Yoshimura Carbon Fiber muffler tips

Talking to their carbon fiber specialist, Mike Biere, about their current and future plans for in-house carbon cutting, we decided to produce a new industrial version of our Pro model PT-72, called the PTi.  The PTi would have more power, a stiffer frame, and a larger and more rigid cutter.  This robust model would ensure they could keep up with their growing demand for carbon fiber parts.

Two good looking models!! The PTi side-by-side the PT. Note the PTi's taller frame rail, custom load reducing drive plates, larger Y and Z motor, and custom drive belt.

Before we tell the story of the PTi install, let’s skip to the end with a quick glamour shot — pretty awesome right?

Sample material -- carbon Fiber and Kevlar weave -- really hard to cut by hand.

Now on to the install — the table and cutter arrive separately.  Setting up the plotter/cutter takes an entire work day.

Start unpacking.

Laying out the table frame before assembly will make the process go a lot quicker. The table uses one size nut and bolt throughout, so if the parts are in the right place screwing it together is very easy.

Once assembled, leave all of your nuts finger-tight. Position the table where you want it and then insert the vacuum tops. Manually adjust the table so legs and tops are visually square.

A magnetic level is great for quickly squaring the frame. All the nuts are self locking, so you can tighten the bolts quickly using a drill or impact driver with a 1/2" socket. This is also good Nascar pit crew practice.

Once the frame is level and square, mount the track. Attach one side and then use the plotter/cutter to square the other side, securing as you go. Clear away any debris, wipe down the track and belt with acetone and attach the track belt to the metal rails.

Use a vacuum breather between the table top and cutting surface to create an air channel. Thicker, woven mesh is best. This is molded window screen.

Following a tip from one of our customers, we replaced the window screen with this dish drying mesh used by restaurants and bars. The thicker weave made a big difference. You could even hear a significant improvement in airflow. Woosh!

Attach the plumbing. Securing carbon fiber during cutting requires a lot of vacuum, so you must use rigid pvc.

5HP radial vacuum blower with 8" to 4" reducer.

Securing your carbon fiber prepreg during cutting is a big deal.  This can be a difficult for several reasons.  First, your prepreg has been rolled up in a freezer and while it’s still cold it does not want to lay very flat.  Next, thicker prepreg is a sticky, hard to cut material, which means you need to put a good amount of pressure on your drag blade to get a complete cut.  This pressure can drag your prepreg if not properly secured.  Finally, carbon is expensive, so you will try to nest parts as close together as possible to ensure maximum material yield.  You will lose material hold as you make more and more cuts — if you vacuum is undersized, this can cause tightly nested parts to shift or drag.

For thinner carbon fiber K3, fiberglass breather, and very sticky prepreg we were able to use a single 5HP radial vacuum blower (pictured above).

5HP blower plumbed

Unfortunately the heavier carbon fiber prepreg k12 had a tendency to shift.  To resolve, we replaced their single 5HP radial blower with two 4.5HP regenerative blowers.  These are lower volume, but have 7X the pressure.  They did the trick, allowing for tight nesting without any material shift.

If large vacuum blowers are not available, 3M makes a reusable semi-adhesive tacky spray you can use to glue your material down during cutting.

Once setup, attach your cabling. In large open factories overhead cabling might not be practical. Using 4" eye bolts we mounted their cable off one side of the table.

Securely tape your cutting surface to the table top. They are using 1/16" polyethylene with a3"x3" hole pattern. Be sure to cut your cutting surface 4" narrower than your table width. Your plotter/cutter and vacuum table are now ready to use!

It’s time to setup your software.  The new 2012 Plotmaster USB software — PMU — will run on any Windows PC.  We can provide a Windows7 PC, preloaded and tested or you can provide your own.  If you use your own computer, we recommend making it a dedicated machine — this means leave Itunes and AOL at home!  We also recommend you connect your PMU computer to the internet for the latest updates, purchasing consumables online, virtual help and training sessions, and checking out blogs like this one.

