It doesn’t matter if your VW Bug changes into a robot from outer space or your ’58 Plymouth Fury is possessed. People love giving their vehicles names, it signifies our close connection to our machinery and after all – machines are alive… right?

Not long after McCombs Steel in Statesville, NC, got their Ocean Challenger Robotic Welder, they realized what an asset and valued employee it had become. Huh, “valued employee”? Yes, you heard me correctly. “Bruce”, as he is affectionately known around the shop, has been welding up a storm with minimal breaks, no lunch, and never calls in sick. Bruce the robotic welder was most recently named McCombs Steel’s Employee of the Month.

If you would like to have an employee like Bruce, give us a call 800-286-3624, or visit https://oceanmachinery.com/es/ocean-challenger-robotic-welder/ for more info.

Special Thanks to Adam at McCombs Steel for the footage of “Bruce” and his new rotators working an easy 168 hour shift.

The post BRUCE THE ROBOTIC WELDER appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

Division Five, a structural fabricator located in Hollywood, SC, has been a valued customer of Ocean Machinery since their 2006 installation of the Terminator 1842 Saw and Avenger Drill Line.

The Ocean Liberator CNC Beam Coper was added in 2018 to minimize layout and coping times. A recent visit to their facility reveals W16 x 40’s requiring rat holes, web and flange beveling, taking around 7-minutes and 30 seconds per-end to cope and bevel.  Previous manual processing took about one-hour after grinding and final cleanup.

We also observed a “mammoth” W40 x 199 beam being drilled on their Ocean Avenger.  The Liberator Beam Coper was used to perform a trim-cut on this “heavy-weight” prior to drilling it.

We thank the team at Division Five for employing the Ocean brand of structural machinery to supplement their fabrication efforts.

The post CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: Division Five – Hollywood, SC appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

TPI Engineered Systems in Bowden, Georgia is really putting their new Ocean Clipper to work and loving every man-hour saving minute of it. A recent conversation with Robbie Morgan, Plant Manager on the Ocean Clipper Angle Line addition to their current Avenger Drill Line revealed the following:

• Prior to Clipper they had two, sometimes three men fabricating angle manually with an iron worker
• A 2″ x 2″ x 3/16” angle profile that was 3-4 feet in length requiring holes and slots on both legs would take 80-man-hours to saw, stack, layout, and punch 400 feet of material
• They ran this same job on the Clipper Angle Line in about 5-man-hours, saving 75 man-hours for other work.
• Accuracy and hole tolerances were greatly improved using the Clipper CNC Angle Line.

The post Ocean Clipper Expedites Production at TPI Engineered Systems appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

A recent visit to Bulldog Ironworks, just south of Dallas, reveals how they  leverage Ocean Products to reduce man-hours and improve material flow through their recently expanded facility.  They specialize in heavy structural steel fabrication for both commercial and industrial markets.

Material flows in one direction through the shop starting with the Ocean Terminator Saw and their recent addition of the Ocean Liberator Coping Line. Nick Copeland Sr.,  commented that “we recently completed the stair-stinger cut-outs for a 16 story building, consisting of 96 stringers, in two-days using the Liberator” The Liberator has greatly improved productivity as witnessed in the channel cut-outs being processed for a steel supply house.

Bulldog Iron Works also integrated three pairs of Ocean Flipper Profile Rotators into their fitter-welder lines. Material is rotated at each station, eliminating costly wait times for overhead cranes.

BullDog Iron Works has 3 pair of Ocean Flippers

Operating since 1970, the Copeland family business is prospering due to their employee skill sets, commitment to quality workmanship and focus being a low cost producer using technology.

The post Reducing Coping Man-hours and Handling Times at BullDog Iron Works – Waxahachie, Texas appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

For many of our customers, buying a CNC beamline is a daunting proposition. For most of them it is by far their most expensive capital purchase, and they have to be confident that the machine will pay for itself quickly. Not everyone believes us when we tell them that it will start to pay for itself from the first day its installed on their floor, and so we really love to share our real life customer experiences when it does just that.

