• Advanced Manufacturing

Lantek Expert and iQuoting are indispensable at A13 Engineering

  • Advanced Manufacturing
A13 Engineering moved from plasma cutting to laser cutting in October 23 with the installation of a Bodor 12kW Laser and Lantek Expert software. Harry Hodgetts, Managing Director at A13 Engineering says, “With high-definition plasma, we found that it was not suitable for about 10% of our production, driving us to invest in a laser cutter giving higher accuracy and automatic part etching for easy component identification.”

Laser or water jet? Two different, but complimentary, cutting machines

  • Advanced Manufacturing
They emerged at practically the same time, during the second half of the 1960s, and although they use antagonistic technologies and processes, in a metal or sheet metal factory both complement each other because they are unbeatable in their respective niches, as we’re about to find out.

Which cutting technology is the most suited to your plant?

  • Nesting
Thirty years ago, the global distribution of sheet metal cutting machine-tools was dominated by the oxycut variety (large thicknesses) and, to a lesser extent, the plasma variety (small thicknesses). There was a niche for punching machines along with water jet and laser machines. The latter were aimed at thicknesses less than 5mm and were expensive. Since then, the trend has shifted, shrugging oxycut in favor of other technologies according to thicknesses.