How to Maintain Laser Cutting Machinery?

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How to Maintain Laser Cutting Machinery?
Maintenance is not just about fixing things and
getting them to work the way they were. Several
metal fabricators fail to understand this. Most
of the times, they fail to maintain the equipment
on a regular basis as it interrupts the
production and affects their income. But they
tend to forget that if maintenance is ignored and
the working of equipment is pushed beyond a
certain limit, major faults can occur leading to
several hours of shutdown. Also, an added expense
of about 1 million can incur in some
instances. In order to maximize the laser
cutting potential, it is important to have
scheduled time for maintenance. How else can you
ensure if your laser cutting machinery is working
properly? Heres how.
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Think wisely before choosing spare parts When it
comes to keeping inventory like raw sheets or
metal stalk, metal fabricators do not show much
interest. But when it comes to machinery like a
laser cutter, fabricators must make smart
decisions as to what laser spare parts to
buy. Afterall, laser machines are what keep their
business going. In order to obtain MRO inventory
and spare parts at cost- effective rates,
service-level contracts can be signed up with
companies that provide these machinery. By doing
so, fabricators can maintain the collection of
important parts, and stay away from stocking
expensive parts which are needed as and when a
particular project is undertaken. Also, a
fabricator must make sure if the service
agreement is unbiased and decide what spare parts
he should be keep
with them in the shop.
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Maintain as recommended The companies that sell
laser cutting machines provide with a certain
maintenance schedule which must be followed to
make sure that the machine works at the best of
its capabilities for a long time. Do not take
shortcuts and maintain a computerized schedule of
the maintenance activities. If the maintenance
professionals are acquainted to your machinery,
they can handle the performance issues in a
better way. So keep communicating about the
problems you face. The maintenance company should
also make sure that the environment is suitable
for the laser machinery which means that the
temperature and moisture levels in the shop
must be balanced in order to undertake proper
maintenance.
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Consider the Lifetime Costs When fabricators
invest into a laser cutting machine, they do not
think about the long-term maintenance costs. In
fact, they make an apples-to-apples comparison.
For instance A fabricating company estimates that
a laser will cost 20,000 every year to operate,
by considering gases, electricity, gases and
other consumables. However a total cost should
also include the cost of replacement parts and
service call. We hope the above mentioned points
will help you to conduct better maintenance for
your equipment. There isnt an all-inclusive
solution to maintain the laser cutting machinery.
But conducting regular maintenance will lead you
to have a trustworthy, consistent, and
cost-effective process. Needless to say, it will
also provide you with a higher value of the
machines and better production. About The
Author Steve M Glassner is the General manager
of Alternative Parts Inc, the leading
manufacturer and distributor of various CNC
machine parts including Precitec laser spare
parts. Steve is a Machine Tools industry
enthusiast and frequently writes about various
aspects of the industry.