Mining, Oil&Gas Maintenance: Onsite weld preparation for maximum equipment uptime
Announcement posted by Advanced Robotic Technology Pty Ltd 24 Sep 2012
Mining in Australia is still booming as a result of soaring demand for commodities from resource-hungry economies such as Indonesia, China and India. Consequently, maximum equipment uptime is essential. For maintenance and repair of equipment which cannot be move to the workshop, Advanced Robotic Technology (ART) now offers a portable, multi-function CNC machining system, providing a broad range of machining functions onsite.
Mining is on a precipice of exciting change. Volatile and emerging markets, new technologies, increased customer demands, a dynamic workforce and riveting business model change poise the modern miner to become different, to become smarter. Looking forward, mining companies will have critical choices to make about every aspect of their business. They can either innovate or stagnate.
One important area for innovation is maintenance: Massively capital-intensive, mining business performance is tied to the availability, maintenance, financing and deployment of assets. Every moment without the right equipment or transportation can have severe effects on productivity and profitability for miners.
Repairs often create “double jeopardy” for mining companies as emergency fixes have high costs while the asset is simultaneously down and not producing revenue. Downtime, and the clock is ticking. As a result, it is important to have the right equipment at hand and onsite if a piece of critical mining equipment, which cannot be moved to the shop, is broken. Some workpieces are simply too heavy to be transported to the machine or even too large to be machined on a conventional CNC machine.
Portable CNC plasma cutters
Consequently, the machine has to be transported to the workpiece, which is a very common scenario in industries working with large machinery, such as the mining or oil & gas industries. For these industries, Brisbane-based Advanced Robotic Technology (ART) now offers the Metaltek modular multi-function CNC machining system. This new breed of machine is fully portable and is able to provide a broad range of machining functions in the field and workshop.
Processes such as face milling, drilling, pocketing, bevelling, thread milling, tapping, plasma and oxy profiling as well as surface mapping (probing) and reverse engineering through digitising are all available with this product range.
One of the Metaltek developments is a portable 5-axis CNC weld preparation machine. The machine is fully portable and is able to process both curved and flat surfaces. The latest advancements in portable CNC plasma profile cutting gives customers faster feeds, higher acceleration and advanced motion control algorithms.
Integrated 5-axis 3D torch control
Moreover, innovative 5-axis technology ensures the machine is ideal for weld preparation, allowing bevel/contour cuts up to +/-45° in a single pass, drastically reducing time-intensive afterwork operations. Precise 5-axis motion control enables hole cutting and weld preparation on curved or flat surfaces. Accurate pierce height and cut height are essential for high-quality cutting and long consumable life. Automatic surface tracking along with the ART 3D motion controller enable previously unheard of capabilities in the field.
According to ART Director David White, plasma technology is ideal for all grades of pressure vessels, boiler plates or tubes, which can be cut, edge prepared, ready to be welded.
“The plasma cutting process is best-known for its simplicity and its ability to cut virtually any metal,” Mr White explains. “These qualities plus the productivity it yields have made plasma cutting a universally accepted metal cutting process with a range of capabilities and applications. Our new Metaltek range of portable CNC machines are built to the highest plasma technology standards.”
The machine features high-torque servo drives, active dry fume extraction and filtration, intelligent torch height control, monocoque chassis design, auto sensing drill tools and rigid tapping, just to name a few, all developed to increase productivity and performance.
Flexibility and automation
ART’s ProfileShop V3 touchscreen controller combines ease of use with advanced features to automate all cutting settings, resulting in optimum cut quality. The touchscreen controller gives ultimate control over every job and user log-in enables functions suitable to each operator’s capabilities. Users can modify jobs at the machine, start, stop, adjust parameters and more with a touch of the finger.
The optional pendant hand controller gives access to most functions when the operator is away from the main controller, which is often the case using a portable machine onsite.
“We are very excited about our new range of portable CNC machines,” Mr White concludes. “Mining in Australia is still booming as a result of soaring demand for commodities from resource-hungry economies such as Indonesia, China and India. Consequently, machines need to be working 24/7 to keep up with demand. Our portable profile cutters can be very valuable for the mining industry, enabling significant improvements in equipment uptime, which means greater return on capital investment translating to millions of dollars a day increase in production.”
About ART
Advanced Robotic Technology (ART) is Australia’s premier manufacturer of CNC routers and plasma cutters, based in Brisbane, QLD. Since 1997 all ART machines have been manufactured to the highest standards in our purpose-built factory. ART's range of CNC routers and plasma cutters are custom-built to meet industry specific requirements. Most ART machines in our CNC router or plasma cutter range can be modified to our customers’ specific business needs in regards to material dimensions and additional tooling requirements.
Contact:
Advanced Robotic Technology (ART) Pty Ltd
57 Trade Street, Lytton, QLD, 4178
Ph: 07 3393 6555
Fax: 07 3393 6533
Email: sales@advancedrobotic.com