Deburring and finishing machine offers one-stop shop new opportunities

Oxy-fuel cutting, laser cutting, bending, plate rolling, bending and sawing of steel, aluminum, stainless steel and other metals ...: all these disciplines are part of Verhoestraete's core business. This one-stop-shop for metal solutions from Roeselare specializes mainly in solutions up to XXL size, but also takes care of clients for the realization of more complex total projects. With its own finishing line, the manufacturer wants to further expand the service for its customers. Thanks to Q-Fin's compact F1200 XL, it can now also deburr, round off and finish-grind workpieces in a single pass.

Verhoestraete has more than 110 years of experience in metal and metal working. On a 70,000 m² site, not only does the company have 8,000 tons of material and about 2,000 stock items, but the 23,500 m² production area with more than thirty different processing machines is the ideal "playground" for more than sixty experienced employees with enormous technical baggage in metalworking. After production, work pieces are delivered to the customer just-in-time using four of the company's own trucks. 

"Actually, our focus is on the production of non-common parts. Customers can of course come to us for simple basic components, which we can then usually supply from stock. However, we continue where others stop, and focus mainly on the more complex elements up to XXL size and with stock and technical experience for less common materials, such as wear-resistant steel, high-strength, Corten, aluminum, brass, etc. This can involve single pieces, small series and larger volumes," explains Yves De Smet, who is responsible for quality, prevention and IT. "Our customers come from the most diverse sectors: agriculture, machine and silo construction, trailer and container construction, railroads, transport, even government and defense... A separate department focuses on the production of architectural and artistic designs, such as facade elements, spiral staircases, art, high-end design..."

In order to respond flexibly to customer requests, Verhoestraete has extensive machinery, including three firing machines equipped with six cutting burners for sheet metal up to 300 mm thick, three sheet rolling machines up to 3000 mm wide and 35 mm thick, and three laser cutting machines with ranges up to 12000 x 3000 mm. 

"On our seven bending benches we can machine various metals in all thicknesses and with XXL dimensions up to over 9000 mm and 1000 tons. We also have a circular and semi-automatic band saw to cut tubes, beams and profiles straight or mitred, two shears for cutting up to 8000 mm and profile bending. Ultimately, we are a one-stop shop for metal solutions for our customers," De Smet explains. 

"For that, however, suitable machines are only half the battle, because we attach equal importance to our people. The simple operations are controlled from the software, the more complex ones by our people themselves. Our operators themselves set the correct parameters of their machine to achieve a perfect result. This requires the necessary technical know-how.   

Today it is not so obvious to find such skilled people, but fortunately we can count on a team of loyal employees."

Verhoestraete received more and more demand to also provide surface treatment. Together with a number of experienced partners, the company can blast, galvanize, galvanize, wet-lacquer, powder-lacquer... However, the management decided at the beginning of this year to invest in its own finishing line. After a thorough evaluation of the different systems on the market, it opted for the F1200 XL from Q-Fin. That compact machine combines deburring, rounding and finish-grinding of sheet metal parts up to 1200 mm wide. 

"We always want to guarantee our customers a constant degree of finishing. Previously, finishing was done manually with a grinding wheel, which sometimes led to deviations and significantly increased the lead time," says Olivier Denys, one of the four operators of the new machine. 

"This unit allows us to deburr, round and/or finish in one pass. The first station consists of a grinding unit with an abrasive belt that removes burrs and/or burn-in points from the surface. The second and third stations are equipped with four cross-rotating, oscillating brushes, which break or radius the sharp edges of the workpiece. Finally, the fourth station includes a second grinding aggregate, which allows us to apply a line finish to the part with a finer grinding belt or finish the workpiece with a scotch-brite belt. The separate tables for supply and removal of parts increase ergonomics and efficiency. We also chose to combine the machine with a wet extraction system for the optimal disposal of residual materials. Regular and thorough maintenance guarantees consistently high quality and extends the life of machines."

Patrick van Scherpenseel, account manager for Belgium and the Netherlands at Q-Fin, adds: "This machine works up to five times faster than comparable machines. It has four machining stations, in a particularly compact design, and comes full option, including automatic height adjustment on the grinding and sanding aggregates. This unit comes standard with some fixed programs, but operators themselves can easily add their own programs. Brushes are changed in six seconds, abrasive belts in two minutes, after which calibration can begin. No need for trial runs, because you get perfect results right from the first workpiece. Since one works on many different materials at Verhoestraete, a system with vacuum support was chosen."

"Finishing is not a minor task for us, because everything must be able to be delivered quickly and perfectly. We are extremely satisfied with this investment," concludes Yves De Smet. "We came into contact with Q-Fin through LVD, supplier of our bending machines and the latest Phoenix fiber laser 10 kW. They helped us with the initial testing and put us in touch with Q-Fin. They were able to deliver this F1200 XL very quickly and install and commission it in one day. They were also responsible for the training of our four operators: basic training at commissioning and in-depth technical training after a few weeks and based on our questions. At Q-Fin they know their trade. We can always go there with all our questions. Even more: they do their own tests on workpieces to be able to show their customers how to do a machining to get the best result."