Southern Aluminum Finishing Co. (SAF) recently purchased and installed a new CNC machine at its Winston facility, just outside Atlanta, Georgia, for the production of fabricated extruded components.
“The recent purchase of the CNC machining center opens up new market opportunities and services for current customers. They have been asking for extrusion fabrication capabilities for years,” said John B. McClatchey, vice president of Marketing and Sales, SAF. “We can now competitively fabricate extrusions and finish in one facility.”
The new Mecal MC 305 Kosmos is a 4-axis machining center with the capability of machining extruded or fabricated metal parts up to 26 feet in length. The unique features of the machine include notching, countersink, tapping, and a system that measures tool height for precision machining. The machine includes an upgraded to the CADLink Software allowing three-dimensional parts designed in AutoDesk Inventor to be transferred directly into the machine post-processor, saving time and eliminating potential programming errors.
“Acquiring a Kosmos CNC machine will have a tremendous impact on the fabrication operation at SAF,” explained Frank Buchholz, general manager, SAF. “Parts that were difficult and time-consuming to fabricate are now easier, and customer requests that were impossible for SAF to manufacture competitively are orders that we can now produce.”
SAF is a metal service center with anodizing and painting facilities and a full-time fabrication center. The company is a mill-direct buyer of aluminum coil and extrusions and an approved fabricator for major aluminum composite panel (ACM) manufacturer. As such, it is able to supply finished and fabricated sheet, extrusion, and aluminum composite panel products to architects, subcontractors, design/build contractors, and other manufactures.