Above: The TruLaser 5000 series’ cutting unit combined with the 24 kW laser can cut components up to three times faster.

January 2023- Manufacturer partners with customers, creating a high-quality supply relationship for lasercut and formed parts.

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.” Henry Ford’s influence on excellence in manufacturing appears in almost every shop today, with companies still striving for standardization, eliminating wasted movement and materials, managing their supply chains to achieve goals and providing customers with on-time service.

“Our main goal is to supply quality laser-cut and formed components with accurate lead time estimates, coupled with exceptional customer service,” says Nathaniel Horning, operations manager for Edge Metalworks. “This is accomplished by focusing on, investing in our employees and empowering them to do the right thing. Our slogan, Together We Lead, defines these goals.”

Based in New Holland, Pennsylvania, Edge Metalworks serves a broad range of industries, including agricultural, transportation, outdoor living, railroad, lighting, construction components, industrial equipment and custom manufacturers. The company sits down with customers, connecting face to face to work out exactly how its laser cutting and forming services can help them achieve the best quality, timeliness and profit.

“We strive to be a true partner by focusing on what we do best with dependability and integrity,” notes Horning. “This enables us to be agile and competitive while not directly competing with our customers who offer added services, such as powder coating, welding and assembly. [Our work] needs to add value, growth and competitiveness for our customers to drive their profit. In the last few years, accurate lead times are a large concern for our customers, and stocking a large variety of material and having dedicated employees enables us to better control it.”

COMPLEMENTARY CAPABILITIES

Laser manufacturer TRUMPF Inc., Farmington, Connecticut, shares common values with Edge Metalworks, aspiring to shared partnerships and offering quality products and efficient processes. Edge Metalworks currently is running all TRUMPF equipment, and is adding the company’s TruLaser 5030 fiber laser cutting machine with a newly introduced 24 kW laser that can process sheet metal parts up to three times quicker, to its lineup. 

     The 24 kW laser cuts medium and high sheet thicknesses especially efficiently.

The 24 kW gives Edge Metalworks the capability to process an increased range of material thickness with improvements to overall edge quality. Edge believes the new 24 kW laser will complement its 4 kW, 6 kW and 10 kW TruLaser 3030 fiber machines. It also has a 4 kW Trulaser 3040 laser cutting machine with CO2 laser and a TruBend 5085 CNC press brake.

We have run other brands in the past, but at this point, we are running all TRUMPF machines due to the dependability and personal level of service,” says Horning. “My experience is all brands are built by people and, as such, tend to fail at times, but the key is support to get back into production as rapidly as possible.”

The TruLaser 5030 fiber has sophisticated nozzles, including an automatic nozzle changer, and special optics to provide a more accurate and cleaner cut, and can cut all types of nonferrous metals. Cooling features allow it to cut a wide variety of shapes and provide reliability when cutting thicker material.

      Edge Metalworks can cut a wide variety of metals and thicknesses exactly to customers’ specifications

The TruLaser 5030 fiber uses nanojoints (small stop points at the bottom end of the kerf ) to affix the cut components to the sheet, allowing for tighter nests. According to TRUMPF, “this leads to process-reliable machining of the sheets as it prevents the components from tilting without the frustration of dealing with traditional tabbing. The tiny retaining points, or nanojoints, are faster to produce during cutting than conventional micro tabs and allow operators to break parts free from the scrap skeleton with much less eff ort. As the mark left is barely visible once parts are broken free from the nest, nanojoints can eliminate the need for time-intensive post-processing or finishing work.”

ENHANCED RANGE

The TruLaser 5030 fiber’s capabilities now allow Edge Metalworks to cut a maximum part size of 60 in. by 120 in., depending on material. It can handle carbon and stainless steels and aluminum up to 2.3 in. thick; copper sheets up to 0.62 in. thick; 1/2-in.-thick brass; and 0.375-in.-thick bronze.

Horning says key features on the TRUMPF machines are the automatic nozzle changers and CoolLine, which sprays water coaxially onto the processing point, drawing away heat to allow the temperature to remain constant during the cutting process. TRUMPF literature notes that this allows users to nest parts more closely, resulting in less scrap and greater profits. Horning adds that CoolLine also “enables better cuts on thick plates and tight geometries. It’s important to have ease of operation and consistent cutting for newer operators.” -FFJ