The seaside town of East London on the East coast of South Africa is home to one of the premier automotive manufacturers worldwide, as well as one of our newest fabricating customers, Bennies Welding. Until recently, Bennies Welding had survived through thick and thin as a purely manual fabricating shop.  But when they landed a large project to extend the automotive manufacturing facility, the owner, Terry Davies, felt it was time to embrace CNC automation and made the decision to buy our Ocean Avenger CNC single spindle drill line, as well as our Ocean Terminator DCM 1825 high speed band saw.

Owner Terry Davies with one of the Avenger Operators, Deon Van Der Merwe, in front of their new CNC drill line, the Ocean Avenger

Owner Terry Davies and bandsaw operator Xavier White, in front of their new Ocean Terminator.

Depending on labor rates, the cost of a mag-drilled hole in a beam is typically estimated at around $1 – $2 per hole with the worldwide average being around $1.50.

Our local dealer, SKOK Machine Tool, completed the machine installation at Bennies Welding on the 19^th of September 2018, and towards the end of January 2019, almost exactly 4 months after installation, I visited their shop to see the machine working, and there on the screen was the number of holes drilled – 141,000!

The CNC screen showing the 141,000 holes already drilled on their Ocean Avenger in less than 4 months

So at Bennies Welding, the Avenger has almost paid for itself in 4 months. NOW THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL A RETURN ON INVESTMENT!

The complex and intricate support trusses that will soon being installed into the automotive plant, in the space above the existing lights, fire sprinklers and electrical lines, and under the existing roof, over the existing production line. As you can imagine, the installation is a very complex affair and has to be done after hours so that it doesn’t affect the production line. A project not for the faint of heart

The post Bennies Welding in East London, South Africa steps into the future with the Ocean Avenger appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

Steel may be strong but it has downsides as well, steel oxidizes very quickly when exposed to the elements, and if left out in your yard long enough it can grow some serious rust. It doesn’t matter if that steel is headed for a drill line, angle line, band saw or plasma machine that rust and scale is gonna be an issue.

CNC machines rely on laser sensors to set the zero reference for profiles to be run.  Rust and scale buildup can cause the laser to miscalculate the starting position and/or distance of the profile. This costly miscalculation can result in holes, slots, and cuts being off enough to render the profile unusable.

Typical rusty beam goes in…

With this in mind, MBM Fabricators in Romulus, Michigan sought out a pre-processing solution that would work with their current flow of band saw cutting profiles to length followed by a single spindle drill line. They also had to take into consideration the overhead cranes that run the length of their shop which would eliminate anything of considerable size taking up space in the shop.

Because of the Ocean Blaster’s compact footprint, MBM Fabricators was able to utilize the “dead space” against the wall of the shop, underneath the overhead crane. They are now running all their material through the Ocean Blaster before processing & painting, and recently commented “The Ocean Shot Blaster has exceeded our expectations”.

…Nice clean beam comes out!

For more information on how the Ocean Shot Blaster can fit into your shop CLICK HERE

The post Exceeding Expectations at MBM Fabricators appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

Steelforce Distribution in Brisbane, Australia has undergone dramatic updates since its first installation of the Ocean Avenger in conjunction with 4 semi-automatic bandsaws. Steelforce provides both cut to length service as well as hole drilling processing for its fabricating customers who do not have beam lines.

Two of the semi-automatic saws have been replaced with automatic Meba bandsaws and are tied together using Peddinghaus  hydraulic infeed and outfeed conveyors as well as cross transfer systems .

Additional consolets at the other saws provides faster loading and unloading before material is moved to the Avenger when holes are required.

The new system has more than doubled their capacity and we expect this to be part of an ongoing journey.

The post CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: Steelforce Distribution – Brisbane, Australia appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

Ever had to bevel the flanges of a column for weld prep when welding on a base plate?

Sure you have, and it’s a pain to do it manually. But our enterprising friends at A&S Steel in Auckland New Zealand have found a way to do it on their Avenger PLUS Drill Line.

