What to Include in a Structural Profile Cutting Package
A profile package is a list of sections, lengths and end preparations. When those three are clear, the cutting is straightforward. When they are not, the frame is guessed at.
Structural cutting arrives in two forms: a drawing with dimensions on it, or a package listing sections and lengths. The second is faster to quote and easier to check, provided it carries the end preparations.
The member schedule
A schedule that lists each member by mark, section, length and quantity is the most useful document in a structural package. It also happens to be the format the machine programs from, so a well built schedule moves directly into cutting.
- Section type and size: I or H, channel, angle, T profile, square or rectangular tube.
- Length for each member, to the point the drawing defines.
- Quantity per mark, so repeats are visible.
- Material, and whether any member is stainless rather than carbon.
End preparation
This is the part most often left off. A member that is cut square and a member that is coped for a connection are different jobs, and the cope is what makes a frame fit without hand work.
- Which ends are coped, and the cope geometry or a reference to the connection drawing.
- Which ends are beveled for weld preparation, with the angle and land.
- Which ends are square cuts.
- Holes: size, position and pattern, and whether they are drilled as part of the same setup.
Marking
Etching for layout marks is applied in the same program as the cut. Part marks, member numbers and reference lines can be put on the section, which is what lets a welder pick up the right beam without measuring it.
What the machine changes about the package
The Voortman V807 beamline processes profile heights from 1/2 in to 18 in, widths from 2 3/4 in to 41 in, material thickness from 1/8 in to 3 1/8 in, and handles full 60 ft material with the line able to process up to 70 ft. It cuts, copes, bevels, marks, and drills in the same automated setup.
That means a package designed around hand cutting and drilling can often be simplified: one pass instead of three operations. It also means the limit that catches people is not length but the profile size envelope and the pierce capacity of 1 1/2 in, above which material is edge started.
What the package should not assume
Long lengths are a handling question as much as a machine question, and a member that exceeds the envelope is reviewed rather than quietly substituted. KorFab fabricates and supplies: it does not erect structural work on site, so erection details belong outside the cutting package.
Where to go next
Reading a structural processing requirement for the Voortman V807 covers how a request is checked against the machine, and repeat production metal components covers packages that come back on a schedule.