Keeping your machinery in tip-top condition can significantly increase its longevity and performance. Luckily, the Ferric Service Team are experts in the maintenance of a wide variety of machines and are here to give you some tips. No matter what machine you are looking for, Ferric has options and expertise for you!
Coil-Fed Laser Cutting Machines
Cedric: Clean the machine bed regularly and ensure that the coil roller guides aren’t pinching the material too tightly. This will ensure that debris and material residue are removed, and the laser is functioning correctly, thereby avoiding interference with the cutting process and potential inaccuracies.
Laser Cutting
Harshal: Don’t get used to everything running smoothly. Lasers seem to require minimal maintenance but have a variety of different inspections ranging from cleaning/replacing gas and air filters, to laser head and cable optic inspections, to mechanical alignment of moving components.
Press Brakes
Jack: Centring is one of the most important factors when bending material. If your punch is not centred with your die, the X axis will be off, bends will be wavy, and uneven angles form across the part. When there is downtime in production, take some time to adjust your centring and check your X-axis accuracy, making the necessary adjustments. If you start to see a problem, address it early rather than letting it get worse!
Tube/Profile Lasers
Link: Pay close attention to factory recommendations for changing water/coolant and filters. Sticking to these intervals prevents corrosion and ensures proper cooling.
Sheet Metal Shears
Julio: Checking for signs of dullness, chips, or misalignment on your blade ensures a top-quality cut and reduces machine wear and tear. Also, to align your backstop, cut a piece over the full length of the machine or just on each side and measure. If the measurement is off side to side, then it’s a mechanical adjustment. If side to side the measurement is the same, but the measured number is wrong, then it’s a settings adjustment.
Cut-To-Length Lines
Koen: Regularly inspect the guides and rollers for wear, damage, or misalignment, ensuring smooth material feeding and precise cuts. Be careful when setting slit rollers, making sure the gap is no more than 0.002”.
Sheet Metal Folders
Tristan: Make sure the A axis (lower die) is set at the correct height for the material you are bending. Bending at 90 degrees: A axis height = material thickness. Bending over 90: A axis height = 1.5 * material thickness.
Band Saws
Cedric: Regularly check the blade tension and guides, as well as inspecting for wear, cracks, or missing teeth on the blade to ensure precision. If your bandsaw isn’t cutting square, I’d be happy to help guide you in the right direction on where to start looking.
Plasma Cutting
Sean: Focus on plasma gas quality and cleaning. Regularly check your plasma gas quality and clean all machine components, including the torch leads, torch body, power supply, and torch cooling system.
Ironworker
Julio: Regularly lubricating moving parts reduces friction and wear to prolong the life of your machine. Inspect the blade and cut quality, and ensure the gap is set correctly if the cut/notch seems out of the ordinary.
Metal Deburring Machines
Allen: Inspect key components regularly. To prevent failures, replace worn parts, such as bearings and belts, and make necessary adjustments to tension levels, pinch rollers, and other settings to maintain optimal performance.
Daily maintenance can be easily overlooked or forgotten, but it is critical to the functioning and longevity of your machine. We hope these tips serve as a good starting point for you, regardless of your machine. Reach out to our service team for more advice and expertise!