We provided Yoshimura with a preloaded and test Windows 7 PC. They provided the monitor and have plans to build a more formal workstation. For now the table behind the cutter will work.

You can draw patterns using almost any CAD program or manually create patterns using our T-Bar Digitizer.  The T-Bar is ideal for tracing existing patterns or manual prototyping where unusual shapes might be very difficult to draw on the computer.  Yoshimura’s R&D department has CAD designers and a T-Bar.  The T-Bar lets the plotter/cutter operator, Dustin, digitize jobs without any assistance from the CAD draftsmen.  They also had a large collection of physical patterns that are now stored digitally.

The T-Bar is setup to digitize one of their more popular muffler tips. This shape looks like a circle, but it's not. The T-Bar makes sure they get an exact match.

The T-Bar can digitize patterns as wide and as long as the plotter's table. A piece of glass or clear plastic is great for securing small patterns during digitizing. The T-Bar is powered by USB and easily slides off the table when not in use.

T-Bar and Plotter/Cutter. The Tbar will digitize plot and cut lines. You can also digitize multiple patterns in a single session.

One more look at that PT!

If you are curious about that picture, here’s the video of that run:  https://vimeo.com/40120697

With the cutter in-house, Yoshimura R&D is now setup to cut hundreds of sets a muffler parts each week.  They can also prototype new styles, new carbon fiber types like the yellow kevlar weave featured above, and test cut lots of other parts they may want to start making out of carbon fiber.

Big thanks to Mike, Dustin, and the rest of the Yoshimura team for making this a great install.  We look forward to seeing what incredible carbon fiber motorcycle parts you all produce in the coming years.

Thanks to the help from everyone at Litania, this was a great install with great results.  Our very first run reduced cut times by a factor of 10 from 30 minutes to 3!

Here’s a quick video of that innageral run:  https://vimeo.com/39737338

They are cutting 14oz vinyl with a 28mm steel rotary blade.

Before we go any farther, let’s see how the got started:

We arrive to a framed table with the tops already inserted. The Electrician is busy wiring the motor starter for the blower.

Litania purchased a 6′x16′ long Phillocraft vacuum table.  This is an endless frame comprised of 4′ long sections, allowing them to extend the table later by adding more sections.  Our vacuum tables are typically ready to ship ahead of the plotter/cutter and can be assembled before we arrive.  During onsite commissioning, we like to spend as much time training as possible, however training cannot begin until the installs complete.  Having the table screwed together will shave 2-3 hours off the install and is a great way to ensure training can begin on the first day.

Before tightening all the nuts and blots, it is import to square and level the table. A level table is a fast table. We are using the production manager, Justin's, car jack to level the table.

Once level, attach one side of your track.

Use the plotter/cutter to ensure the other side is parallel.

For the second side, move the plotter/cutter down the track, drilling and securing each track hole as you go.

To advance the plotter/cutter, push from the center. Check the machine is still square before securing the next track section.

Once the track is installed, cover your table with vacuum breather. You need to create an air channel between your table top and cutting surface.

Woven breather is much more effective than molded, and the thicker the better. This is bar mat and can be found at your local restaurant supply store. We chose "Electric Green".

Add plastic sheeting. This is 1/16" thick polyethylene with a 3"x3" hole pattern. Cut your plastic sheets at least 4 inches narrower than your table width. When the sheets start to wear, you can flip and/or rotate them to prolong their life.

Attache the plumbing. Smaller blowers can use flexible dust collection hose. Larger blowers need rigid PVC plumbing. We are using 4" PVC pipe.

Caulk or silicone the face of each flange before attaching to the bottom of the table. This will help prevent leaks. Wrapping joints with plastic stretch wrap will also help. Once the plumbing is installed, wafting smoke under the tables can help you identify any leaks.

Install the blower. This is a 5HP, 3phase, radial blower. It is low pressure, high volume and great for securing vinyl. Many customers will build an insulated box around their blower to reduce noise.

Have your local electricain wire a motor starter near the operator's workstation. The starter can be mounted to the table.

