Advancements in 3D-Robotic Plasma Cutting
The metal fabricating market has felt the impact of retiring baby boomers and a lack of interest in metal fabricating by younger generations. We are facing a declining population in skilled labor that is changing the landscape of our industry. Companies are forced to seek alternatives to skilled workers to achieve their business goals and are turning to more automated processes. Work is underway to marry high-definition plasma cutting, robots and robotic software to address these market trends and deliver value to fabricators of shaped-3D metals. New plasma technologies are well suited for cutting 3D parts and offer high quality, maximum flexibility, and fast cutting. Coupled with easy-to-program robotic software that guarantees fast and accurate robot teaching, robotic plasma cutting is positioned to deliver high productivity, increased accuracy, reduced waste and less labor to focus on other responsibilities and reducing the cost of customers’ 3D metal cutting.
Kristopher Rich, Steve Liebold and Garen Cakmak - Hypertherm, Inc.
3D Waterjet Cutting: The Next Dimension
Waterjets have traditionally been associated with 2-dimensional cutting of flat materials, though new advancements in hardware and software have opened up a world of new possibilities for the most versatile machine tool on earth, the waterjet cutting system. Learn how to easily overcome unique programming, part location, and fixturing challenges for 3-dimensional cutting and explore the different hardware options available to optimize results. Learn more about the types of applications and industries that are using waterjet technology to produce 3-dimensional parts more efficiently and accurately than other machine tool processes.
Brian Sherick - Flow Waterjet