Customer satisfaction has been a consistent focus for J & D Tube Benders Inc. of Schofield, Wis. Providing good service and short delivery times has helped grow the third-generation, family-owned business from a two-person startup to a well-established Midwest tube fabricator with 160 employees occupying a 165,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility. After more than 55 years, it continues to deliver on its motto: the fastest name in tube fabrication.
“We’re a tube shop, but a service company first,” says Bobby White, lead estimator and laser programmer, and 20-year J & D employee. “Out of the 300-plus customers we ship to – 200 a month – we give every customer the same quality service, whether they order five times a year or five times a day. With decades in the tube business, we have a deep understanding of materials, bending techniques and end forming processes.”
Satisfying customer needs has meant investments in manufacturing technology and automation. Case in point: Adding laser tube cutting equipment has transformed how J & D processes tubes, giving the team there significantly more control over part quality and design flexibility.
J & D purchased its first laser tube cutting machine 15 years ago. The laser eliminated the use of cold saws, drilling, and manual or CNC machining after forming, which often required multiple setups and long lead times. And the results were significant. Secondary machining operations were reduced 40 percent, and turnaround times on certain jobs were cut up to 80 precent.
From there, the company advanced to fiber laser, replacing the CO2 machine with a 2-kW LVD TL 2665. Last year, J & D installed a second tube laser, a 4-kW LVD TL 2665. The TL 2665 handles material lengths up to 26 ft. with a maximum part length of 20 ft. using outfeed extensions. The machine cuts tube diameters from ¾ in. to 6.5 in.
Heavier, larger tubes
The second laser adds capacity, speed and precision to take on more jobs and complex applications. Of late, J & D has seen a demand for larger diameter tubes up to 6 in. It also handles more work for the power generation industry, producing components needed for standby power. Another growing market segment is on- and off-road electric vehicles.
“The 4-kW fiber laser is critical for us,” White says, “especially for cutting heavy-wall structural tubing. With the laser, we can cut complex features cleanly and accurately with minimal heat distortion or material burn-up. We’re also able to cut intricate features and hold tight tolerances on structural components that are drilled and milled prior to bending.”
Using fiber laser, J & D overcomes one of its biggest manufacturing challenges – maintaining speed and consistency when producing high-volume parts of 2,000, or 5,000 or more, especially in large-diameter tubing with straight cuts. Traditional sawing took substantial time and manual handling, often resulting in inconsistencies and excess cleanup during deburring and washing stages.
The laser can make straight, repeatable cuts on large-diameter tubing at high volumes. It can also cut smaller, more involved features on heavy-walled tubing without blowout or burnout issues.
White says the laser cut tubes look better, and the IDs are cleaner, which is critical for certain applications like fluid passage tubes.
“We have a lot of tubes that we moved from cold sawing to laser cutting,” he explains. “The ability to drop a bundle and cut to a specified length and then stock those lengths in our bending department is huge. We have a burr-free, contaminant-free tube that’s able to go directly from the laser to our forming department.”
Skipping multiple steps
With the speed of fiber laser cutting, cycle times are reduced, especially on tubes with several features.
“What used to take multiple steps across different machines can now be done in a single pass,” White says. “We can make complex cuts, holes, slots and miters using one process with incredible precision.”
As an example, a 150-in.-long tube with 50 holes is now laser cut in one step, eliminating drilling. What took 20 to 30 min. of machining time is processed in just over 2 min.
“From a workflow perspective, the laser has streamlined how tubes move through our shop,” White reports. “Tubes come off the laser ready for bending, welding or assembly, which reduces bottlenecks and keeps jobs moving efficiently.”
Distortion-free laser cut tubes also produce better fit-up for welding, which translates to less weld time for the shop’s robotic welding cells. J & D recently added a robotic bending cell able to accommodate up to 6-in.-dia. tubes. The company uses five robotic cells for loading and unloading in their bending department in addition to more than 20 full CNC benders. It has five manual weld bays complemented by three fully robotic weld bays.
All shapes and sizes
Today, J & D produces the widest range of tubes in its history. Most orders come with tight tolerance requirements and call for additional end forming, welding or brazing services. An average order size is 30 pieces, but as a job shop, volumes can vary greatly. Almost every order goes through the cutting department, so quick job changeover is important.
“Being a job shop means we don’t always run high-volume jobs, so we still require the use of the tube laser for smaller jobs,” White explains. “The TL 2665 has easy changeover from size to size. We like the ability to throw a stick in and go.”
TL 2665 lasers feature a seven-position magazine-style front loader. Up to seven tubes can be manually loaded and unloaded from the same side of the machine. Tube change is quick and easy because material is not stored inside the machine and tubes can be reversed out, if needed. Changeover from one size of material to another takes little more than a minute.
“Our operators can easily load two or 200 full-length tubes, which gives us the flexibility to handle both short runs and high-volume jobs efficiently,” he adds.
The machine’s servo-controlled infeed system uses risers to lift the tube from the magazine to the machine chuck. Each riser uses a tube centering device to center the tube with the steady rest and chuck. Risers follow the contour of the tube to handle, turn and support the tube.
A self-centering chuck automatically adjusts to different tube geometries. The machine also automatically compensates for tube bowing and twisting, ensuring precision hole placement, even on challenging stock.
Creative part design
The flexibility of the laser has led to more creative part design. For example, J & D uses the laser to add a cut fold (V-fold) feature that would have required drilling or punching with special tooling, which could mean waiting up to 16 weeks for a protype tool.
With a CAD file, there’s an almost endless number of features that can be cut, says White. He uses the machine’s integrated Cadman-T software to create programs, nest parts, add design features like notches and tabs, and optimize cutting paths.
“The software is easy to use and has advanced capabilities to get us from design to production faster,” he explains. “It’s a great complement to the laser technology and has added a lot of value to the overall addition of the LVD laser.”
Fiber laser cutting technology has changed tube processing for J & D, providing the production efficiency to shrink lead times while manufacturing an ever-increasing diversity of high-quality tubing and tube assemblies. Despite changing and uncertain markets and evolving manufacturing challenges, J & D continues to get orders out the door in record time.
