Glass Reinforced Plastic, Colchester

A fully-automatic Striebig Control vertical panel saw is delivering fast and accurate cutting at Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) gratings specialist, Sui Generis International Ltd, of Colchester.

It was purchased together with an overhead hoist and special lifting clamp to eliminate manual handling when placing the gratings on the saw.

Used in a wide variety of industrial applications, the gratings are produced at another of the company’s facilities. They come in three sizes; 3.66m x 1.22m, 3m x 1m and 2m x 1m; either 25mm, 38.5mm or 53mm thick and weighing between 56 and 125 kilo. After being unloaded on pallets they are fork lifted into the trim shop where they are hoisted singly on to the saw.

Striebig Control delivers fast, accurate cutting

The Striebig Control cuts them into sections as required by customers. This usually means ensuring they weigh less than 25 kilos each so as to meet Manual Handling regulations that allow one man to lift items up to that weight. Sui Generis’s Control model 5168 can handle panels up to a maximum size of 4,300m x 1,680m and has a depth of cut of 80mm.

It offers every possible option for automatic sawing operations. With manual feeding of the saw unit eliminated, the operator’s job is made easier, giving him ample time to prepare the next cutting job. Ease of operation is provided by a PLC control system, with any operating errors displayed so that they can be immediately corrected.

Numerous automatic procedures can be carried out by the press of a button including locking and releasing the beam saw, setting the horizontal cutting height, plunging and swivelling the motor, locking the support rollers during sawing and fine saw blade adjustment.

It features the TRK dust and chips extraction system that ensures dust levels are kept well below permitted European limits, plus automatic moving backing support.

The saw has improved cutting performance by ensuring tighter tolerances – it works to an accuracy of 0.1mm – and reducing cutting times, with the cost savings passed on to customers.

It has also improved the operators’ working life by eliminating the fatigue previously caused by using a non-automatic saw.

A diamond-coated blade is used to cut through the tough GRP. The standard blade supplied with the saw cuts plastic sheets and Sterling board needed to produce moulds for GRP products made at the factory, such as storage tanks and vehicle body parts.

Before the improved loading system was installed it was a four-man job to lift the 38.5mm and 53mm thick gratings on to the saw, and a two-man job to lift the 25mm thick gratings. It’s now an easy, one-man job to load and operate the Striebig.

Said Sui Generis International’s director, Mark Went: “When investing in a new saw it was essential that not only would it give improved performance, reducing working times, but that it improved our health and safety and the working conditions of our employees.
“The Control has surpassed all our expectations. It’s rugged, easy-to-use, with excellent inbuilt extraction.”

Striebig saws are available from the Swiss manufacturer’s exclusive U.K. distributor, T.M. Machinery Sales Ltd of Leicester.