I would imagine they just melt the metal at a concentrated high temperature. In saying that, I do not think I have ever seen a machine that is not an NC with a laser cutter on it.

I am just wondering if there is another tool out there that will be able to replace the bandsaw for cutting parts? I was tossing up the idea of a robot with a cut off saw at the end of it, but because all parts are different, it will be impossible to program the robot to make the cuts without spending a fortune on 3D scanning software to give the coordinates.

Thanks.

 

[Mitchell Codey]

hire a young bloke, shouldnt get a sore back for a few years, and move old mate to a desk job

 

[Dynamic]

haha, that is not going to happen. The guy is a good worker and a nice guy. The system here needs fixing, so this is the biggest problem so far. Plus, people should not suffer because of their job.

 

[MTG]

What exactly are you cutting?

 

[VaultBoy]

can you get a bigger faster or better band saw that cuts more quickly or improve procedure so that he is not over run with work and working at an un reasonable pace... as this is more likely to cause an accident/injury than someone working at a decent pace.

 

[Dynamic]

Cutting bronze.

Nope, there is nothing wrong with the current bandsaw. It is large, and cuts well. But remember, you need to let the blade do the work, and it is not fast enough for that. This is the problem.

 

[rockerpeller]

Water-jet cnc cutter? They use them for machining aluminium car alloys. There are operating cnc operating programs that work off auto-cad drawings. Will cost a bit on purchasing the cnc, but you can cut multiple layers of the same part. I've never used a water-jet, but I have used cncs that use a flatbed cutters, and mills, and flatbed routers, that use both auto-cad and g-code programming.
But all this info is all dependant on whether you are machining from flat bronze plate or casts. For casts using a jig, in a mill will work. all you need is 1 good cnc programmer to set up the program with a computer link which all the programs he sets up will be saved to. Once the program is done, all the operator has to do is set the z-zero (the face of whatever you are machining) and push start. When he changes the job, load the new program from the comp, set the z-zero, and start again.

 

[Dynamic]

Water-jet cnc cutter? They use them for machining aluminium car alloys. There are operating cnc operating programs that work off auto-cad drawings. Will cost a bit on purchasing the cnc, but you can cut multiple layers of the same part. I've never used a water-jet, but I have used cncs that use a flatbed cutters, and mills, and flatbed routers, that use both auto-cad and g-code programming.
But all this info is all dependant on whether you are machining from flat bronze plate or casts. For casts using a jig, in a mill will work. all you need is 1 good cnc programmer to set up the program with a computer link which all the programs he sets up will be saved to. Once the program is done, all the operator has to do is set the z-zero (the face of whatever you are machining) and push start. When he changes the job, load the new program from the comp, set the z-zero, and start again.

Not possible. I have had experience with water jet cutting - it is really awesome. This is not possible for two reasons.

1) It will cost way too much
2) The parts are never the same

The reason the parts are not the same is because humans stick on the work to the plates before they are turned into sand moulds, which are then cast using bronze. Even if the parts were all the same, because of humans sticking on the work it will never have a true zero point. Around 400 parts are made per day, with each part containing 5 - 10 moulds, each stuck on at random.

It would be great if that was the case, but unfortunately it is not. Unless they decide to change the entire system around (following some sort of structure pre-cast) it will simply not be possible.

I think right now maybe changing the blade to a carbide tipped cutting edge may slightly help with the ease of cutting, but it is still manual, which is ancient and pointless.

Great idea though :)

 

[Dynamic]

Just on a side note, we modified an A33 NC to do water jet cutting. Everything in the cutting bay had to be protected. When we were testing out the pump I was curious to see how much pressure it actually had, so I opened up a port, and started the pump. To my surprise it only leaked out like a garden hose. Almost no pressure at all. As soon as you decrese the port to .3mm (from memory) it was cutting through alloy like butter. Crazy stuff.

 

[rockerpeller]

Wow now that has me stumped. I've never had to deal with castings straight out of the mould. I've only dealt with them when it came to boring etc. I'll have a bit of a think and see what I come up with

 

[brendore]

Get another bandsaw.. It'll halve your production time.. either that or the issue needs to be raised with your OH&S officer or management.. I've seen some horrific injuries from bandsaws and attempting to work quickly on them will eventually lead to the operator 'operating' on himself

 

[Woody Mackay]

New

Get another bandsaw.. It'll halve your production time.. either that or the issue needs to be raised with your OH&S officer or management.. I've seen some horrific injuries from bandsaws and attempting to work quickly on them will eventually lead to the operator 'operating' on himself​

So have I!! thats why my mate is now called stubs ( i think u could work out what happened) and he was lucky. People dont understand that enough pressure and the blade WILL snap, and is sent high speed in whatever direction it snaps. ( imagine that at your stomach)

Back to topic, You said about making a jig up, yet the slag doesnt let it slide smoothly? what if you were to cut a groove in the jig itself, Im assuming this is for cutting straight lines? then the slag could sit in the groove, or think of a way to quicly remove the slag before continuing work?

 

[Dynamic]

So have I!! thats why my mate is now called stubs ( i think u could work out what happened) and he was lucky. People dont understand that enough pressure and the blade WILL snap, and is sent high speed in whatever direction it snaps. ( imagine that at your stomach)

Back to topic, You said about making a jig up, yet the slag doesnt let it slide smoothly? what if you were to cut a groove in the jig itself, Im assuming this is for cutting straight lines? then the slag could sit in the groove, or think of a way to quicly remove the slag before continuing work?

Yep, thought of it. I can't because each part is different. The groove will never be in the right place twice. I purchased a new blade, the one we were using was an 8/12 and now I have gone for a 4/6 so it is course. Hopefully it will be a good balance between the cut, vibration and feed.