Weld prep bevel of flange being done on the Ocean Avenger PLUS

They place their beams and columns on the table at the desired bevel/chamfer angle, use a standard milling tool and then quickly mill their way through the flange, providing a perfectly beveled part, ready to be welded.

Secured at the proper bevel angle and ready to go!

Well, we do call the Avenger PLUS our Multifunction Machine, and now our customers have shown us yet another operation that can be done with this amazingly versatile machine.

The post We LOVE our Creative Customers appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

A little over 6 years ago Steel Builders in Sydney, Australia came to the realization that they would be much more competitive with a CNC beam drill line.  In September 2012 Steel Builders’ new Ocean Avenger CNC Beam Line was installed, and their tonnage throughput dramatically increased – they haven’t looked back since.

Steel Builders is now producing 80 tons of light steel per day

Today they produce approximately 80 tons of light housing steel beams every day and have outgrown just using their Avenger Beam Line, they have now added both a Peddinghaus PCD-C Beam Line and an XDM to their automation.

The Avenger CNC Beam Line is being kept very busy with flat bar

Through all of their incredible growth they still keep the Avenger very busy and working hard, their Avenger is now focused 100% on flat bar. The Avenger CNC Beam Line is truly an amazing workhorse!

The post CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: Steel Builders – Sydney, Australia appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

UPDATED 8/31/2018 (addition at end of article)

As machinery suppliers we travel the world, selling machines to a wide range of fabricators, many of whom do not have a lot of space to allocate to the machine they absolutely have to have!

What we enjoy is seeing the creative approaches that many of our customers have employed, installing their Ocean CNC machines outdoors, and then their creative approaches to keeping the machines protected from inclement weather. We thought you might enjoy some of our customer photos:

• Georges Welding in Miami has his Avenger outside, with a cover where it parks, but he runs it in the rain, covered with a large beach umbrella!

Getting some shade from the Miami sun.

• Waikato Steel in New Zealand, has their Avenger outdoors, and has two sheds on either side of the table where it can be parked, but they have also totally encased the traveling head in a sheet metal box allowing them to drill holes while it is running! Very Ned Kelly-ish!

The metal housing protects the Avenger from the elements while still allowing it to drill

• A&A Ironworks in their early days with the Avenger outside, a wooden shed to park it, and a simple canopy that protected the machine from the rain.

You don’t want to leave your new Avenger outside over night… What do you do? You build it a garage!

• Contrast Metal with their Avenger on a lovely concrete slab outdoors and a wooden cabin to park it when it is raining.

A nicely constructed cabin for the Ocean Avenger to spend the night in

Beautiful concrete driveway leading up to this Ocean Avenger’s residence

• Valley Iron Works with their Avenger outdoors.

Nothing like being outside on a beautiful day!

• Plastal Avenger / Terminator installation outdoors with small shed for weather protection.

Starting to see a trend yet? It doesn’t matter if you have the space inside!

• Atlas Welding with a tiny wooden shed where they house their Clipper and pass through conveyors and simple loading table with hoist for lifting bundles of angle.

Our customers aren’t just installing Avengers outside… Ocean Clippers too!

Angle sections feed through the wall to the Ocean Clipper protected from the elements!

• Atlantic Central with their Avenger extending into the loading bay

UPDATE 8/31/2018

This story reached a lot of people and received such a positive response, we felt it deserved updating. After posting the article on Facebook, one of our customers from down under – Chris Barry at On the Spot Welding & Steel in Brisbane Australia, responded to the post with this comment and photos of their machine:

“8 years and over half a million holes, in all different types of material and still going as good as the day we got it.“ – Chris Barry

It is worth noting that On the Spot Welding & Steel is right on the Australian coastline, which means their Avenger runs like a champ outside in the salty ocean air!

We love hearing customers stories, and we know you do too… If you would like your story featured on our blog, email us and let us know marketing@oceanmachinery.com

Ocean Avenger at On the Spot Welding & Steel, Brisbane Australia

The post Making it work when you absolutely have to have it! appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..