The cutting of metal is the first, almost unavoidable phase in metal processing. While the economics of turning and milling are very well understood the band saw cutting is somewhat of a secret. An answer to a seemingly simple question “How much of this metal can I cut with this blade?” is not simple and straightforward. A question such as “How much will it cost to cut this metal with this blade” is even more complex.
At PETRA Machines we provide our customers band saw machines with:
1. Lowest Tool Cost-per-Cut
The components of total cost of cutting are numerous. One of the most important is Tool Cost. The commonly accepted measure is blade-price per m2 of cut metal. If say one cuts a total of 5 m2 of metal with 30 EUR blade the Tool Cost will amount to 6 EUR/m2. The commonly accepted rule of thumb is that a bi-metal blade used on a industry standard band saw ( such as KASTO or Behringer) will cut approximately 0,5 to 1,5 m2 of metal per meter of blade depending on type of metal cut and cutting parameters. In general the tougher the material is to cut less surface will be cut and, equally, the increased cutting rate will decrease the useful life of blade. On PE-TRA band saws this results are 50-100 % better under same cutting rates.
2. Lowest electrical energy consumption
The biggest savings of electric energy on PE-TRA name saws come from the fact that the hydraulic system is totally turned off during the cutting. Hydraulics is used only for material movement and clamping. Since the time of cutting is typically much longer then the material feed and clamping a lot of energy is saved. In hot climates the oil often gets over heated and must be cooled and regularly changed. In our machines oil is always at temperature of the working environment.
3. Low maintenance cost
Providing that customer regularly clean and oil the machine the machine will run flawlessly for years. Even blade guides are designed for years of operation without the need for replacement. High quality electronics assures smooth operation even under heaviest conditions.
4. Blade protection against operator’s errors
The down-force and down-feed integrated hydromechanical system (HMS) protects the blade against accidental operator’s error when entering the material. Under normal conditions the wrong setting of down-feed rate, which is a typical operator’s error cannot damage the blade since the HMS effectively limits the down-force to a set value before the damage to teeth occur.
5. Guaranteed Cost-per-Cut
If a customer needs a guaranteed Cost-per-Cut, which is often the case in large scale cutting operations, PETRA Machines will provide such guaranty for its band saws under clearly defined conditions. These include in-house testing of the material to be cut and strict adherence to cutting parameters set by PETRA. In most such cases the blades are chosen and supplied by PETRA.
6. Cost-per-Cut calculation
The calculation program is available upon request free of charge to any interested customer.
