Slawinski & Co. GmbH has been providing tailor-made solutions for a wide variety of customers for more than 100 years. The products of the family-owned company are supplied right across Europe to all customers – from very small companies right up to global players - who place value on high quality products. Slawinski relies on state-of-the-art machine solutions to fulfill all the individual needs of their customers. MicroStep plasma cutting machine with an extraordinary configuration for 2D and 3D cutting to process their plates and domes is also very important part of company's machine park. When customers ask for solutions from Slawinski & Co. GmbH from Siegen in northwest Germany, they are asking for flexibility, innovation and the highest standards. Their tailor-made heads and specialized pressure vessel parts are known to manufacturers throughout Europe and beyond because of their high quality. The fourth generation of the approximately 130 employees use their experience and state-of-the-art technology to create customized products. The product range is large, each one a unique piece. Circles are cut out of metal plates and, after dishing, flanging, spinning, edge and surface processing, turned into vessel heads, arched floors and much more.
“We supply important components for construction of pressure vessels for power plants, tanks for chemical industry and high-pressure containers. There, the quality has to fit exactly,” explains technical director Rainer Jurreit.
In cooperation with the company Slawinski, MicroStep developed an innovative system for the flexible and precise processing of sheets and domes on a special scale. The DRM series has been extended by customized technologies for the container bottom specialist.“We have seen that it worked”Despite the consistently high quality of their products, the company‘s specialists were on a look-out for new and better ways of meeting the ever-changing customer demands.
“Demand for dome cutting had been growing and we were not able to satisfy it,” says Managing Director Konstantin Slawinski.
“We‘ve been searching for 10 years, looking at many different manufacturers and technologies, including robots. However, due to the dimensions of the domes, they could not meet our vision,” says Mr. Slawinski. After all, the company produces domes with diameters of up to 5,500 mm.
When designing the plasma cutting system, the main focus was on the exact and flexible processing of domes. A special cutting table allows the cutting of domes from 500 mm to 5,500 mm diameter.At EuroBlech 2014 in Hanover, the company came across MicroStep.
“We were looking for a machine for dome cutting, we wanted to cut radial holes. With our existing machine, we could not cut what we had envisioned. That‘s when we noticed MicroStep, which we did not even know before,” says Alexander Fries, Head of Production Planning responsible for preliminary selection of technology. Mr. Slawinski adds:
“We have seen that it worked. For the first time in our ten-year search we had a feeling that there is someone who wants to sell something they have actually mastered.”One system replaces two machinesMicroStep has developed an innovative system for flexible and precise processing of metal plates and domes with exceptional dimensions. The DRM series, a multi-functional plasma cutting machine for the toughest jobs, has been expanded to include custom technologies for the vessel head specialist. A special dome cutting table can handle domes from 500 mm to 5 500 mm in diameter. The plasma rotator with a pantograph design for a 120° tilt, enables weld edge preparation also on the bottom edge of the cut dome. Plate cutting is also possible, using the same gantry on a work area of 14 000 x 6 000 mm, replacing their original plate cutting machine.
Konstantin Slawinski is very satisfied with the solution:
“Cutting of both plates and domes is the optimal solution for our limited space. This system replaces two machines.”
Sheet metal processing in 2D and 3D is possible with the Slawinski cutting centre on a working area of 14,000 x 6,000 mm. This is where the round blanks are cut, which are the starting point for domes.New standard for precision of contours and bevels on domesA brand new feature introduced for the first time on the Slawinski machine was mScan, technology for measuring the true surface shape of a particular dome. A 3D laser scanns the entire dome and advanced algorithms adjust the movement of the cutting tool according to compensate for the measured deviations from the ideal shape of the CAD model.
“Starting from our established Additional Bevelling Process technology, we developed mScan specifically for dome processing and our engineers and programmers adapted it to the needs of Slawinski. This technology sets new standards for precision of contours and bevels cut on domes,” says MicroStep‘s co-founder and Head of Research & Development Alexander Varga, Ph.D.
A special version of the MicroStep R5 rotator for dome processing enables bevel cutting, for example for weld seam preparation up to 120°. The integrated fully automatic calibration unit ensures reliably precise results. The specially integrated ABP® laser scanner from MicroStep scans the entire surface of the dome in advance. A needle marker is also integrated in the system.