Hook up your air. You can use shop air or a standalone air compressor. You need at least 90psi and 1 CFM. It's not a bad idea to add an oilier and water separator to the line. Your tool box comes standard with a quick disconnect fitting and 1/4"NPT fitting.

Run your cabling. You can run it on the side or over head, depending on your shop layout. Use one pulley for every 4-6' of cable. Side mount is most common in large facilities where there are no close walls to mount the overhead cable. Keep drape to a minimum.

Plug the USB controller into any Windows PC. If you need help, we can provide a Windows7 PC preloaded and tested.

Setup your computer. Install Plotmaster USB (PMU) software. We encourage PMU users to have their system connected to the internet. Here they are using the the table near the plotter as their operator's workstation. Once they understand their work flow they will create a more permanent work area.

You're now ready to calibrate, square, and configure your plotter/cutter!

You also need to select a pattern for your first job. If you do not have a CAD program or any patterns already made, use the T-Bar digitizer to trace an existing hard pattern.

Once you have a pattern, the machine configured, and plotter/cutter installed, pause for one moment to admire a job well done. Good Work! It's now time for your first cut!

After your first cut, it's always a good idea to check the pattern against your original hard pattern. At Litania, Eldon discovered one of the lines in the CAD drawing provided by their engineering department was different from his sewers pattern. We moved the line and cut 6 more sets.

Once parts look good, nest them together to maximize material yield.

Precision cutting typically yields 10-20% material savings.

The team examines their second job's nest. This part set typically takes 45 minutes to complete -- here it was cut in less about 3 minutes.

They placed their own roll rack at the end of the table. this makes switching between colors quick and easy.

Thumbs up! Thanks Litania!

It was exciting to watch 20-40 minute manual cuts finish in less than 2 minutes start-to-finish.   We cut 6 full pattern sets in a half hour — this would have normally taken a full day.  The parts being delivered at the sewers station are now more accurate and much more repeatable.  Having a computer controlled cutter also allowed the engineering department to get involved.  They can now make changes and improvements to patterns in real time.

A big thanks to Justin, Eldon, and Ralph for making this a great install!

Litania selected Carlson Design because they were able to send us sample patterns and material that we digitized, cut, and returned the next day: https://vimeo.com/36582270 .  If you would like to see your material and patterns test cut, please do not hesitate to send something our way:

• Carlson Design
• 539 S Trenon Ave
• Tulsa, OK 74120

You will need PMU version 4.0.758 or higher for the following procedure.  For version history, see the changelog.

First, you will want to carefully align your blade.  You will visually try to get it as close as possible to do this:

• Close one eye, and align your field of view such that the back screws on the bottom of the cutter plate are centered in the middle of the front screws.
  
  
• now use page up/page down until the alignment marks on the cutter plate align with the steel blade holder mount.
• Your X/Y cutter offset must be set properly before proceeding.  For instructions on this procedure, please see your manual.

Now you will fine-tune the blade alignment.  You will need to do this each time you turn your machine on.  This should not take more than 5 minutes.

• Download our calibration test file, and save it in your nest directory.  Be sure your pen and cutter are both enabled in the plot tab.
• Pull out paper, secure it, and run the calibration pattern.  The pattern is about 22×10 inches and will plot, then cut 2 circles.
• The lower circle will plot/cut Clockwise (CW) and the upper circle will plot/cut Counter Clockwise (CCW).  The goal is for the upper and lower circles to match.  They may not cut exactly on their plot line and may not match at their start/stop — THE IMPORTANT POINT is they match each other.
• You will likely notice that one circle follows the line very closely, and the other does not quite meet up back where it started.
  

In this example, the circle that cut in a clockwise direction cut almost perfectly, but the one that cut counter-clockwise did not.  You will rotate the blade holder in the direction of the less accurate circle.  In this case you will want to move your cutter counter-clockwise.  Page Up turns the blade holder CCW and Page Down turns the cutter CW.  Here you would hit the page-up button 1 to 4 times, depending how much it’s off.  In this case, 2 taps of the page-up button did the trick.

