Catworth (Pty) Ltd has evolved into a South African industrial engineering and value-add manufacturing company specialising in wear solutions and precision thick plate processing for the mining and heavy industrial sectors. The commissioning of its new 40kW fiber laser represents another major investment in the Group’s manufacturing capability.

Cutting thin gauges of sheet metal is meant to be precise and clean, especially given the wide availability of fiber laser technology in today’s modern job shop sheet metal processing environments. Cutting thick gauges of plate, however, is never going to be a pretty job. But with the right experience, superior cuts of thick material can be achieved as the technology improves.

Traditionally, cutting thick gauges of plate has been reserved for technologies like oxy-fuel and plasma cutting. However, understanding newer technologies and knowing how and when to use them has enabled Catworth, a certified Hardox® Wearparts Centre based in Anderbolt, Boksburg, to create itself a niche.

Catworth have recently imported and commissioned a 40kW fiber laser

Hardox® is a premium wear-resistant steel designed for the toughest applications. As an authorised Hardox® Wearparts Centre certified by SSAB, Catworth delivers high-quality, engineered wear solutions that maximise service life, improve productivity, and reduce maintenance costs.

“Catworth is a company that specialises in fabricating mill lining inserts, with a focus on quenched and tempered (Q&T) wear-resistant steels,” says Eugene Van der Walt, Catworth’s General Manager.

“These components are consumable parts, so the longer the life the customer is able to get out of them, the better. Our core focus is on how we process the material,” continued Van der Walt.

“We have the ability to process Q&T material underwater using an oxy-fuel machine and I am sure we are one of the only companies in the world that knows how to do this.”

“Because of the effects on the heat-affected zone when processing material, cutting the material underwater actually reduces changes to the material in the heat-affected zone because there is less heat transfer while cutting it submerged. We have had all of this laboratory tested and the results speak for themselves.”

Catworth optioned their new 40kW fiber laser with 14m x 2.5m bed

The component pictured is a reversable bolt-on cutting edge for a loader bucket. It was cut from Hardox® 450 50mm plate and was cut at half of the 40kW fiber laser’s power (20kW)

“While we make use of oxy-fuel technology for cutting some of our material, we also use fiber laser technology where it offers the greatest advantage. We import all our machinery ourselves. Our first investment was a 4kW fiber laser, which gave us valuable experience in understanding the technology and its capabilities.”

“Based on that experience, we increased our throughput with a second 6kW laser before making the decision to invest in our new flagship 40kW fiber laser with a 14m x 2.5m bed. At the same time, we upgraded our original 4kW laser to a 6kW source, significantly increasing the capability of our laser department.”

The investment was about far more than simply purchasing a larger machine. It forms part of Catworth’s long-term strategy to improve throughput, cut quality and manufacturing efficiency while expanding its capability to process large-format wear-resistant plate.

40kW fiber laser with 14m x 2.5m bed
“With the changes in technology, there is going to come a point where technologies like oxy-fuel will fall away and fiber laser technology will simply take over. Another advantage of using fiber laser technology is that there will be less impact on the heat-affected zone when cutting material as opposed to the high heat generation from oxy-fuel technology, and it should give you much better results.”

“At the end of the day it’s all about numbers and quantities, and the Chinese have been very good at developing this technology, especially when it comes to the duty cycle. The thicknesses of material we are generally processing are in the ranges of 50mm, 75mm and 100mm thick. With the new 40kW machine we are able to smoothly and comfortably cut 50mm thick material and, throughout the year, this is the thickness of material that we will process the most.”

“The 14m x 2.5m bed size might sound big, but the reason we have taken this route is because the plate we receive from one of our suppliers, SSAB, comes in dimensions of 12m x 2.5m, making it ideal for processing full-length heavy plate efficiently.”

“We have the ability to process Q&T material under water using an oxy-fuel machine and I am sure we are one of the only companies in the world that knows how to do this.”

Catworth is a specialist wear plate fabricator

“We had our first experience with importing a fiber laser during Covid. Of course, during that time it was next to impossible to get an engineer out to help commission the machine. So we had a decision to make: Do we wait until we can get an engineer out here or do we put our overalls on and commission it ourselves? And that’s what we did. Catworth’s owner, Grant Scott-Robertson, and myself got involved and, with the availability of technology like WeChat where we could communicate directly with the supplier, in about six weeks everything was up and running. Besides being a draughtsman, I used to work as a plasma cutting operator, so it did help having some kind of a background.”

“We rely on the support of Mecad Systems for our software and will predominantly do our CAD/CAM work using SolidWorks and SigmaNEST.”

“I joined Catworth in 2015 as a draughtsman. Over the years I have learned a tremendous amount from Grant. He has always encouraged innovation, technical excellence and continuous investment in new technology. I wanted to follow that example and have worked my way up through the business into my current role. Today I try to instil those same values into our own team because investing in people is just as important as investing in machinery.”

Catworth has a focus on processing Q&T wear resistant steels

“We deliberately focus on building long-term partnerships with a select group of customers. That approach allows us to work closely with them, understand their operations and continually improve component life and manufacturing efficiency. Although we source and supply material, we are equally happy to work with customer-supplied material and develop the best manufacturing solution for each application,” concluded Van der Walt.

Catworth (Pty) Ltd forms part of the Catworth Group of companies, specialising in wear solutions, precision thick plate processing, laser cutting, equipment refurbishment and advanced overlay technologies for the mining, power generation and heavy industrial sectors. Through its specialised divisions, including Catworth Laser and Catworth Overlay Systems, the Group processes approximately 1 200 tonnes of steel annually from its 1 700m² manufacturing facility and continues to invest in technologies that improve quality, efficiency and customer value.

For further information contact Catworth on TEL: +27 10 894 6624 or visit https://catworth.co.za