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BAR-WISER AND THE "GRAPHICO-OPTIMO" SOFTWARE: THE RIGHT WAY OF MACHINING BY ELEMENT
(3rd and final part of a series of articles dedicated to "machining by element" )
In the previous articles we gave the name "element" to an assembly kit containing straight or bent bars to assemble a certain reinforcing structure (beams, pillars, etc.) and we saw that it is not at all easy to prepare these kits if you do not have the right machinery and the special production software.
In this last article we will explain this machinery and software.
Let usstart with the latter. In various issues of our newsletter we already discussed the "graphico - optimo" software package produced by our subsidiary company Schnell Software with headquarters in Zaragoza (Spain), but today we will focus on the features more closely related to machining by element.
Schnell believes that machining by element is better accomplished by starting off with steel in bars for the following reasons:
• bars are found in every possible diameter and this means that all the bars to make up the elements can be produced (in many countries the maximum diameter available for bars in coils is 12 mm, at best 16 mm).
• The bars are already straight and hence the machines are more simple (expensive straightening units are not required) and less costly; Moreover, expert personnel is not required to operate these machines as is the case when bars in coils have to be straightened.
• The bar diameter can be changed in just a few seconds (10-15 sec.) whereas to change the diameter of bars in coils a few minutes are required. This factor is of the utmost importance when having to change the bar diameter also 10-15 times an hour.
The drawback of steel in bars is that, as is known, off-cuts are produced constituting a cost.
Well, one of the fundamental tasks of the "Graphico-Optimo" software (which from here on we will call GO ), is precisely to optimise the cutting process in order to reduce the off-cuts to a minimum.
There are many software packages on the market that optimise cutting, but GO performs in a special way such as to also group the cut bars in the various compartments on the machines, thus "creating" the various elements; while it is optimising GO, "pieces together" the elements made up of bars of different diameter, shape and length.
In addition, GO prints the job lists and the labels containing all the information for cage assembly (number, type and distance of the stirrups, position of the longitudinal bars) hence making the next assembly phase extremely easy.
GO moreover creates statistics to control all the production data:
• Number of bars used
• Percentage off-cuts
• Number of cutting cycles, etc.
Finally, GO allows direct transmission of the production data from the office to the machines bringing great advantages:
• The data is entered once only
• Time and effort is saved
• Machine productivity is increased by up to 30% because time is no longer wasted to load the machining data
• Human error is averted with less dependency on the operator's pace of work
Fine, very well ! But which machines do I connect to GO to produce elements? The answer today is Schnell "Bar-wiser".
"Bar-wiser" is a new type of machine, specialized in production by element starting off with steel in bars. Bar-wiser cuts and bends bars of any shape (also those with bends at the two ends) and deposits them on a carriage divided into many compartments. The carriage movement allows piecing together the various elements since the same diameter is machined for all the compartments available, thus simultaneously optimising the cut and piecing together the various elements
The advantage of all this is evident: when the machining cycle has been completed, we have 8 to 10 elements nice and ready on the carriage, complete with all the straightand bent bars: all there is left to do is to free the carriage and start another cycle.
If we add to this that "Bar-wiser" is now available with the exclusive automatic bar loader, "Genius", which completely eliminates the operator's job of loading the bars, an unbeatable combination in flexibility and productivity is obtained for every shaping centre dedicated to the housing sector.
Of course, "Bar-wiser" also lends itself perfectly to other uses, because in practice it is like having a cutting bench and a bending robot all-in-one, but it is in the housing sector and in machining by element where the technological advantage compared to any other system becomes incontrovertible.
In conclusion, GO + "Bar-wiser" +"Genius" make one of our customers' dreams come true: the highest productivity + the highest flexibility with minimum waste and minimum labour.
Believe us, a giant leap forward in our sector ! more... Centros de perfilado |
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