Our NEW Non-Ferrous Cutting Site

Since SSC Laser is so up to date with the latest technologies and techniques, it might be hard to believe that SSC is actually 18 years old. It was way back in the September of 2000 that SSC HQ was born, starting small in Hangar 5 as a number of portacabins which the teams worked out of.

Since September 2000 SSC have achieved great successes nationwide, and now in 2018, we operate out of manufacturing centres providing the highest quality laser cutting services.

However, as of September 2018, we are proud to announce the changing of our Bristol manufacturing centre into our very first site which is purely a non-ferrous metal cutting site. This includes the cutting of all stainless steel, aluminium, copper and brass, while all ferrous material (mild steel) will be cut at our HQ Stafford and our manufacturing facility in Derby.

What’s the Difference Between Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals?

Ferrous Metals mostly contain Iron and have small amounts of other metals or elements added, to ensure the required properties are given. These types of metals are also magnetic and give little resistance to corrosion. Some examples of the ferrous metals would be materials like; Steel, Carbon Steel, Engineering Steel, Cast Iron and Wrought Iron. These types of materials are mainly used in construction when building bridges and skyscrapers and on our rail and road network infrastructure.

Non-ferrous metals include aluminium, copper, lead, zinc, and tin and are materials which, on the other hand, have no iron content. These materials have a much higher resistance to rust and corrosion, are non-magnetic and are incredibly malleable compared to ferrous metals. Due to the resistance to corrosion and rust, materials such as Stainless Steel and Aluminium are used on products that are exposed to the elements and where aesthetics are essential. Materials such as aluminium are also extremely lightweight, durable, strong and flexible, and so is heavily used in markets where weight saving is of paramount importance such as the transport or aviation industry.

What is the Purpose of the Purely Non-Ferrous Site?

There are several features and benefits that we are going to be adopting with this new change, to make sure customer satisfaction is better than ever!

As a sub-contract laser cutting company who cut Mild Steel, Stainless Steel, Aluminium and much more, the problems of mixing ferrous and non-ferrous materials is almost impossible to prevent, especially when dust particles get in to the air.

With SSC Laser sites now solely dedicated to ferrous and non-ferrous materials, there is guaranteed to be no cross-contamination between materials during the cutting process which can happen when ferritic dust (dust particles from mild steel in the air or from the cutting process) gets ingrained into stainless steel and contaminates it causing it to rust.

How Will This Be Achieved?

As discussed previously, being a Laser Cutting Sub-Contractor, it is extremely difficult to give a customer a totally “clean” profile. When a primary reason many clients and design teams use stainless steel and aluminium, so components and products don’t rust, it is imperative laser cutting companies do all they can to ensure this remains the case. At SSC Laser Cutting, we understand this and as a result we are going to be protecting all products and materials by setting even more precautions on top of the ones we already have, along with refined ways in which we operate to speed up turnaround time, improve customer satisfaction and remove the detrimental effects cross-contamination can have. For example:

• All racking for materials will be soft coated as an added protection to all materials we hold in stock.
• Specialist forklift trucks are going to integrate into the distribution and movement process of products and materials to ensure we handle all materials with greater ease and care.
• Improved material stocking policy. This ensures that all non-ferrous material will be held on-site at the Bristol site, rather than at 3 separate sites, resulting in better turnaround times for client products.
• We will be using copper slats on our laser beds as opposed to ferrous mild steel. Copper doesn’t mark material such as Stainless Steel or Aluminium like Mild Steel can. This is due to it being a far softer material. Even though it will cost around four times the cost for SSC to use these types of slats, we are doing so and investing to ensure that the changes we make are all about you, our customer and your products.

… and much more.

Start a Project With SSC

If you’ve got a project you want to start with our team of laser cutting specialists (whether it’s using ferrous materials or not) or would like more information on anything we mentioned, get in touch with us at our website or contact your local sales team.