{"id":15330,"date":"2018-10-04T15:24:56","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T14:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/?p=15330"},"modified":"2020-04-22T14:26:40","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T13:26:40","slug":"steel-sculptures-limited","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/2018\/10\/steel-sculptures-limited\/","title":{"rendered":"Steel Sculptures Limited"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”60px”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Swift-Cut 2500\u00a0with Water Table<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

Paul and Catherine Richardson are the directors of\u00a0Steel Sculptures Limited<\/a><\/strong>,<\/strong>\u00a0a Suffolk-based company that\u2019s a little different from our average Swift-Cutter. Instead of producing\u00a0precision auto parts<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0high-performing research equipment<\/strong>\u00a0with their plasma cutting machine, they create art for both public exhibitions and private commissions.<\/p>\n

\"Sheffield<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before purchasing their Swift-Cut Plasma Cutting Table in July 2014, Paul and Catherine were working with a hand-held plasma cutter in addition to outsourcing their CNC work to other companies. After researching plasma cutting tables, they settled on a Swift-Cut 2500 for the following reasons<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Swift-Cut machines are sturdy and have a robust body, which sets them apart from the competition<\/li>\n
  2. Instead of a hand-torch mounted to a clamp, Swift-Cut machines have a purpose-built CNC torch on their machines, which ensures a clean, 90-degree cut with less wear on consumables<\/li>\n
  3. Swift-Cut\u2019s English HQ is a definite advantage as it allows Swift-Cut to provide excellent customer service and technical support in addition to providing easy access to consumables through local suppliers<\/li>\n
  4. The water table feature reduces dust and fumes that are byproducts of the plasma cutting process, which is a real benefit in Paul and Catherine\u2019s small workshop<\/li>\n
  5. The price fit within Steel Sculpture Ltd\u2019s limited budget and although the Swift-Cut 2500 did stretch their budget a bit, Catherine notes that the benefit of being able to take whole sheets of metal for larger jobs has outweighed any cons<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So how do Steel Sculptures Limited use their Swift-Cut machine? \u201cWe have already used it for a variety of different jobs,\u201d Catherine says. These jobs include a decorative screen with a delicate tree design cut-out and some large board game sculptures\u2013 including a 2 metre-high Mr Monopoly and a 2 metre-high rolling dice!\u00a0 \u201cWe didn\u2019t expect to use [the machine] much for the figure sculpture, but we found ourselves using the free hand drawing option in one of the programmes to create realistic ears and eyebrows in perfectly matching pairs. It was also very helpful when making the large top hat! In other sculptures, like the 2 metre high rolling dice, it was a breeze to draw up and cut the parts, especially compared to a hand-held cutting alternative!\u201d<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The machine has also saved them money as they no longer have to buy ready-made parts or outsource their CNC work.\u00a0 With the machine influencing the way they innovate, design and build their pieces, they\u2019re able to take on a larger variety of projects and turn them around more quickly, thereby streamlining their production process.<\/p>\n

    The Swift-Cut\u00a0Swift-Trace Tool<\/strong>\u00a0has also been a great help to Catherine and Paul, particularly when they had a hollow horse sculpture cast and needed to create bases for the bottom of the hooves. The problem was that each hoof was a completely irregular shape and the bases needed to match and fit\u00a0exactly.\u00a0<\/em>To create the bases, they simply drew around the hoof with black pen on cardboard and then used Swift-Trace to cut out a perfectly matching set of hoof plates, allowing the horse to stand tall\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>securely.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    \"Steel<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Installing the machine in their Suffolk workshop was simple and Catherine feels that they were given just enough instruction to get them started without overwhelming them with information. Whenever they had a question, help was just a phone call away, which gave Catherine and Paul the confidence to remain calm in the face of unfamiliar technology. \u201cOur work is clearly at the unusual end of the CNC spectrum and we were occasionally pushing the cutting limits, but Swift-Cut were very open to our needs,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    They haven\u2019t even had the machine six months, and already they\u2019re creating great work on their machine. At this pace, we can\u2019t wait to see what they\u2019re going to come up with next!<\/p>\n

    For more, visit\u00a0SteelSculptures.co.uk<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0or follow them on\u00a0Facebook<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    [\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    [vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”60px”][vc_column_text] Swift-Cut 2500\u00a0with Water Table   Paul and Catherine Richardson are the directors of\u00a0Steel Sculptures Limited,\u00a0a Suffolk-based company that\u2019s a little different from our average Swift-Cutter. Instead of producing\u00a0precision auto parts\u00a0or\u00a0high-performing research equipment\u00a0with their plasma cutting machine, they create art for both public exhibitions and private commissions.   Before purchasing their Swift-Cut Plasma Cutting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":15334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-FullWidth.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cutter-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swift-cut.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}