When versatility met effectiveness

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Introduced by Pesaro-headquartered Intermac, a specialised branch of the Biesse Group, the Primus Series is a waterjet-based product family that aims to provide customers in different manufacturing sectors with such characteristics as ease of use, maximum reliability and, furthermore, flexibility.

As a part of the Pesaro-based Biesse Group, founded by entrepreneur Giancarlo Selci in 1987, Intermac is specialised in developing glass, stone and metal processing technologies or solutions. Its customers can be therefore found in a variety of industrial segments. Building and construction, for instance, together with aerospace, furnishings and design, last but not least the automotive industry. By introducing its latest Primus Series of machineries, Intermac clearly stated that its aim is to build upon «the power of water» in order to provide clients with a most reliable, effective, performing production system. The company, that employs more than 300 workers in its Pesaro and Dongguan (China) plants, pointed out in fact that although water technologies have been used in machining operations for decades, only nowadays they are experiencing a remarkable success, thanks to their innovative potential. «Ease of use», Intermac reported, «coupled with the fact that it can cut just about any material with great precision, make it suitable for a wide range of users. Materials are machined by aiming a high-speed jet of water and abrasive at them using 400 MPa-high pressures». According to the Italian producer, waterjet technologies can ensure manufacturers a number of attractive benefits. The first advantage, as it stated, is that these systems do not require high temperatures, thus achieving the result of leaving all chemical properties of a material completely unchanged, without causing, at the same time, any pollution. Furthermore, the firm underlined that the Primus Series makes it easier to block the pieces of material that need to be machined. Sometimes, it added, this operation could prove unnecessary. Also, «these solutions hardly require any setting at all» and represent an example of flexibility, which also translates into effectiveness.

Three or five axes

Thanks to a vast and extensive distribution network of branches, dealers and agents, Intermac can offer personalised assistance to customers, from pre-sales consultation to after-sales and spare parts services. The Primus Series will benefit from these offerings too. The machine is designed to work both on three and five axes, and this means it can allow 45 degrees angled cuts as well as chamfering or countersinking. Sources at Biesse Group observed that «he water-jet can be started at any point on the control panel and can follow any path: the finished product doesn’t need to be cleaned at all once the working cycle is complete». It is also noteworthy that «all cuts obtained by using waterjet technologies are immediately ready for tempering, so that there is no need for any additional, secondary machining». Primus’ 5-axis cutting head is equipped with an infinite rotation C-axis, which was also patented by Intermac. This cutting head allows for inclined cuts (+/- 60 degrees), acquiring the highest quality level possible. The machine integrates an intensifier (this is the basic version), allowing for different levels of power to adapt to various, albeit specific, needs. «More demanding users», as the producer commented, «may be interested in the high-performance Servotron version, which can provide up to 25% energy savings and reduced noisiness, as well as a longer average lifecycle for all components that must be used at high pressures. Maximum cutting performance is guaranteed by the automatic regulation of the amount of abrasive used, which helps clients to reduce their production costs. Another system was developed in order to automatically remove exhausted abrasive from the cutting basin, eliminating the need to stop the machine and clean the basin. Finally, the machine is equipped with a series of devices that aim to simplify an operator’s duty: a laser pointer to set 0 even for rotated panels, a remote-controlled hand-held terminal for set-up operations and launching a work program; a thickness tracer to automatically adjust the distance between the cutting head and the piece being machined; finally a roller bed».

Integrated software applications

It is Intermac’s belief that, in an Industry 4.0, highly digitalised and automated environment, the relation between workers and machineries can truly make a difference, given it is correctly managed. Therefore, a closer man-machine interaction is to be pursued, in order to achieve a superior efficiency of working cycles. And in fact, this is the main reason why the Primus Series integrates an innovative software application whose goal is that to allow users to check, verify, modify all of the most critical working parameters. This means that the Primus Series itself can support utilisers in optimising their respective production costs, both in case they need to manage a large production batch and in case they only have to deal with smaller amounts of material or products. «Through the Primus Series», as the Biesse Group division reported, «Intermac wants to offer a truly high-tech oriented, extremely personalised product range, in order to meet the market demand for technologies that can adapt to the evolution of materials and many application needs». Two Intermac Primus Series models were recently installed at Tenaris Dalmine, an Italian manufacturer of seamless steel pipes for the energy, automotive, and mechanical industries whose capacity amounts to 950,000 tonnes of finished product per year. «Due to the need to manufacture pipes of increasingly greater thickness», Intermac recalled in a recent press release, «the test preparation section has been equipped with waterjet machines in order to expedite the preparation of the test samples with more efficient pipe section cutting operations. This allowed the producer, that can rely on a workforce of 2,300 units in five production sites, to enhance its productivity significantly. «For us, waterjet technology is the solution that best satisfies our requirements», confirmed Marco Perletti, a Laboratory technician at Tenaris Dalmine, «and in 2010 we purchased our first Primus 202 system by Intermac. Building upon our previous, most positive experience with this system, which has shown itself to be extremely functional for our own types of processing activities, in 2011, we decided to make a second investment by purchasing another machine». Functionalities, in this circumstance, were similar to those of the previous installation, but the real difference was that this new solution had been greatly customised and personalised for the client. These machines are equipped with two five-axis working heads that operate by projection; and not by adhesion. Today, thanks to the two waterjet systems Tenaris Dalmine is not only capable of processing pipe sections up to 33 millimetres thick in a much more efficient manner, but it experienced that it can even boast the exclusive capability of processing sections up to a 66 millimetres thickness. Featuring a useful, available cutting area of 2,000 x 2,200 mm2, Intermac’s Primus Series technologies can easily handle diameters ranging from 80 to 512 millimetres.

On show at Blechexpo Hall 5 – Stand 5403