Fabrication shop speeds up skeleton removal with Duramax torch

Company overview: Hokes Bluff Welding & Fab

Hokes Bluff Welding & Fab is a commercial and industrial metal fabrication company established in 1967 in Hokes Bluff, Alabama. The job shop handles everything from small parts to large beams and pieces for heavy construction equipment, trailers, tanks, and furnaces.

Challenge: Cutting skeletons with an oxyfuel torch was too time-consuming

Hokes Bluff had been using an oxyacetylene hand torch to cut up skeletons after mechanized cutting, but that process was both inefficient and time-consuming. Even worse, the torch operator was beginning to suffer back problems from long hours spent bending over the table.

Solution: Powermax105 with Duramax Hyamp Long torch improves productivity and safety

Hokes Bluff is a loyal Hypertherm customer. The company purchased its first Hypertherm plasma cutting system – an automated MAX200 – over 20 years ago and has added several more systems to keep up with business growth in the ensuing years.

When it needed to improve skeleton cutting efficiency and worker safety, Hokes Bluff switched from oxyfuel to a Powermax105^® plasma system and 1.2 m (4’) Duramax^® Hyamp™ Long torch.

The Duramax Hyamp Long torch

Designed for durability and reliability, Duramax Hyamp torches are built to handle the full 125-amp output of the Powermax125 plasma cutting system and are compatible with use on lower amp Powermax^® systems. Duramax Hyamp torches are available for handheld and machine cutting and gouging, as well as robotic cutting.

Duramax Hyamp Long torches are available in .6 m (2’), 1.2 m (4’), and 1.83 m (6’) lengths, providing extra reach and durability for heavy-duty applications like scrapping, plate skeleton removal from cutting tables, and infrastructure repair or reconstruction. They are also available with an extensive array of specialty consumable options that perform a variety of applications, such as gouging, fine feature cutting, extended reach cutting, precision gouging, flush cutting, and marking. The 1.2 m (4’) and 1.83 m (6’) long torches include an adjustable position auxiliary handle.

Every scrap yard can benefit from having a long torch in its yard. The portability of Powermax plasma systems makes it possible to demolish large-scale depreciated machinery out in the yard, allowing for larger, more lucrative trades with mills. The Duramax Hyamp Long torch is better than a shear at making long cuts. It also frees up shears to cut the smaller pieces into dimensions required by steel mills, making the shear more productive as well.

Structural steel companies tearing down buildings and other facilities, like decommissioned nuclear plants or sports stadiums, use multiple long torches to speed up jobs. Completing the job faster saves on labor costs and helps the companies earn their contractual performance incentives. 

The Duramax Hyamp Long torch is safer to use in many applications. It’s ergonomic, allowing operators to work in comfortable positions. The length of the torch body and the angle of the cutting head lets operators stand upright while still gaining the accessibility they need. Operators avoid back pain caused by bending over repeatedly to ignite a flame torch with a striker, and they can stand beside CNC tables, rather than on top of the cutting bed. The long torch also creates more distance, allowing operators to stand further away from the torch’s heat. 

Plasma is faster than oxyfuel, and switching to the Duramax Hyamp Long torch lets operators do the same job in a third to a quarter of the time. In fact, existing Duramax Hyamp Long torch customers report skeleton removal from heavy industrial CNC beds is so fast that jobs that previously took an hour can now be finished in under 20 minutes.

Benefits of drag cutting

Hypertherm torches – including the Duramax Hyamp Long torch – are unique in that operators do not have to hold a stand-off. When cutting, operators can drag the torch right on the metal using Hypertherm’s shielded consumables. This shield technology, found on the front of the torch, electrically isolates the nozzle from the metal workpiece to eliminate a common phenomenon known as double arcing.

There are a couple of advantages to drag cutting. Drag cutting makes things easier for the operator. The operator doesn’t have to worry about having a steady hand and can simply drag the torch along a straight edge or template. In most cases, the cut will be more accurate with drag cutting because it is more difficult to hold a torch at exactly the same distance from a workpiece than it is to drag a torch along the metal. Drag cutting also helps increase consumable life because spatter and blowback are not as much of a problem.

Business impact: Increased efficiency, improved operator safety, and decreased downtime

The Hokes Bluff team uses the Powermax plasma system with the Duramax Hyamp Long torch to cut up skeletons on their large plasma table. It makes clean-up after mechanized cutting safer and faster — resulting in a more profitable operation. In addition to faster cutting speeds, quicker unloading of the skeleton means more CNC cutting time and increased production, growing revenue and profits for the business.

The ability to drag cut has increased efficiency and improved worker safety. Plasma operator Billy Cherry simply places the long torch at the edge of the skeleton and drags it along the material. Drag cutting removes back pain because he doesn’t have to hold the torch up off the workpiece.

Billy Cherry confirms, “I love the long torch. It’s a lot faster than oxy and I don’t need to carry a striker in my pocket to light it, like I did with the oxy-torch. It keeps my back from hurting because I don’t have to bend over. I drag cut from the edges of the skeleton. It cuts as quickly as the HPR260XD. Cutting scrap can be done immediately after a profile is cut, and I can load another plate with little downtime.”

Learn how the Duramax Hyamp Long torch can help your business increase efficiency while improving worker safety. Click the button below, fill out the form, and a Hypertherm product expert will contact you.