With an inventory of over 15 million lb of stainless steel and nickel alloy plate and plate products, family-owned Sandmeyer Steel Co. services customers worldwide. Over 100 pieces of in-house plate processing equipment help the company maintain its status as a leading producer of stainless steel and nickel alloy plate products used in capital equipment for the chemical and other process industries.
The company recently added Flow Int’l Corp.’s 87,000 psi HyperPressure Technology system for increased speed and accuracy. At 87,000 psi, the waterjet velocity increases beyond Mach 3.
Higher cutting pressures provide more power; greater power density makes deeper cuts for a given cutting speed and faster cuts for a given cutting depth. At 87,000 psi, cutting speeds increase up to 50%.
Customers benefit from increased capacity and reduced cycle time, resulting in faster deliveries. The system has two dynamic cutting heads that eliminate taper and improve edge quality, resulting in fewer striations on thicker material. Sandmeyer has also installed an extra-large cutting table that will enable it to cut pattern sizes up to 160 x 240 in. (4,064 mm x 6,096 mm).
The 87,000 psi HyperPressure Technology system becomes the fourth abrasive waterjet cutter at Sandmeyer’s Philadelphia plate processing center. The four machines with seven cutting heads assure customers an efficient, cost-effective method of cutting stainless steel and nickel alloy plate products. Sandmeyer can provide near-net-shapes and intricate parts cut to customer-specified accuracy levels and close tolerances. These cutting systems can now minimize or totally eliminate secondary finishing while assuring the customer of receiving superior edge quality with no heat-affected zone.