Taking place every two years, Kasto’s ‘Future Days’ events provide an ideal platform for the sawing and storage specialist to showcase new innovations and technologies to its existing and prospective customers. This year’s event held additional significance as it marked the official opening of new facilities at the company’s Achern, Germany headquarters. 

Founded in 1844 by Karl Stolzer, the company remains in the Stolzer family today with brothers Armin and Hans-Jürgen steering the ship. Globally, Kasto employs around 600 people and with apprentices and trainees accounting for 10% of that figure, it’s clear that Kasto is keen to develop and nurture its skills base internally. It’s testament to the company that 45% of the current workforce began their working lives with Kasto and have remained with the company since. Training is high on the Kasto agenda with €1.2 million invested on an annual basis.

The Achern site over the past year has seen significant redevelopment, refurbishment and investment. As well as a totally new assembly building, Kasto has installed a number of new machine tools and enhanced its EDP and CAD capabilities. Also brand new is an environmentally friendly paint line, an administration building and a 700m² showroom/demo area where customers can get up close and personal with Kasto’s extensive product range.

Kasto has sold over 130,000 metal sawing machines and 1,400 automated storage systems worldwide but as Hans- Jürgen Stolzer explains, developing high quality products is only part of the story. “Some of our customers are still using saws that are over 50 years old, so it’s vitally important that we can continue to provide spares for these machines,” he explains. “We hold stocks of spare parts on machines manufactured as early as 1960 and from a general standpoint, we make between 75 and 120 spare part shipments a day. We develop long-term partnerships with our customers – 53% of our customer base have been Kasto customers for more than 10 years.”

Waste not, want not

In terms of the Future Days event itself, 10 new sawing machines were unveiled as well as two storage systems and a number of software/control innovations. Falling squarely into the latter category is Optisaw optimisation software which has been developed in-house by Kasto specifically for minimising waste during sawing processes.

Realistically, Kasto UK managing director Ernst Wagner believes that material savings of up to 30% can be achieved simply through the efficient use of raw materials. “In today’s challenging manufacturing environments it’s easy to become preoccupied with machine performance and productivity,” he says. “Whilst this is obviously of paramount importance, significant savings can also be made through minimising waste material. Optisaw achieves this by intelligently ‘pooling’ orders so that material allocation for each job is optimised. Through a standalone PC the software makes all the necessary calculations so that at the end of a run or a batch of work, waste material is kept to a minimum. At the moment the software is available as an option across all our circular and bandsaw products.”

Prime cuts

Other highlights unveiled during the event include the KastoTec A7 x 10 heavy-duty bandsaw. Incorporating Kasto’s KPC (Kasto Performance Cutting) concept, the machine is the largest in the KastoTec series and is designed to use carbide bandsaw blades in conjunction with KPC technology. The enclosure design of the machine promotes reduced noise levels and safe operation.

Able to accommodate cutting lengths of up to 1,100mm, the A7 x 10 is of steel mineral cast composite construction with excellent vibration damping characteristics promoting enhanced productivity levels and longer blade life. The robust, double sided bandwheel bearings and precise double column guide with linear guide systems add to the machine’s stability. The guide units are resilient to the ingress of dirt and are virtually maintenance-free due to integrated scrapers.

To ensure reliable operation, the drive unit and sensors are separated from the actual work area – away from chips and coolant. The optional KPC package contains an 18.5kW frequency-controlled drive with band speeds of up to 180m/minute. Special saw blade guides with integrated coolant as well as Kasto TrumGuides (shock absorbing guide elements) on the return side of the blade are used for quiet running and high speed cutting.

Good vibes

Also unveiled during the Future Days event, the Kasto Evo series of bandsaws with double column guides is said to be ideal for production environments. Intended as direct replacements for KastoTwin machines, the Evo A 3x4 and A 4x5 are high performance bandsaws of heavy, torsion resistant construction featuring a dimensioned double column guide. The guide and fixing of the upper saw part running from top to bottom using two columns results in low vibration and quiet operation. This is supported by hydraulic band tension and precision bandsaw guides with exchangeable solid metal jaws.

The Kasto Evo A 3x4 version has a cutting range of 360mm with 90° cuts in round material, 420mm by 360mm for 90° cuts in flat material and 360mm by 360mm for 90° cuts in square material. The clamping capacity is 420mm and the smallest size that can be sawn is 10mm by 10mm.

The Kasto Evo A 4x5 bandsaw is based on the same principle as the A 3x4 but offers a larger cutting range: 90° cut round = 440mm; 90° cut flat (W x H) = 520mm by 440mm; and 90° cut square = 440mm by 440mm. The clamping capacity is 0mm to 520 mm and offers the reserve space needed for the use of multiple or bundle tension systems if required.

On the basis of the larger cutting and performance range, a total power of 7kW is installed with 4kW for the saw motor and 1.5kW for the material feed and hydraulics.

“The Evo series is particularly effective at controlling vibration – essential for high levels of productivity and extended blade life,” Mr Wagner reveals. “This is due largely to the series’ closed frame design and the fact that bearings are located on both sides of the bandwheel making the whole construction much more rigid.”

Heavy going

Also making its debut during the Future Days event is the Kasto Maxcut – a new heavy-duty universal automatic bandsaw designed specifically for the cutting of large blank parts and workpieces. The bandsaw uses bi-metal as well as carbide bandsaw blades for the cutting of slabs, ingots, forgings, ship crankshafts, turbine shafts and large parts used in tool and die manufacturing.

The entire sawing system is fully enclosed and has two sliding/swivel doors. The bandsaw blade runs horizontally but the saw unit can be tilted to improve tool life and reduce cutting times when cutting plate or scaled materials.

Kasto Maxcut bandsaws are available in three versions: A 16, A 16 x 20 and A 20, which cover a cutting range of 1,600mm by 1,600mm, or 1,600mm by 2,000mm or 2,000mm by x 2.000 mm (H x W). The table lengths and longitudinal travel distances are 4m in the standard version but can be extended in 1m increments.

The BandControl system monitors the cutting process and reduces the saw feed by 25% when the maximum permissible deviation is exceeded by 75%. If the value is exceeded for a second time, the feed rate is reduced one more time before the machine shuts off when the maximum deviation value is reached for a third time.

Manipulate to accumulate

Although arguably best known for its sawing machines, Kasto is also one of the leading manufacturers of storage systems. At the Future Days event, Kasto presented a new manipulator for fully automatic sheet handling which can be used with its Unitower, Uniline and Unicompact product ranges.

The basic model consists of a vacuum handling unit for manipulating individual sheets which can be expanded and adapted according to the respective task. Once the assignment data has been transferred, such as the quantity or sheet thickness, the manipulation process begins automatically for collecting, transporting and stacking the sheets from the system pallet of the storage system onto the prepared pallet or processing area of the sheet processing machine.

The manipulator can also be equipped with the capability to collect different sheet formats and types of sheets. The return transfer of sheet parts onto finished part pallets with subsequent intermediate storage in the storage system is also possible and, depending on the task, different solutions can be implemented via a stationary single unit, a line portal and a gantry portal.

The starting point for the development of the manipulator was the Kasto high bay storage system, and its steel construction is used to fix the guide tracks in place for the sheet manipulator. In combination with various station concepts, handling speed, independent handling separate from the operating crane or any other tasks can be tailored to meet requirements.

A common variation for the supply to sheet processing machines is the concept of a line portal integrated in the storage block. After placing a pallet of raw materials in a storage position, the line portal can lift the sheets up, bring them to the processing machine and place them in position.

Kasto
www.kasto.uk.com