The definition of a burn table, and how to load steel sheet/plate, especially heavy gauge type, onto cutting table are the topics we’re going to discuss today.
What Is A Burn Table?
For years, the term “burn table”, also known as cutting table, has been used to refer to an oxyfuel or plasma cutting machine. Also, a CNC controlled plasma cutting table referred to the same.
As the oxyfuel and plasma cutting process, use a flame or arc to cut steel, or to “burn” the material, hence the coming into being of the name burn table.
Cutting tables are often used interchangeably with burn tables. The cutting table holds the material that will be cut, or burned by these processes, plasma, oxyfuel, or laser using a CNC cutting machine.
What does a burn table do?
Thermal cutting is primarily used for the shape cutting of cold and hot rolled steel. Thermal or “burning” machines – burn/cutting tables, are probably one of the oldest forms of metal shape cutting short of the physical hammering/sawing/hacking methods.
How to Load Steel Steel for Burn Table?
There are different different steel plate lifting equipment to load sheets of steel onto a cutting table, like magnetic plate lifter for small metal sheets, industrial lifting magnets for heavy gauge sheets of steel, and also vacuum cups, plate clamps and slings, strips, hooks, etc.
Are you using one of these above mentioned steel lifting device? How do you think of your current lifting equipment?
Loading sheet metal onto cutting table, indeed seems too cumbersome or difficult, especially with thinner sheets, as thinner sheets flex more than thicker sheets.
If using conventional lifting devices like clamps or strips to lift, there would always be constant concern about the abrupt dropping of sheet, causing injuries or damages, let alone the deflection of sheet.
As to the magnetic lifting equipment, there are uses of small magnet lifter for small steel plate, which proved to be quite simple and efficient, but most importantly, in a safer way.
But if the sheet is too large, it will flex too much, the amount of surface area contacting the magnet may be reduced, possibly causing the sheet to drop.
Then how to load heavy gauge steel sheet in a safer and more effective manner?
The answer is using magnetic lifting beam, a spreader with couples of magnet lifters, to pick up sheets of steel and place them onto the machine. Through customization, you could even use the same lifting equipment to unload the cut pieces and the skeleton off the table in one movement.
As a professional industrial lifting magnets manufacturer, HVR MAG can tailor design loading or/and unloading solution for burn table, to meet the special material handling needs required in precision flame, plasma and laser cutting table operations.
Below are some examples of lifting magnets engineered for uses such as loading large, thin steel sheet or plate onto cutting table, and after burning, unloading the cut parts and skeletons in a single lift.
Magnetic lifting can not only eliminate time consuming handling of grabs and chains when you load and unload your burning table, but also improves productivity and creates a safer work environment by eliminating manual handling of multiple parts and the need for operators to climb on burn table. This system can positively and significantly impact a company’s productivity through reduced labor and table downtime.
If your workshop is configured with automated robotic system, we can also provide magnetic gripping solution to unload your burn table. To find out how we can help your metal cutting business, please go to our website www.hvrmagnet.com for more information.
