This Wisconsin-based manufacturer of outdoor power equipment wanted a local supplier to improve responsiveness, reduce shipping costs, and gain more personalized support.
Accurately producing each metal component in this four-piece assembly was essential to ensure a consistent, high-quality fit during operation.
Blade Production
The customer designed the fan blades with four individual bends to improve airflow during operation and to take advantage of standardized press-brake tooling rather than more expensive custom tooling
The blades present two key challenges to manufacture as designed.
- Managing the overbends and underbends that naturally occur in materials during metal forming.
- The exact placement and size of the four tabs on each blade. These tabs are critical to successfully align with the slots on the disk.
Utilizing the capabilities of the CNC press brake, our Fabrication Technicians consistently apply their material knowledge and manufacturing experience to match the blade’s design print.
Disk Production
The most critical feature in laser cutting these disks is the slots. Their placement needs to be exact and within a tight tolerance to ensure correct alignment with the blade’s four tabs.
Using Ultra’s prototyping standards, we established the correct fiber-laser programming before final production. We then verify accuracy with regular quality checks, including set-up and in-process inspections, to ensure every blade matches the design print.
Customer Outcome
Ultra’s precision-fabricated metal parts consistently meet the customer’s assembly requirements at their manufacturing facility.
The customer is also utilizing our services to manufacture 14 different metal components for their blade sharpening assembly.
