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From the
Senior Editor
No Limits
he British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) calls the Brooklyn Bridge one of the seven wonders of the industrial age. Construction began on the world’s first steel-wire suspension/cable-stay bridge in 1869 and was completed in 1883. The structure boasts more than 14,000 miles of steel cable. Each cable has 19 separate strands each comprising 278 wires. Its granite towers weigh 90,000 tons each.
Because of the amount of steel used in the bridge, it can rise as much as 3 in. during cold weather because metal expands and contracts in response to temperature changes. The longevity of the 5,989 ft.-long span (slightly over 1.1 miles) is credited to redundancies in its support system. Designer and civil engineer Augustus Roebling calculated the structural strength needed to support daily traffic and then designed the bridge to be six times stronger.
ompetition can build character, influence passion, empower careers and affect daily lives, especially when combined with oxy-fuel processes—cutting, heating, welding and brazing. The 2019 Rulers of the Flame contest, sponsored by Victor, an ESAB brand, offered students the opportunity to shape their own characters by working with oxy-fuel equipment.
The competition was open to students enrolled in a welding instructional program at a secondary, post-secondary, technical or vocational school. Winners from three fabrication teams, as well as three individual essay winners, each took home a $250 cash prize and Victor Medalist 350 outfit, while each school received a cutting and welding package valued at more than $8,400.
ypically, percussion laser drilling holes larger than approximately 0.020 in. diameter in metals by defocusing the laser beam is not typically practical. The demand for laser power is too high to produce the required power density. So, we cut a circular path with a focused beam to drill the holes. (For classification, see Figure 1.) Pulsed laser power is preferred for the following reasons:
- The high peak power densities achievable even from lasers with modest average power.
- Good coupling of the laser into the metal (surface effect).
- The precise control of the diameter of the hole.
- Good control of the total heat input (pulse width, overlap of pulses and duty cycle)
- The minimal heat-affected zone.
he gold standard was formalized prior to 1812 to back the value of paper banknotes. This monetary regime is no longer used, but the phrase became synonymous with a benchmark for quality. For fabricators, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is considered the gold standard for measuring productivity.
The classic OEE calculation takes into account machine availability, performance and quality. The resulting percentage score shows a manufacturer how production processes are performing and captures the reason for losses. “An OEE score of 100 percent means you are making only good parts as fast as possible with no unplanned downtime,” explains Jim Finnerty, Wintriss Controls Group LLC product manager.
American Weldquip, Sharon Center, Ohio, 330/239-0317, weldquip.com.
Weiler Abrasives, Cresco, Pennsylvania, 800/835-9999, weilerabrasives.com.
Advertising material due: 7/3/20
n his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said, “I discipline my body and make it my slave.”
Bisi was 14 years old when he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The rare genetic disease prevents the production of dystrophin, a protein the body’s muscles need to function properly. The chronic condition is irreversible and progressive.
As tough as the metal he fabricates, the 32-year-old continues to defy the odds. “Being disabled is not in my personality,” he says. “That’s not my way.”
If you want to change the attitude of a vehicle, you have to change the altitude.
scott bisi,
cougar house garage
If you want to change the attitude of a vehicle, you have to change the altitude.
scott bisi,
cougar house garage
n his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said, “I discipline my body and make it my slave.”
Bisi was 14 years old when he was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The rare genetic disease prevents the production of dystrophin, a protein the body’s muscles need to function properly. The chronic condition is irreversible and progressive.
As tough as the metal he fabricates, the 32-year-old continues to defy the odds. “Being disabled is not in my personality,” he says. “That’s not my way.”
riter and historian James Truslow Adams coined the term American dream in his bestselling 1931 book, “Epic of America.” He described the ideal as “a land in which life should be better …for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”
hree macro forces drive significant change in the world of forming. They don’t necessarily paint a rosy picture, but there is good news to come.
The introduction of fiber lasers about a decade ago injected excitement and optimism into the profiling sector of fabrication, but faster speeds and higher throughput has created new issues downstream. The long-held standard for CO2 lasers was two press brakes for every laser. With fiber, that number can double depending on the part makeup.
OEM and job shops alike are being challenged to find profitability in low-volume/high-mix manufacturing environments. An easy task for a laser but, without the right technology in place, this type of manufacturing environment can significantly reduce the efficiency of the bending process due to increased setups per day on the press brake.
esistance welding, long viewed as a stepchild in the family of welding, is finally gaining the attention and respect it deserves by manufacturers of metal parts, says Tom Snow, chairman of T. J. Snow Co. Inc.
This is especially true in applications such as resistance projection welding of nuts and studs to the high-strength steel alloys now being used in the automotive industry to reduce weight.
Founded in 1905, The Ohio Nut & Bolt Co., Berea, Ohio, advises customers on resistance welded fasteners and produces a wide selection of styles, which include parts designed to be either spot welded or projection welded. Spot welding can be done successfully with a rocker arm-type resistance welder, whereas projection-welded nuts and studs are best attached with a vertical action press-type machine.
built
ver the years, a wide range of portable equipment has been developed to perform metal cutting in-place, where it was not feasible to take the workpiece to a floor-mounted machine. For example, magnetic-based drills can accomplish drill-press accurate holes anywhere they can be attached. Similarly, portable powered threading machines quickly and easily generate excellent pipe threaded ends in the field without the need for a machine shop.
For work on tube and pipe, portable machine tools that were primarily designed for simple end preparation for welders, are being custom repurposed as dynamic and practical fabrication solutions that offer many significant advantages over conventional machine shop equipment.
n auto manufacturer needed better performing ceramic quick-change discs. Previously, the ceramic disc’s material would fail to withstand the extreme grinding temperatures. The disc’s material also would become too hot and glaze over, causing the disc to shell and deteriorate. This meant frequent disc changeovers and poor efficiency.
The automaker turned to ARC Abrasives in Troy, Ohio, to conduct a performance test using Predator Resin Fiber Quick-Loks and the manufacturer’s current ceramic quick-change discs. Both discs were tested in a typical workday scenario using a right-angle grinder to deburr aluminum automotive door trim frames. The long life and aggressive cut of Predator Quick-Loks resulted in saving an hour of labor a day.
atigue is a concern for heavy manufacturing companies, especially when running through processes that require workers to move hefty material to and from multiple stations manually.
At Production Fabricators Inc. (ProFab), each part took a total of two steps on two separate machines to complete. ProFab operators would bend large batches of steel blanks, first by pre-bending each blank on a press brake. The blanks were then formed again by inserting the pre-bent ends one at a time into a manual three-roll plate roll to complete the shaping process.
Using a SweBend QFV-1 vertical quick roll that was sourced through Trilogy Machinery (SweBend’s North American distributor), ProFab automated its bending process.
www.consumablesmagazine.net
Bernard, Beecher, Illinois, 855/644-9353, bernardwelds.com.
Arc-Zone.com, Carlsbad, California, 760/931-1500, arc-zone.com.
Arc-Zone.com, Carlsbad, California, 760/931-1500, arc-zone.com.
Brush Research Manufacturing, Los Angeles, 323/261-2193, brushresearch.com.
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