Exothermic welding molds, weld-metal containing cartridges for such molds, and methods of use are provided. The mold, cartridges, and methods can provide interaction between the cartridge's disk member with the mold, which allows the housing member to be withdrawn from the mold while leaving the disk member and weld-metal in place. The interaction can be a rotational restraint alone, a vertical restraint alone, or combinations thereof. Alternately, the interaction can be an outward pressure on the housing member and/or disk member, a shear force on the housing member and/or disk member, or combinations thereof. The outward pressure on the housing member and/or disk member can alternately be provided without interaction between the disk member and the mold, but rather by the simple application of an internal pressure to the cartridge. The internal pressure can be applied by squeezing the walls of the cartridge and/or by depressing a pusher member.

A folding device for bending a workpiece made of flat material. The folding device includes a machine frame having a flat mounting surface, at which a clamping cheek is arranged, which can be moved relative to the mounting surface. The clamping cheek clamps a workpiece which is positioned on the mounting surface at a specified or specifiable mounting position, to the machine frame. A bending means, of at least one bending tool can be moved relative to the mounting surface so that the clamped workpiece can be bent around a certain bending angle, is furthermore arranged at the folding device. A machine controller is coupled to a cutting tool drive of a cutting tool for cutting the workpiece and which for performing a cutting process for severing a workpiece which is smaller than a distance between the start position and the end position with respect to the bending axis.

The bidirectional sheet metal cutting tool (100) is a cutting tool that performs cuts on webbed material in which a length of cut exceeds a physical dimension of the cutting tool (100), while limiting flexing of the webbed material during a cutting operation. The cutter assembly (140) is configured to ride on a guide track (145), and has upper and lower sections. The upper and lower sections have an offset attachment to each other at an interface, so that the webbed material passes the offset after cutting in an extended bypass cutting operation. An interface between the upper and lower sections has a curved profile, allowing deflection of the webbed material on at least one side of a cutting direction. The cutting tool (100) can be mounted to a sheet metal forming tool as a slitter (500), permitting sequential operations of the metal forming tool.

The bidirectional sheet metal cutting tool (100) is a cutting tool that performs cuts on webbed material in which a length of cut exceeds a physical dimension of the cutting tool (100), while limiting flexing of the webbed material during a cutting operation. The cutter assembly (140) is configured to ride on a guide track (145), and has upper and lower sections. The upper and lower sections have an offset attachment to each other at an interface, so that the webbed material passes the offset after cutting in an extended bypass cutting operation. An interface between the upper and lower sections has a curved profile, allowing deflection of the webbed material on at least one side of a cutting direction. The cutting tool (100) can be mounted to a sheet metal forming tool as a slitter (500), permitting sequential operations of the metal forming tool.

A metal porous material in long sheet form that includes a frame having a three-dimensional network configuration. An end portion of the metal porous material in width direction has a burr with a length equal to or longer than 0.3 mm in a number equal to or less than 0.4 burrs/m.

A trimming device for metallic sheets including: an upper knife, comprising a central circular face having a diameter D1 and a thickness T1, mounted on an upper shaft, a lower knife, comprising a central circular face having a diameter D2 and a thickness T2, mounted on a lower shaft, wherein said upper knife and said lower knife are vertically shifted with an overlap (D.sub.OVERLAP) so as to define a shear of said metallic sheet and wherein at least one of said upper or lower shaft is able to be moved vertically, a first distance sensor, able to measure a vertical distance to the upper end of said upper knife, a second distance sensor, able to measure a vertical distance to the lower end of said lower knife, a computer able to compute the overlap.

A trimming device for metallic sheets including: an upper knife, comprising a central circular face having a diameter D1 and a thickness T1, mounted on an upper shaft, a lower knife, comprising a central circular face having a diameter D2 and a thickness T2, mounted on a lower shaft, wherein said upper knife and said lower knife are vertically shifted with an overlap (D.sub.OVERLAP) so as to define a shear of said metallic sheet and wherein at least one of said upper or lower shaft is able to be moved vertically, a first distance sensor, able to measure a vertical distance to the upper end of said upper knife, a second distance sensor, able to measure a vertical distance to the lower end of said lower knife, a computer able to compute the overlap.

The present invention provides an apparatus for cutting a material, comprising: a frame body installed on a conveying path of a material; a cutting means, mounted on the frame body, for cutting an end portion of the material being conveyed; a laser preheating means for preheating the material by irradiating a laser beam onto the material before being conveyed to the cutting means; and a blocking and reflection means for blocking the laser beams reflected to the cutting means and re-reflecting the laser beam to the material.

The present invention provides an apparatus for cutting a material, comprising: a frame body installed on a conveying path of a material; a cutting means, mounted on the frame body, for cutting an end portion of the material being conveyed; a laser preheating means for preheating the material by irradiating a laser beam onto the material before being conveyed to the cutting means; and a blocking and reflection means for blocking the laser beams reflected to the cutting means and re-reflecting the laser beam to the material.

A side trimming apparatus including a cutting unit which is installed on at least one side of a steel plate being transferred and trims a side of the steel plate by mechanical cutting and a laser processing unit which is installed in front of the cutting unit and emits a laser beam to a portion of the steel plate to be cut to form a groove at the portion to be cut or preheat the portion to be cut, and a side trimming method using the same are provided.