Category: Articles

The May edition of The Fabricator, introduces readers to the world of animatronics, interactive characters and puppets that are brought to life with the help of the OMAX Maxiem 1530 waterjet cutting machine. This all takes place at Animax Designs, Nashville, TN, machine shop.

James Hudak is the manager of the machine shop, with six individuals working along-side him, two which are certified welders. Although the nature of Animax’s work is unique, it’s similar to life in any other shop. Except, Hudak and his team bring amazing characters to life, including giant dinosaurs!

Hudak also helped to animate cartoon figures, monsters, and other mythical creatures during his nine years with Animax Designs Inc., Nashville, Tenn. Officially, the company, founded in 1989, is dedicated to creating “extraordinary three-dimensional characters with artistic integrity and cutting-edge technology,” per the website.

“It’s more or less whatever the client wants, and we’ll look at the project and say, ‘Yeah, we can do that no matter what.’ Then we figure it out or we send it out to be worked on,” Hudak said.

At Animax Designs, the pressure is to keep the project moving forward. Delays in one department have a domino effect, squeezing other departments’ timeframe to get their jobs done.

To help it become more responsive, the machine shop purchased and installed an OMAX Maxiem 1530 waterjet cutting machine from machine tool distributor Capital Machine Technologies. The waterjet was installed in April 2020.

Hudak has called the waterjet a “game-changer” in being able to meet the requests of customers, both internally and externally.

Click here to get the full-story

Davis, Dan. “Craft and common sense”. The Fabricator, March 2021/VOL. 51 NO. 3 How a waterjet helps to bring characters to life for Nashville designer. Accessed 26 May 2021.

#OMAX #Waterjet #Fabricating

In the latest edition of The Fabricator, Dan Davis takes us into the world of metal fabricating at NASA with Spencer Wells, whose actual title is mechanical engineering technician, in the Prototype Development Laboratory (PDL) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“We’re far from a production shop here,” Wells said. “We’re basically a one-stop shop for prototyping. That’s why we have so many capabilities.

“So, if you had engineers or scientists with an idea or a concept that needed to be worked through and it involved sheet metal or even composites that required fabricating, machining, or electrical work, they would have to go to the outside world and find a company to work on each of those areas. You would have to deal with multiple businesses. Instead, they come here. We work through all of those problems and get those engineers and scientists what they need.”

When the search began for a new press brake, one of Wells’ co-workers suggested an electric brake, something he had seen at a tradeshow. Wells said he didn’t have any experience with that type of press brake, but he was intrigued to learn more. When he began to see this type of equipment in action, he liked what he saw.

“We thought with this type of press brake and with new software, it was going to allow us to do first part, right part every time,” Wells said.

Capital Machine Technologies introduced Wells to the SafanDarley E-Brake, giving Wells the reassurance that he can bend the “first part… right part.”

“We all have different things that we need to do around here. I don’t necessarily have a day to set up the press brake and try to get the right bend for one or two parts,” Wells said. “I need to be confident in the software and the press brake so when I punch in the numbers, I can go over to the press brake and bend one part and have it right.”

Davis, Dan. “Inside metal fabricating at NASA”. The Fabricator, March 2021/VOL. 51 NO. 3 A fabricator’s role in getting man back to the moon. Accessed 4 March 2021.

#SafanDarley #ElectricPressBrake #MetalFabrication

A customer of Capital Machine, Rough Country (one of the nation’s largest sellers of lift kits and suspension products for utility vehicles and trucks in the U.S.), sought out the assistance of our Sales Engineer, Jeff Price. They found themselves in a predicament; their press brakes were slowing down production.

They had a large press brake that was operating slowly. Which is an issue in a manufacturing facility where brake operators are expected to run a minimum amount of strokes per day.

There are also two smaller press brakes that were quicker. However, they need tweaking after some jobs to dial in the specified tolerances for the job. That takes time to do and obviously minimizes productivity.

To keep up with demand, Rough Country manufacturing management began the search for new press brake technology in 2018. Jeff Price, invited Jeff Epperson, Rough Country’s Manufacturing Manager, to go see an SafanDarley electric press brake in action at a customer’s location and Epperson liked what he saw. As a result, Rough Country purchased the 88-ton E-Brake 80-2550 and had it installed in December 2018.

Capital Machine and the introduction to the SafanDarley line of electric press brakes resolved Rough Country’s press brake conundrum. Read the fully story on The Fabricator.