• You should now repeat this test.  If successful, the 2 circles should look about the same.  Again, it’s not important that each circle is perfect, only that they are both the same.
• If they do not look the same, you should repeat the test until they do.  It may take several attempts until you get the hang of it.  Each test takes around a minute.

Now you should adjust your software settings for high-accuracy cutting.

• note that the following adjustment may increase cut time for highly detailed patterns
• Adjust the text box to the left of the Steering slider to be 0.5 or lower.  Lower values will give you marginally more accuracy at the cost of slower plot speed.  We have found that a value of 0.5 yields +/-1/64″ or better in most cases and +/-1/32″ in all tested patterns*.  The text box will override the setting specified by the slider.  To restore steering control to the slider, simply delete the number from the text box.
  

Peter’s an active user of our equipment for the last five years and one of our featured “success stories”, so it was great to finally meet face-to-face.

Peter Shows around the loft!

In 2007 Peter built his own table and installed his own system.  You can see a video of Peter’s install here:  http://carlsondesign.com/vacuum-tables/build-vac-table

The table has a skirt to hide fabric rolls and reduce noise from his vacuum blowers mounted under the table.

Peter uses simple "O" rings for his control, power, and air cables to ride above his plotter table.

Five years old and no problems. Peter has not replaced or repaired any parts but blades.

Glamour Shot #2

Here’s a quick video of the CTx-72 in action:  https://vimeo.com/37210964

Peter uses the T-Bar digitizer to create digital files from existing hard patterns.  You may remember our post from last summer regarding the humane Mexican turtle traps he made using the T-Bar:  http://carlsondesign.com/blog/peter-green-sails-uses-plotter-for-eco-project/

Peter's made a few custom modifications to his T-Bar. He made a platform for his laptop so he can digitize and edit files in a stand alone setup.

Finally, before heading off to Merilyn’s lunch, we snag one last picture of the man himself running his Carlson plotter/cutter.

Thanks Peter!

We appreciate the Green’s hospitality and it’s always great to see one of our systems in action.  Great setup Peter!  If you would ever like Carlson Design to visit your shop or feature your cutter on our website, please let us know!

Their primary driver behind purchasing a digitizing/plotting/cutting system is to produce more accurate, repeatable patterns, more quickly and with less material waste.

OK – before we walk you through their install, here’s a quick look at the final product.  *Spoiler alert:  It’s awesome.

PT-84" Glamour Shot.

They are going to use our T-Bar Digitizer to trace years of physical patterns and create digital, ready-to-cut files (picture of pattern library later in the post).

The T-Bar rides on the same track and table as the cutter, allowing you to trace patterns as large as your cutting bed.

You can see Josh digitize his first pattern and then plot and cut using the PT-84 in under 5 minutes:  http://vimeo.com/34858726 (This video was shot in HD, for the best viewing experience, please give it a minute to load).

Say “goodbye” to Josh and let’s see how they got setup.  To Start:

Before we arrive they loosely assembled their table frame. This time saving trick means more time for training!

Once the frame is assembled, position your table where you want it. Insert the vacuum table tops and align the edges. You are now ready to square, level, and tighten the table frame.

Attach the first side of your plotter/cutter track. Follow instructions -- it is import that the track is as straight as possible.

Use the plotter/cutter as a guide to attach track on the other side.

Before we arrived, they also mounted the two, 5HP regenerative vacuum blowers on the roof.

Advanta is cutting polyester, wool, and vinyl.  The majority of their material is a high thread count, porous material.  Therefore, we sized two 5HP regenerative blowers. These are plumbed in parallel (in the photograph) and mounted on the roof, about 30 meters from the table, although a closer mounting would reduce losses.  They will remain outside for noise reduction/cancellation. Regenerative blowers are a little more expensive, but a great choice if you need a lot of suction.

They have around 30 meters of plumbing running from their vacuum blowers on the roof to the bottom of the vacuum table. It is important to check every joint and connection for leaks to prevent vacuum loss.

Plumbing runs to the center of the table. Add blast gates to create different vacuum zones.

They setup each motor with its own starter. You can use one or both blowers depending on your table coverage and material density.

