Plasma-arc plate profiling and cutting system achieves cutting speeds of up to 35m/min for fast production cuts and can make highly accurate, sharp-edge precision cuts.

At the recent euroblech exhibition in Hannover, Germany, the cutting specialists of ESAB Cutting Systems from Karben near Frankfurt/Main gave an impressive presentation of what state-of-the-art plasma technology can achieve today. A combination of the flat-bed machine Eagle, the m Plasma system and the Vision 55 controller demonstrated that high-speed and high precision are no longer antonymous parameters. With m Plasma, ESAB succeeded in improving this efficient, energy and wearing part saving cutting technique significantly.

With m Plasma, impressive cutting speeds of up to 35m/min can be realized.

What makes the system particularly special is the fact that the user can perform both fast production cuts and highly accurate, sharp-edge precision cuts using one and the same tool and without having to replace any wearing parts.

m Plasma can be used for plate thicknesses up to 150mm, efficient, fast productions cuts can be performed up to 50mm.

Punching is possible up to 40mm.

The best results as regards the cutting quality are obtained when m Plasma is used for cutting carbon steels.

In this case, the cutting edge is almost rectangular and forms a perfect burr-free weld edge.

Another advantage of m Plasma is that the user can even mark the workpieces without having to replace the torch, by simply changing the corresponding parameters on the central control panel.

All processes of the cutting plant presented are controlled by the Vision 55 controller featuring the real-time operating system Windows CE 5.0 NET and ESAB's COLUMBUS programming system.

The all-inclusive solution is completed by an integrated drilling device as well as a camera-based visual monitoring system for exact alignment of the plates on the cutting bed.

Said Soeren Carlsson, sales manager Germany at ESAB Cutting Systems: 'The cutting plant presented at EuroBLECH, featuring the Eagle and m Plasma as the basis of the system, clearly reflected the current trend, i e, higher efficiency by linking different work steps in one complex machine concept which can be adapted specifically to meet the customer's individual requirements.'