Machine Shop gets new plasma machine to cut down time of projects

Photo By Ana Henderson | “We can put a 20-foot sheet of metal up here and maybe the customer needs 50 of those he can literally nest that on the computer, and it will figure out exactly where to position them to get the most out of that metal and it will just cut the whole thing at once,” explains James Ingram. The Plasma Cutting System will only leave skeleton pieces of sheet metal once it’s done.  

YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES

11.15.2023

Story by Ana Henderson 

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

Speed, efficiency, and accuracy is what the Machine Shop’s new plasma cutter provides to the team who supports Yuma Test Center.

The shop recently upgraded to a Plasma Cutting System (PCS) 5000EH. In September six shop personnel underwent training on using the machine and in October they fired it up for use.

The new PCS can slice through up to three inches of thickness of steel which is thicker than the standard two inches mainly used by the team. It also has a wide range of work area which eliminates another issue.
“Almost all the plates we cut are 20-foot, but our table was only 12 so that would cause us to cut half a plate, re-maneuver the plate of steel, re-zero the machine to finish the pattern off,” explained Machine Shop Lead James Ingram. That basically doubled the time for projects.

Now, Ingram notes, “This machine will cut up to 20-foot-long plates of steel at one time and it also gives us an added advantage of being able to drill and tap threaded holes, which before we weren’t able to do, and it has the ability to do compound angles.”

That means for projects with beveled edges or tap holes, the team can count on the cutter instead of the hard manual labor the Machine Shop team had to perform for those features.

Andy Pinkerton, a welder at YTC for 18 years is one of the six trained on the PCS and explains how the cutter works.

“DC voltage ionizes the oxygen and nitrogen to super heat the gases to about 40,000-degree Fahrenheit which is plasma, the fourth state of matter. While that’s going on it creates an arc with the metal, and then compressed air shoots it through the metal and cuts whatever you want.”

The process uses science and extreme precision. Pinkerton can lay a sheet of steel and have the machine profile the sheet which is when the PCS traces the exterior and programs the angles. Then he inputs the design, and the machine does the rest.

“We can put a 20-foot sheet of metal up here and maybe the customer needs 50 of those he can literally nest that on the computer, and it will figure out exactly where to position them to get the most out of that metal and it will just cut the whole thing at once,” explains Ingram.
This leaves no room for waste because the PCS will only leave skeleton pieces of sheet metal once it’s done.

Ultimately the new capability will benefit the team and in turn the customer.

“It really increases the scope of what we can do and provide for our customers,” tells Ingram adding, “Some of these jobs might last three or four months. There’s that much steel we cut every day. This literally going to cut it in half the amount of time we spend.”

• Date Taken: 11.15.2023
• Date Posted: 11.15.2023 13:10
• Story ID: 457263
• Location: YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US