Add cutting surface to table.

Run Overhead Cabling. Make sure you use a nice "sailing-hardware" grade pulley for your lead over-head cable pulley.

All Done! Remember me?!

Time to start digitizing that enormous hard pattern library.

Phil digitizes his first pattern. The T-Bar has two buttons to allow the operator to digitize plot and cut lines.

Now it’s time to start training.  Everyone pull up a chair…and they had some great chairs!

"Take a seat, please." They make great looking chairs like this one.

Advanta Team. Phil, Josh, and Ben. Phil's a little camera shy...

You may notice their cutting surface looks a little different.  In an effort to eliminate material hangers caused when a rolling blade hits a vacuum hole, they went with a laser drilled, mircro-perferated cutting surface.

Microperferated Cutting Surface

Unfortunately, the high thread count nature of their material and the soft nature of the cutting surface resulted in the blade rolling over the material without fully cutting.  The solution is a combination of a harder cutting surface or something between the cloth and cutting surface like butcher paper.

Cutting is improved with very high thread count materials by putting paper between the cloth and cutting surface.

Harder cutting surface like Polyethylene or Formica.

It’s a long journey to Western Australia, however the staff at Advanta made us feel at home, “down-under”.  We think this is a great application for our equipment and look forward to watching their success.

For more information about how to automate your cutting, please contact us at info@carlsondesign.com.

Plotter arrives in Style -- Get off there Sam!

Carlson Booth -- All the bells-and-whistles!

We had a great market day and enjoyed meeting everyone from the East Coast that stopped by our booth.  Special thanks to Settler for throwing a great party Hawaiian themed beach party Friday night!

If you missed us at NECPA, you can catch us next at the SWIFA - Southwest Industrial Fabrics Association – in Austin Texas on April 26th-28th!

Most applications call for one 3HP or 5HP, 3phase, radial blower. For porous material (sail shade, fiberglass, etc…) or multi-ply cutting, it may be necessary to use multiple blowers, larger regenerative blowers, and/or require you vacuum bag your material with thin plastic sheeting.

Our radial blowers are high-volume, medium-pressure blowers. If you cover your table with non porous material and create a good vacuum seal, it requires very little vacuum to secure your material. Drag blades can shift material during cutting, especially with thicker material — for certain applications it may be necessary to use larger vacuum blowers to secure your material. For one-off or custom projects requiring a lot of vacuum, we recommend our Mini-Vacuum Blowers. They are inexpensive and provide a lot of suction for low cost– unfortunately they only last for 500hrs and are loud — if you need a lot of suction all the time, you probably need a regenerative blower.

See our industry guide and material cutting guide for help choosing the right vacuum blower for your application. When in doubt, feel free to contact Carlson Design, and remember you can never have too much vacuum.

Radial Vacuum:

Available Sizes: 1/3HP, 1HP, 1.5HP, 3HP, 5HP

Best Application: 1.5HP blowers best when 3phase power is not available

Strengths:  Single phase blowers are inexpensive and relatively quiet. Adding additional blowers is easy if needed

Weaknesses:  For best vacuum, requires a good seal. Not powerful enough for porous or heavier material

Regenerative Blower:

Available Sizes: 3HP, 5HP, 7HP

Best Application: Porous material or multi-ply custting

Strengths: Very powerful and efficient

Weaknesses: High price and requires 3phase power

Mini Pancake Blower:

Available Sizes: 0.7HP

Strengths: Inexpensive. High volume and lots of suction

Weaknesses: Loud. 500HR average life

Plumbing and Overhead cabling included with table purchase. Cutting surface sold separately. We recommend using flexible plumbing for most applications, however regenerative blowers require hard PVC plumbing.

Marco Canvas represents 4 generations of sewing tradition since the 1920′s, but current owner Ed Srzynski is not looking to rest on the coat tails of his forefathers.  His Six Sigma training and eye to the future keep the company continually improving.  A familiar saying of Ed’s around the shop is, “The only thing everyone here knows is constant is that things are going to be changing”.

