Ever higher metal sheet and plate costs can be offset by using nesting software that gives a tighter nest and reduces the overall cutting time.

Soaring material costs make any improvements in sheetmetal nesting and profiling efficiency worthwhile. Sharing a single cut path between neighbouring components can provide a tighter nest and reduce the overall cutting time, but there are technological problems. Lantek's nesting software considers the practicality of component shape and layout when generating nests which incorporate common line cutting, to overcome these difficulties.

Typical problems encountered during common line cutting include small parts tipping up; components sliding under their neighbours, resulting in recutting; larger parts distorting, which can stop the laser cutting any further; witness marks on component edges; and warping of the sheet itself.

The Lantek Expert software solves these problems by only common line nesting pairs of parts, and those which have an identical side length of at least 100mm.

This helps to keep the sheet stable by avoiding distortion, and ensures good edge quality.

The software also calculates a safe path around the parts which have already been cut, avoiding potential collisions.

Elsewhere gaps are automatically left between components to produce a reliable result.

Going one stage further, the software can introduce bridging between small parts to connect them to one another.

The result is fewer piercing operations which allows several small parts to be cut in one continuous path.

Bridging also adds to the stability and security of the whole sheet.

Small parts are prevented from falling into the bed of the machine, and linking them together adds to the rigidity of the full sheet of products.

Combining these two approaches to nesting will help Lantek users reduce cutting times with shorter paths; reduce the number of piercing operations; improve material utilisation; and minimise the use of consumables, directly adding to profit margins.

* About Lantek Systems - Lantek Systems, formed in 2000 is the UK arm of Lantek Spain, which has its headquarters in Vitoria-Gasteiz near Bilbao.

Lantek specialises in the creation and delivery of software to optimise the performance of sheet metal and fabrication machines; products to maximise economy of material usage; and software for effective production control in a fabrication environment.

Lantek has offices in France, Spain, Italy, UK, USA, Japan, Germany and South Korea.