Lasershape production technology upgrade

Nottingham-based Lasershape Ltd — the sub-contract sheet and plate processing specialist (www.lasershape.com) — has installed a new Bystronic Xpert 150 CNC press brake with integrated BySoft 7 CAD/CAM software, just a few months after investing in a new MRP system to speed up front-end administrative and quotation processes.

Company director Tim Leam says: “We can now take a customer’s 3-D CAD model and develop and prove it at the quotation stage. As a result, we can supply a part that is both accurate to drawing and accurate to quotation. The BySoft software not only produces a flat blank development, it will also tell us whether we have the tools available and run a simulation of the bending sequence.

Ultimately, it has taken the skill out of the operation and returned it to the office, where it should be. Skilled press brake operators are hard to find, and if they leave or go sick, the customer gets let down; Lasershape won’t have this problem.”

"The Xpert 150 has a 3m bed and a level of automation that reduces set-up times to 2-3min. Bystronic’s innovative Laser Angle Measurement System performs real-time angle measurement with automatic correction. “Modern laser cutters — such as those here at Lasershape — will nest components on the sheet to maximise material yield.

"It is well documented that components cut horizontally and vertically from the same sheet will need different forming pressures on the press brake due to grain direction. With LAMS, this is catered for automatically, giving perfect integration of the cutting and bending processes.”