More than 100 visitors attended Bystronic UK’s latest Open House (www.bystronic.com), held last month at its Coventry headquarters and technical centre.

They saw some of the latest developments in sheet metal-working machinery, including new equipment launched at the EuroBlech show in Hannover last October.

One order placed at the show — by Water Jet Cutting (WJC) — was for a 6kW BySprint Fibre laser profiling machine. The machine ordered by the company — a division of Gee Graphite, which supplies graphite gaskets and valve seals to the petrochemical sector — will be the first in the UK to have the optional Power Cut Fiber feature.

This doubles the thickness of the aluminium and stainless steel that can be cut to 30mm, while maintaining extremely fine cutting quality. Being powered by a fibre laser, the machine can also process copper (up to 12mm) and its alloys, such as brass (up to 15mm), without damaging the optics.

Consequently, the electrical and motor-manufacturing industries will be new target markets.

Dewsbury-based WJC was the first water-jet cutting sub-contractor to be set up in the UK and is now the largest, with 10 water-jet profilers in constant use.

Director David Bennett said: “We decided to set up a new fibre laser cutting division because we were seeing a noticeable increase in enquiries more suited to the laser process.

“For example, 3mm stainless or 8mm brass take too long to machine by water-jet for some applications, so we could not quote a competitive price.”

On show for the first time in the UK at the Open House was the Xpert 40 press brake; the smallest currently manufactured by Bystronic, it is designed to be moveable by fork-lift truck to anywhere within a factory.

In the field of water-jet cutting, a twin-head ByJet Flex was on show; this can accept up to two of the company’s newly developed 3-D cutting heads for producing bevelled edges on components.