Titanium bar has been a staple part of CML’s inventory for five years and at the start of 2010 the company decided to offer titanium sheet to its wide range of customers. Having previously relied upon an outside waterjet profiling sub-contractor, CML Alloys made the decision to bring this process in-house.  This move was designed to ensure improved lead times, with a 24-hour turnaround wherever possible, and provide greater control over the whole waterjet process in order to meet the quality standards that its customers demanded.

As the exclusive UK agents for both WARDJet waterjet cutting tables and AccuStream waterjet intensifiers, Wightman Stewart was able to engineer a turnkey waterjet system that included the waterjet table, twin screen CNC Controller, intensifier pump, diamond cutting heads, metered abrasive feed, header tank and oil cooler. The WARDJet ZX 2543 installed at CML Alloys has been custom designed with a large 2.5 x 4.3 metre cutting table to accommodate large sheets of titanium.  Whilst most of the titanium cutting involves straight-line cutting, the 2.5 metre deep table gives CML Alloys the facility to cut components such as large dished heads.

The AccuStream Dialine cutting heads offer a high quality and repeatable cut.  The diamonds increase machine uptime with an estimated life cycle of 1000 hours. AccuStream offers a minimum guarantee of 600 hours.  The two heads are used when there is an increase in demand on CML and throughput needs to be increased.  The second head also provides a vital back up.  A 1000kg abrasive hopper has sufficient capacity to support the two cutting heads when working continuously for up to 14 hours.

The two independent Z-axis incorporate height sensors which are very important when cutting expensive materials, giving CML Alloys full confidence in the cutting process. The abrasive lines feature a vacuum control sensor, which in the event of an abrasive blockage, sends a signal to the controller to pause the program.

CML Alloys is cutting titanium sheet to finished tolerances of (+0.0/0.2mm).  The WARDJet machine is laser mapped and ball barred to comfortably achieve this. This is an important factor for many of the company’s customers who have the knowledge that the material provided by CML Alloys will not require further processing.

The AccuStream AS 60 100 hp intensifier sits adjacent to the WARDJet.  Its selection for this installation was made after careful consideration of its suitability and CML Alloys did assess other makes of intensifier.  The build quality, low cost of ownership, PLC based diagnostic control and twin intensifier design of the AccuStream were important considerations.  AIR (Advanced Intensifier Technology) ensures easy simple maintenance, prolonged component life and high levels of reliability.

CML Alloys is looking to provide more added value services to its customer base and the investment in WARDJet waterjet is invaluable in this approach.  For example, it may be simpler to waterjet a hole rather than add an extra drilling operation.  Furthermore, the WARDJet can always be adapted to carry out additional machining processes other than waterjet cutting such as every system WARDJet sells into the market is completely upgradeable.

CML Alloys already had its own CAD/CAM and nesting software in place before investment in the WARDJet. A post processor was already written by the CAD/CAM vendor and has been seamlessly integrated into the WARDJet X-Classic Controller.

“Service has been dealt with quickly and easily,” says CML’s Operations Manager Richard Ward.  “Overall Wightman Stewart, AccuStream and WARDJet have done everything we expected of them throughout the installation of our waterjet system and since then through the service they have provided.”