Metallbau Steg (CH) is investing in a new system for a variety of production requirements: Cutting of contours, weld seam preparations and holes as well as drilling, countersinking, tapping, marking and punching – no matter whether for sheets, pipes, profiles or domes.
Metallbau Steg AG has been active at its headquarters in Steg (Valais) since 1970. The company's field of activity in the southwest of Switzerland ranges from the manufacture of chemical apparatus, the construction and assembly of telecommunications equipment, through general plant and apparatus engineering to the mechanical manufacture of components. In 2013 the company faced the challenges of the local market and decided to invest in a multifunctional CNC cutting system from MicroStep. The guiding machine type MG was able to cope with all requirements without any problems. These were clearly defined from the beginning: Bevel cutting, drilling, pipe cutting as well as the processing of domes – and all this with the highest possible precision.
"We looked at quite a few things," said Ruedi Seiler, Managing Director of Metallbau Steg AG, who contacted the specialist dealer LWB Weldtech AG. MicroStep, partner of LWB Weldtech AG, was finally able to offer the perfect solution for the Swiss company. Together with Stefan Seiler – also Managing Director of Metallbau Steg AG – the concrete key data of the system were fixed. With a total working area of 6,000 x 3,700 mm, almost every common sheet metal panel format can be processed. Due to the high-performance power source HiFocus 360i from Kjellberg Finsterwalde, bevel cuts up to a material thickness of 40 mm in mild steel can be realized at any time. Not only flat sheets, but also geometric workpieces such as pipes, profiles as well as domes can be provided with V-, Y- and K-bevels but also variable bevels which are necessary for a multitude of welding processes.
Bevel cutting
The automatic MicroStep calibration system ACTG® is used for absolutely precise bevel cuts. The entire calibration process runs automatically and eliminates deviations in the hundredth of a millimeter range. The automatically retensioning torch holder of the bevel cutting head already ensures that the deviation is no more than 0.5 mm even after a torch collision. The rest is done by the control of the calibration station: For this purpose, the exact end points of the torch tip are measured at different rotation (X, Y and Z coordinates). Based on the measured deviations, the control system calculates all the necessary correction values, which are automatically applied during the next cutting process. This automatic calibration system ensures a completely new quality with regard to bevel cutting. It significantly improves the precision and dimensional accuracy of the cutting process, eliminates the need for time-consuming mechanical adjustments and significantly increases the productivity of the system.
Pipe and profile processing
The same applies, of course, to pipes, which can easily be longer than 6,000 mm. The processing of round or polygonal profiles is carried out on this machine in a specially designed pipe processing shaft and enables the cutting of pipes with a diameter of 30 to 700 mm (round pipes). The advantage of this design is the flexibility to process both pipes and plates. If required, the pipe shaft integrated in the cutting table can be covered with frame elements and used over its entire surface as a vacuumed cutting table. For loading and unloading of pipes, the machine gantry moves into the parking position. Pipes can thus be securely placed on the support stands by crane and clamped in the jaw chuck.