Kerf unveils new technical centre at Open House event

A demonstration of the Kerf Ultra Oxy-Fuel machine

As the UK’s premier manufacturer of advanced cutting and profiling technology, Kerf Developments recently hosted an Open House event at its Rochdale headquarters to celebrate the opening of its new technical and demonstration centre. From 9 to 11 September, Kerf welcomed new and existing customers to its facility to witness the breadth of technology available.

This fully refurbished facility is where engineers can investigate the complete range of profile cutting disciplines, including fibre laser, Ultra Oxy-fuel, UltraSharp plasma and waterjet cutting solutions. This differentiation between Kerf and its competitors has taken the service to a new level, and this was evident at the Open House event. Some visitors arrived with a preconceived idea of what machine they needed based upon their cutting requirements and workload. However, the expert advice on offer plus Kerf's extensive suite of technologies, the potential customers went away knowing the ‘best-fit’ solution to fulfill their needs.

At the event, Kerf engineers demonstrated the full suite of technologies that will be permanently sited at the Rochdale headquarters. The benefits of this are that it gives Kerf the ability to enhance manufacturers’ capabilities, diversity, productivity, and efficiency levels, while reducing production costs.

The facility’s four new machines permanently sited include the new Linc-Cut Fiber 1530A fibre laser system, an Optima 420 waterjet system, the Kerf Ultra Oxy-fuel machine and the Ultrasharp plasma machine. Introduced to the UK at MACH 2024, the Lincoln Electric Linc-Cut Fiber 1530A fiber laser system has linear guidance, dynamic kinematics, helical drives, and rigidity and precision, the industry’s benchmark. The Linc-Cut Fiber 1530A is available as a 3, 6 or 12kw machine with a 2 x 1m, 3 x 1.5m or 4 x 2m bed. It incorporates ‘state of the art’ features such as Flycut, Fast-Cutting, Smooth Microjoint, Frame Border, Circle Centring and Collision Avoidance that will all enhance productivity and cutting speed for the end user.

Pictured right: the new Kerf showroom

The Ultrasharp plasma machine at the facility has the FineLine 300 plasma unit from Lincoln Electric that introduces ‘Advanced Piercing Technology’ and an innovative ‘Watermist’ system. The FineLine 300HD delivers exceptional cut quality when cutting mild steel, stainless steel and aluminium while providing superior cut quality that minimises the need for grinding, edge preparation or other secondary operations. The FineLine 300HD features easy maintenance and complete system operation through the HMI. With the smallest diameter 300A torch in the industry at 38mm, the FineLine 300HD minimises secondary processing and maximises bevel and robotic cut capabilities with its new Magnum Pro LC300M torch. Working in synergy with the UltraSharp v10 software, plasma current controls are all synchronised to precisely control motion, gas flow, cutting speeds and height control.

The Ultra Oxy-fuel machine incorporates a unique ‘Oxy-fuel Automatic Gas Console’ (AGC) that helps address the industry’s current skill shortage by replicating the skill of an experienced machine operator using pre-programmed software. This technology uses digital proportional valves to set variables such as cut heights for piercing, low and high pre-heat gas pressures, and the pierce curve reducing spatter and blowback. The new AGC also reduces gas consumption, increases consumable life and improves cut quality.

The fourth machine is the Optima 420 waterjet machine that can cut a broad range of materials from granite and stone through to titanium, Inconel, duplex, super duplex, tool steel, composites and much more. The Optima has excellent build quality and a heavy-duty CNC bridge design that will produce the highest quality parts due to its rigidity and stability. The Optima will also appeal to machine shops that want to make precision cut blanks, saving considerable time on subsequent CNC machining tasks and saving material consumption.