Divert Chute

We were tasked with creating two new divert chutes for our customer. To start the process, the customer sent us a series of drawings and asked us to quote for the work. The model we initially received was a solid piece, so our skilled drawing office had to go through and redraw it. After creating a detailed drawing of the part needed, our software could flatten the drawing down so it could be nested and sent to our Bystronic Fibre Laser Cutter, ready to be cut out.

Once they had been cut, they arrived in our fabrication department, each in three pieces. The main back panel for each one was put through our roller and rolled out to a pre-determined radius. Our press brake operators then folded each back panel; this has to be done after the metal has been rolled as it would be impossible to fold it once it had been rolled.

The Fabrication Process

Once cut, rolled and folded, the panels returned to the fabrication team, where they needed to be tacked up and welded. The central panel was laid on its side, with each side panel, in turn, laid on top and then tacked to the main board. Once the panels had been tacked together and the positioning had been checked, the chute was carefully TIG welded by one of our skilled fabricators.
The next step was for fabricators to linish the part; they dressed and smoothed down the welds using sanding and grinding techniques. The piece was then taken to our metal finishing department, where the inside of the chutes was de-blued, and the exterior was re-grained using a PTX.

At this point, the product was ready to be delivered to the customer. Both chutes received signal quality control checks before being carefully wrapped up, and ready for delivery by one of our delivery van drivers.

Look at the photos and video to see this project throughout the manufacturing stages

If you have any sheet metal, laser profiling and fabrication needs, please don’t hesitate to contact us at sales@dmdesignfabrication.co.uk.