Cutting edge technology

But since the machine means Contender can offer a one-stop shop for a wide range of precision-cut, quality fabrics it can also broaden the service it offers: for example, the company’s graphics ability is extended too, as the machine can stack cut, or even kiss cut if need be – slicing through the top layers while leaving the others intact.

Made by Blackman & White in the UK it’s been specifically tailored to fit Contender’s needs – for example, it has an ability to laser cut at one end, with mechanical cutting at the other. It means that canopy and seat cover manufacturers can now outsource the cutting, “and get on with other activities”, said Alistair Shires, Contender UK’s proprietor.

The machine can equally handle very heavy tradtitional fabrics as well as the latest laminates. Mr Shires explains that this is partly because it combines the two cutting systems on the one, 16 metre bed with two gantries running up and down it. One uses a very high power laser, which said operator Damion Green, “is very useful for lightweight fabrics since it seals the edges with the cut”. The other end, which has both an oscillating blade and driven ‘pizza’ wheel, can handle heavy Kevlar and carbon fibre laminates.

However, what makes the machine unique Lewis Melia of Blackman & White told MJ, is partly the 200 Watt laser, but also the vacuum action of the table. “The two gantries with their different cutting abilities require two different kinds of vacuum. Lighter cloth needs a greater suction to hold it in place, but heavier cloths – especially when cutting smaller items such as patches for repair – can spring up.” The solution was to put different kinds of vacuum zoning across the table. The table has, in all, 17 different zones: you can have all of these vacuumed, depending on the cloth, or indeed you can have the laser gantry running the length of the table, automatically turning off and on as the gantry transverses the table.