Last week Carlson Design was excited to be apart of Marco Canvas’s latest change and step toward continual improvement when we installed and trained the entire Marco Canvas shop on our digitizing, plotting, and cutting system.

To start — after increasing the foot print of their 2nd story mezzanine, they cleared out their old cutting table to make room for our steel frame vacuum table.  We help many customers build or convert their existing tables, but based on their schedule purchasing our table was an obvious choice.

Marco cleared a space for our 6'x28' vacuum table. You only need access to 2 sides, but it's nice if you can walk all-the-way around.

Laying out the steel frame before you get started is a good practice and will ensure everything is accounted for and in the right place

Assembly is easy with 2 people. The entire table uses the 1/2" nuts and bolts. Finger tighten. Available in endless 4' sections, you can always make your table longer.

Like an 'Erector Set' for adults, assembly goes quickly. Now is a good time move your table exactly where you want it.

Set composite table tops on the steel frame. Place steel connecting tabs between each top.

Once all the tops are in, you are ready to square the frame and tighten all nuts.

Using a bottle jack or car jack, find the table's high point and level both sides. This is an important step.

Silicone pipe flanges and attach pre-cut PVC plumbing to the bottom of your table.

Attach Blower. This is a 5HP, 3phase radial blower. Different blower configurations are available depending on your application.

Have your local electrician ready to wire. Place an on off switch on the side of the table with the computer.

Your control cables can be run from a cable suspended over-head or off one side of the machine. Overhead is simple. Run a wire above head level down the center of the table.

Mount your track. Follow instructions closely! You're almost ready to start plotting and cutting.

Cover table with cutting surface. There are lots of different kinds, but 1/16" Polyethylene is the most popular. This should last 1-4 years and can usually be found locally.

Pat yourself on the back...It was a long day but you did it! A Carlson Design PT-96" Plotter/Cutter on a 6'x28' phillocraft vacuum table.

Time for training!  Ed gets the entire team together for group training.  They are still deciding what their operator’s workstation is going to look like, so for training we setup Ed’s projector.  A great tool for training large groups!

Plotmaster on the big screen! Coming to a theater near you...

First impressions. Everyone meet the plotter/cutter. Plotter/cutter, meet your new family. Training start with an orientation.

Learning is hands on. Everyone takes a turn driving -- here Ed takes his turn. A desk is in the works ;D

Using the plotter/cutter is intuitive, however what to cut isn’t.  Most first impressions are that the plotter/cutter is only for large jobs or repetitive work.  Not so!!  The plotter/cutter makes every plot and cut accurate and repeatable.  Once a pattern is stored electronically it can easily be recut for recovers or modified to fit a similar job.  How do you integrate into everyday operation?

Using the Carlson T-Bar Digitizer, you can quickly trace existing hard patterns to make a ready cut file or a file ready to be edited or modified in any CAD program.

Ed covered his pattern with a sheet of plexi-glass to prevent shifting during digitizing. This Yamaha V6 4Stroke 2010 motor cover is very popular. Once digitized and nested it cut in under 2 minutes.

The Marco Canvas team with their newest member!

Many thanks to Ed, Tammy, John, Juan, Joz, and the rest of the Marco team for a great week in Marco Island Florida.  Keep on eye on these guys as leaders in innovation for the marine canvas industry.

Right before Thanksgiving we had the pleasure to install systems at Ultraglas near Los Angeles, California and Tacoma Glass in Tacoma, Washington.

Let’s start with Ultraglas…

Ultraglas founder and owner, Jane Skeeter, is a pioneer in the decorative glass business and well known for taking on interesting and challenging project.  Her creativity is evident when you first walk in the door by the wide range of products on display in her show room…

Show room Filled with possibilities!

Where art meets glass...

Ultraglas uses the Hoaf lamination line which is an Autoclave-free modular system that cooks laminate in batches.  The Hoaf is ideal for custom lamination where each job might call for a different thickness or laminate type (and therefore need different heat or cook time).  Our cutter will help them cut specialty shapes for custom projects or repetitive shapes for high volume.  It will make cutting very accurate, clean, and so easy that it becomes an entry level job anyone in the shop can preform.

