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A Baxley Blowpipe operator prepares to load a 5- by 10-ft. blank onto the firm’s 4000-W laser-cutting machine.
When I recently caught up with Eric Baxley, shop foreman and part owner of Baxley Blowpipe Co. in Dothan, AL, his company’s new laser-cutting machine was busy churning through 12-gauge Type 316L stainless-steel sheet for a food-processing-plant customer. Compared to plasma-arc cutting the stainless material, which the firm did for some 10 years, laser cutting allows the firm to move material through to its welding booths with a 50-percent improvement in throughput, says Baxley.
“There’s no grinding needed on cut edges prior to welding,” he says, “a job our operators were happy to give up. And, I’d much rather see our guys building assemblies than grinding off slag left over from the cutting process. On some of our work, we endured as much as 30 min. of grinding before we could move the parts over to welding.”
Laser cutting’s not new to the shop—it’s been relying on the process to carve stainless, carbon and galvanized steel, as well as aluminum-alloy sheet and light plate, for 10 years. But what is new is Baxley’s 4000-W laser-cutting machine (a Hyper Turbo-X 510 5-by-10-ft. model from Mazak Optonics Corp., Elgin, IL), a significant upgrade from its previous 2500-W machine. Why the move to more power?
“When I attended a Mazak open house at its new facility (in Elgin) in 2008, I went with no intention of purchasing a new machine,” says Baxley. “However, when I learned how the additional power, as well as a few additional new features on the machine, could help us, the investment seemed easy to justify.
“First, we’ve been taking on more and more heavy-gauge sheet and light plate,” explains Baxley, noting that the company still claims as its bread and butter fabrication of custom pneumatic conveying systems for processing plants—collection systems for moving materials like sawdust and peanut hulls. “The 4000-W laser can cut 1-in. mild steel, and the added power allows us to increase cutting speed without sacrificing quality—parts come off of the laser so quickly now that we don’t have to work as much overtime as we used to.”
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Material Inventory Ready and Waiting
Baxley Blowpipe has been family owned and operated since 1946 and employs 27, including Eric’s father Jerome (president and majority owner) and brother David (who runs the shop and performs programming and parts nesting for the laser-cutting machine.) Eric’s mother (Dianne Baxley) and sister (Cindy) work in the front office.
Baxley typically runs through 10 or more different setups on its new laser-cutting machine daily, so the machine’s automated changeover capabilities really pay off for the company. Because it als uses the ideal setup for each application, assist-gas consumption has gone down, saving the company as much as $1000/month.
In addition to its laser-cutting machine, Baxley’s 13,000-sq.-ft. blowpipe-manufacturing facility also stars a pair of press brakes, shears, ironworkers, a high-definition plasma-cutting machine (1.5-in. capacity, 8- by 20-ft. table), and three plate rollers. The Baxley manufacturing complex also is home to a 28,000-sq.-ft. facility for fabricating motorcycle trailers, which also houses a powder-coating line; a 7100-sq.-ft. shop for tank fabrication; and a 13,000-sq.-ft. warehouse where it stores more than $100,000 worth of raw material.
“Our vendors can’t believe we stock as much material as we do, but it works to our advantage,” says Baxley. “Other fabrication shops in the area offer laser-beam cutting, but they probably don’t have food-grade stainless-steel sheet in their racks. How long will it take for them to order and receive a supply of material, and how much will they have to pay?”
Packaging Details
We pack the machine in wooden cases or frames according to the size of the machine and use soft materials to ensure that the machine will not be affected by collision
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