PROSAW BANDSAWS TACKLE THE TOUGH
& VARIED AT AVIATION METALS
Aviation Metals, part of the Apollo Metals
Group, prides itself on providing the best service in aerospace
materials to the world’s aviation industry. Critical is fast
and efficient material preparation in which sawing technology
from specialist Prosaw plays such an important role.
“We
have reduced our lead times to just 2.8 days and this is
principally due to our investment in the Prosaw machines”.
Inconel, titanium, stainless steel, and
aluminium alloys to US, European, military and civil
specifications form the most comprehensive stock of aerospace
materials in Europe. Bar and sections are cut on the Danobat
CR260AF and CR330AF bandsaws, their general cut length
tolerances are within 0.5mm, which all the machines from Prosaw
achieve “with no problem”. The large Danobat VLR50/110A
vertical bandsaw is mainly employed cutting titanium The design,
in which the bow moves while the material is stationary, gives a
large capacity of 3m-saw length x 1100mm-plate width, in a
particularly compact footprint. Aviation Metals has major
contracts with BAE Systems, Dowty Group, Flight Refuelling, TRW
Lucas and Rolls Royce among others. Many require deliveries to
strict schedules, often in the form of ‘JIT kits’ and on a
‘ship to line’ basis. This demands flexibility and minimum
lead times.
Another feature admired by Martin Blanks is
to be able to set the size of billet in terms of its weight
rather than its length
“We
have reduced our lead times to just 2.8 days and this is
principal due to our investment in the Prosaw machines”, says
Martin Blanks,… “They are simple to program and
be-cause the working areas are very open with a clear access and
unobstructed visibility, they are easy to use”. A further cost
saving benefit on the Danobat bandsaws is the laser sensor
system that detects the front of a bar so that the first cut is
the first length of the batch. There is no bar-end waste and
less time. Martin Blanks says, “Reducing material waste is
particularly advantageous with our high value materials.
Martin Blanks believes the bandsaws
supplied by Prosaw are “the best in the business”.
Another feature on the Danobat machines admired
by Martin Blanks, is to be able to set the size of billet in
terms of its weight rather than its length. The operator keys in
the material density and the desired billet weight, and the
machine’s computer does the rest in calculating and setting
the length of each piece to be cut.
A cost saving benefit is the laser sensor
system.
Martin Blanks believes that for the tough and
varied work undertaken at Aviation Metals, the automatic
bandsaws supplied by Prosaw are “the best in the business”.
And, asked if he had any complaints he simply answered, “We
just don’t have enough of the Prosaw machines”.