While we we’re there we saw Daniel Jessup of Salem, a familiar face from the glass show, putting the final touches on their oven.

Hi Daniel! He's putting the final touches on their modular Hoaf lami-oven.

Ultraglas’s Carlson system is very similar to Tristar’s — a PT-96″ Plotter/Cutter riding on an 8′x12′ vacuum table, however they turned their table sideways to accommodate pulling laminate from 2 different climate boxes.  This allows them to quickly pull color or clear interlayer onto their cutting table.  To maximize training time during install, they pre-assembled their table and vacuum plumbing before we arrived.

Level vacuum table with flexible plumbing attached to a 3HP, 3phase blower

Upon arrival, we installed the track, track belt, plotter/cutter, and cutting surface

and installed their overhead cabling between each climate box

They provided their own workstation and monitor. Any ergonomic stand or desk will work.

Once installed it's time to start training! Paper is a great material to use when getting started.

Lon takes the wheel. Our software makes creating and nesting simple shapes fast and easy.

First nest cut on paper. Nesting parts saves 10-20% material, which means a very fast ROI when cutting interlayer.

Video of first run:  http://vimeo.com/32848188

Dale and Lon give 2 thumbs up after training

Big thanks to everyone at Ultraglas, especially Jane Skeeter for getting everything ready for productive 2 day install and training.  We look forward to seeing your beautiful laminated glass!

A quick glimpse at the sun setting on Santa Monica Blvd

Good By LA....Here we come Tacoma

Tacoma Glass is known in the area for their quick turn around time.  You call these guys when you need to get the job finished.  They are a relatively new company, but the 3 owners alone have over 50 years worth of industry experience.  They are using the Hoaf Smart Box to laminate — this is a smaller system than the traditional Hoaf oven, however it gives them the ability to replace any piece of laminated glass in a single day.  They plan to use cut files from their CNC glass cutter with their Carlson, so they can cut matching glass and laminate.  This makes for high quality windows produced at record speed with limited specialty know-how required.

Tacoma Glass was great to have pre-assemble their table and have their staff ready for installation and training.  This allowed us to have everything running by lunchtime and we started training the first day.

We square and level the table

Plumbing attached to a 1.5HP single phase blower.

Our systems don't use much air. A 1HP, 2gallon air compressor work great if you don't have shop air.

Overhead cabling can run from the center or side of the plotter/cutter

They used a shelving bracket to mount their overhead wire.

Cutter installeld, ready for training!

PT-96" plotter/cutter on an 8'x12' vacuum table. Great looking setup!

96" wide gantry can plot/cut up to 87" wide material. Great for cutting PVB, EVA, SGP, and many other laminates.

Jim is the first to train - all smiles! Computer and monitor sit on a folding table until they are ready for a permanent wall mounted workstation.

Ricky practices adjusting cutting pressure for different materials. Easy to read pneumatic regulators are mounted on the operator's panel.

Video First Run:  http://vimeo.com/32850188

Ricky, Les, and Jim -- now pro's -- give a thumbs up after 2 great days of training!

This was a great install.  Downtown Tacoma is an exciting city for anyone in the glass world because of the Tacoma museum of glass and the Morano Hotel featuring a different glass artist on every floor.  Special thanks to Jeff, Steve, and Mike for making us feel welcome and thanks Les, Jim, and Rickey for being fun and easy to train.

Mike, Steve and his wife, and Jeff and his Wife take us to dinner to celebrate a successful install!

Hi Tom,

We recently did this order with the Tampa Bay Bucs. Used your cutter and software to create elaborate screens and masks, couldn’t of done it without it. As a matter of fact, because we had the abilities that your products gave us, we creamed the competition in getting this prestigious order

Here is the link from the Tampa Tribune

also attached some pics of the final products:

Raising the Sail!

–
Best Regards,
Tom Barry

Sail Technologies
1354 20th St. N.
St Petersburg, FL 33713
tel : 727-916-SAIL (7245)
www.sailtechnologies.com