We supply not only bespoke removable insulation jackets and acoustic insulation pads. Now we can also offer precision cutting of insulation materials using CNC equipment.
We use such method of production for most of our products, for example, valve insulation jackets, heat exchanger insulation covers, turbine insulation or nuclear plant insulation. There are several benefits of using die cutting for insulation materials. This post demonstrates how we can support wide range of industries with our precision cutting service.
Recently we expanded the range of services that we offer to our customers.
Benefits of CNC cutting of rubber insulation (Armaflex, K-Flex) and mineral wool?
Precision cutting with the use of CNC equipment helps to improve the overall insulation cutting process.
The main advantages of cutting rubber insulation (Armaflex or K-Flex or similar):
- clear cuts without torn material
- clean edge for further processing and gluing
- less waste thanks to nesting process
- faster cutting
- better productivity for large projects and repeatable parts
- improved quality of the overall product
- no need for cutting templates
- smaller possibility of errors
- high precision for small parts
Do you have any requirement for fabricated or CNC cut insulation? Contact us via email – hanna@mattress-insulation.com or via the form below:
CNC cutting of Armaflex insulation is faster than manual process
Let us look into the manual process of cutting rubber insulation. First of all, it can be a very tedious task. What is more, it requires not only manual labour, but also increased supervision and management.
Secondly, manual cutting of rubber insulation is more time consuming than CNC cutting. Even when you draw all parts in CAD software you need to somehow transfer these onto a rubber insulation sheet. You can do it by creating templates first. These templates can be from paper, cardboard, textiles or any other material. It just has to be be easy to use. Once you have a template you can transfer the dimensions onto the actual insulation sheet.
Which industries we support with CNC cutting of insulation materials?
We help several business sectors with the services of CNC cutting of insulation materials. These are mainly:
- HVAC – heating and ventilation
- sealing gaskets for the HVAC industry
- AHU – Air Handling Unit – internal acoustic, thermal and anti-freeze insulation
- Ventilation units with heat recovery
- automotive industry
- vans and cars insulation
- machine builders
- insulation contractors with precision cut segments for bends, valves, t-pieces, flanges and other parts
- cladding companies who use acoustic insulation for aluminium, powder coated or GRC cladding
- cutting material for turbine insulation blankets
Where you can use elastomeric foam insulation like Armaflex or K-flex?
Applications of rubber insulation or elastomeric foam are almost endless. There are several limiting factors that determine where you could use it. Also, this type of insulation works best in certain environments. Elastomeric foam insulation like K-flex or Armaflex is a closed cell insulation. This means that it limits water vapour from penetrating through insulation. The effect of it is that the product minimised or removes condensation or frosting on the insulation surface.
What are the most common uses of elastomeric foam insulation?
Robber foam insulation is a great insulation material for:
- cold services
- frost protection
- thermal insulation (with limiting temperatures depending on the brand and product)
- cold insulation (again, with recommended temperatures, usually around -40°C / -40°F but also possible to use in cryogenic range with a suitable design)
- chillers
- HVAC
- acoustic insulation
- solar heating connections
- refrigeration
- ship and marine insulation
- space shuttles insulation
CNC cutting of insulation materials supports your industry
How does your industry benefit from using our CNC cutting of insulation materials?
There are several advantages for your business. To begin with, you can concentrate on your core activities instead of on cutting insulation. Secondly, you don’t need to worry about waste and off-cuts from insulation cutting.
Furthermore, you save storage and processing space. You don’t need to store large pallets of raw insulation materials. We can support you even further by just in time deliveries.
Additionally, you don’t need to employ additional personnel to carry out the cutting work.
To sum up, the above arguments present a lot of benefits for various business while outsourcing CNC cutting insulation.
What shapes can we cut for you in our CNC insulation cutting machine?
The limit is our imagination and material properties. Most of the customers require complicated shapes of CNC cut insulation. These CNC cut parts would fit into tight spaces of various pieces of equipment. CNC cut insulation takes shape of rectangles, triangles, circles, trapeziums, rhombus stars, gears or Z, C, U shapes or many others.
What’s the process of CNC cutting insulation?
Every order for fabricated insulation starts with an enquiry from an existing or a potential customer. We get in contact with a wide range of industries like refrigeration, HVAC, machine builders and others.
Usually a customer has already a specific design for fabricated insulation pieces. This makes the overall process much easier. We receive digital drawings, specification and bill of quantities. Such data is checked by the estimating team. If we have some complex demands sometimes we carry out trial runs of CNC cutting or we do some prototyping. Sometimes, customers are invited to exchange ideas with our team.
Once the design and all material properties have been establish we can prepare final versions of CAD drawings.
As the next step, these drawings are also processed through nesting software which positions cut parts in a way that maximises use of insulation material and minimises waste.
CNC cutting operative downloads the required drawings into the local computer that manages the CNC cutter. She also lays out a rubber insulation sheet on the CNC machine conveyor belt. The CNC operative checks the alignment of the rubber insulation material. Sometimes it is necessary to use additional suction pads to restrain the rubber insulation in place.
After aligning and calibration of the equipment the cutting of fabricated insulation can start. A blade directed by the CNC machine cuts shapes according to the predefined design.
Our operative collects all cut pieces from the conveyor belt and separates these either by shape or by part number. We repeat the process until we CNC cut all the elastomeric foam insulation.
We stack, pack or palletise cut fabricated insulation parts according to your requirements and we deliver them to your facility.
Deliveries can be arrange in bulk shipments or in smaller just in time transports.
That’s how CNC insulation cutting compliments our other services like acoustic insulation pads.
What’s your requirement for CNC cut rubber insulation? Contact us using the form below or send an e-mail to hanna [at] mattress-insulation.com
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