June 10, 2003 / When Future Fabricating and Design Inc., Toronto, ON started operations last year, Brian Denton knew that he would need equipment that was reliable and dependable.

"We've made a good name for ourselves on the high-end commercial (side of the business)," says Denton.

To help maintain its good name, Future Fabricating recently installed a Motorum-2044 turret punch press, three Accurpress Model 717512 press brakes and an Accurshear Model 625010 shear.

Future Fabricating is a precision metal fabricator specializing in high-end components.

The company, which started operations last year, has 15 employees at its 20,000 sq. ft. facility.

Future Fabricating is a precision metal fabricator that specializes in high-end components such as cabinets, chassis and brackets for the telecommunications sector.

Another large market for Future Fabricating is supplying components for the military such as telescoping antennae systems.

Continues Denton, "Another market that we are currently developing is designing furniture."

In addition to its fabricating and forming equipment, Future Fabricating also has conventional machining capability including manual lathes and mills.

Approximately 70% of Future Fabricating's sales are into the domestic Canadian market with the remainder of sales going into various export markets.

However, Denton says that the company is focusing on increasing the export side of its business.

"Eventually, I would like to see the export sales figures at 60% for the Canadian market and 40% export. We are working on our export sales right now.

"For example, we would like to start selling our telescoping antennae systems in Australia," he notes.

The firm is also in the process of working towards ISO certification, Denton adds.

"We're very close to ISO certification right now," he states. "All of our manuals are approved and all of our procedures are also approved. We're utilizing (ISO) right now but I would say that we are still maybe two months away from the final audit."

Continues Denton, "We already have all of our approvals for controlled goods (for military work) and we have all the government clearances."

According to Denton, the Accurpress press brakes range in capacity from 6 ft. and 60 tons; 8 ft. and 60 tons; and 12 ft. and 175 tons. All of the press brakes feature a CNC back gauge.

The standard Accurpress package offers repeat accuracies of plus or minus 0.001 in.

The basic structure of the Accurpress consists of side frames, bed assembly, ram, double rocker arm assembly and a torque tube.

The Accurpress employs a power ram tilt adjustment which optimizes ram trim to match various tooling characteristics, or for doing fade out work.

The Accurshear offers a capacity of 10 ft. and 1/4 in. and features an NC back gauge.

The Accurshear offers 36 in. of back-gauge travel with automatic swing up backstop at full extension.

The backgauge control includes LED display, inch or metric conversion, go-to-position function, 99 pre-select programs, hour meter and stroke counter.

The Motorum-2044 is a CNC servo motor driven ram turret punch press with a 22 U.S. ton punching capacity. The Motorum-2044 can handle a maximum sheet thickness of 0.250 in.

The unit's ram drive system, which features newly developed mechanisms and servo-link construction, offers high processing speeds.

The machine provides punching speeds of 300 hpm and nibbling speeds of 500 hpm.

"We put in a couple of Multi-Tools to enlarge the (Motorum's) turret. Each Multi-Tool has a 12 station capacity in each punch and there are also two auto-indexes.

"In total, it holds between 40 to 50 punches," says Denton.

All of the machines were supplied by Markham, ON-based Gilbert C. Storey Machinery Ltd., (storeymachinery.com).

Typically, Future Fabricating is dealing with sheet ranging in thicknesses from shim stock up to 1.4 in. "We are also fabricating and forming bar stock as well."

The service offered by Gilbert C. Storey was one factor that influenced the firm's decision to install the Motorum punch press and Accurpress and Accurshear machines, says Denton.

"If something goes wrong, we call Gilbert C. Storey and they send out a service technician and that is the end of the problem.

"Gilbert C. Storey is a first-class company to deal with," he notes.

The quality of the equipment was also a major selling feature, adds Denton. "Gilbert C. Storey has had these lines for a long time and they have maintained them."

The Motorum-2044 punch press and Accurpress and Accurshear machines are meeting the company's expectations in terms of performance, he says