| > | | | | Polyant had developed for NASA forward 600 feet |
| When is a balloon not a balloon? When it’s a | | | | and then back to cut one gore would inevitably |
| technical problem, a design challenge, and an | | | | distort the fabric beyond the required accuracy level. |
| inspiration for the development of new and more | | | | The obvious solution was to develop a system that |
| efficient cutting equipment. | | | | would move the material in only one direction. |
| EdgeWISE Tools founder Pat Momany | | | | Momany is quick to credit engineer Bill Stuart with |
| didn’t start out at the high-tech edge of the | | | | figuring out how to devise the software controls for |
| fabric cutting industry. Problems that need solving get | | | | EdgeWISE’s Single Direction Cutting (SDC) |
| his inventive juices flowing, and his penchant for | | | | system, which combines state-of-the-art laser beam |
| saying, "Sure, we can do that," before figuring out | | | | delivery, material handling and motion control to |
| how, add up to an enterprise that’s | | | | calculate required material length and digitally |
| reinvented itself several times. | | | | compensate for the stretching that occurs during |
| Now with that trademark inventiveness and can-do | | | | handling. |
| attitude, Seattle-based EdgeWISE is pushing the limits | | | | Most cutting systems, Momany says, are driven by |
| of fabric cutting, in a system custom-designed to cut | | | | Hewlett Packard Graphical Language (HPGL), whose |
| out the huge scientific balloons NASA plans to send | | | | limitations render it unable to handle ULDB-sized |
| to the very edge of Earth’s atmosphere. | | | | projects. "With HPGL, you lose accuracy over long |
| From boats to balloons | | | | lengths of material
you run out of math; you run |
| It started with boats. " I was in the printing business | | | | out of decimal points," he elaborates. EdgeWISE |
| in 1985, and met a lady who was putting vinyl names | | | | engineers have developed a new data processing |
| and logos on the sides of boats," Momany relates. | | | | technology that can achieve accuracy out to 16 or |
| "Gerber had released a 15-inch vinyl text cutter, but | | | | more decimal places. |
| she was doing graphics and logos in addition to | | | | "And with HPGL, at 3,000 inches, the system would |
| letters. I wondered if we could somehow melt the | | | | just stop, and you’d have to re-send the |
| vinyl to cut it. We started out with a soldering iron | | | | imagesbut it wouldn’t have any way of |
| attached to an X-Y plotter." After working through | | | | knowing where it had left off," Momany says, noting |
| many "thermal issues," midway through 1986 | | | | that 3,000 inches, or 250 feet, is less than one-half |
| Momany, in partnership with another company that | | | | the length of a ULDB gore. "Our system can just |
| later went out of business, introduced a 36-inch | | | | keep on going." |
| thermal cutter to the sign industry. | | | | As Momany explains the SDC’s advantages |
| The following year, "back when 286s were the hot | | | | for the NASA application, he keeps bumping into his |
| computers," Momany reminisces, he and colleagues at | | | | company’s own "cutting edge" issues: |
| GrafikEdge helped develop Amiable Technologies | | | | proprietary technologies, which he doesn’t |
| sign-cutting software, and came very close to | | | | dare explain in excessive detail. EdgeWISE is currently |
| perfecting a swivel knife cutter of the sort | | | | patenting the SDC system, with between 15 and 20 |
| that’s now widely used in the cutting business. | | | | individual processes listed as claims on the application; |
| "I didn’t trust the software engineers," he | | | | this is one of four patent applications the company |
| recalls this near-hit ruefully. | | | | has going, and Momany expects to initiate another |
| In the late ’80s, Momany began teaching | | | | two sometime this year. (The tiny company, by the |
| himself about lasers, and in 1990 sold GrafikEdge and | | | | way, employs three full-time and two part-time |
| started EdgeWISE Tools to develop, sell and service | | | | workers, and uses five to seven contractors.) |
| cutting tools and systems. EdgeWISE debuted a roll | | | | As it turned out, EdgeWISE’s SDC system |
| feed laser (RFL) system at the International Sign | | | | was able to come darn close to the original tolerance |
| Association show in 1992, and received a US patent | | | | requirement, at +/- .3 inches; but, as NASA, |
| in November of 1993. For a few years EdgeWISE | | | | Dimension Polyant and Raven Industries continue to |
| licensed the technology to another company, but | | | | tinker with the composition of the balloon fabric, new |
| when this route failed to produce the desired growth, | | | | hurdles emerge. Simply cutting one lobe down the |
| EdgeWISE began designing and selling its own RFL | | | | middle of the run of fabric results in 40 percent |
| product line. | | | | waste, so EdgeWISE designed the system to cut |
| According to company literature, RFL technology | | | | half lobes down each straight edge, to be sewn |
| offers significant advantages over traditional flatbed | | | | together afterward, cutting waste down to only 14 |
| systems that cut with blades:the RFL takes only | | | | percent. This means the system must be able to |
| one-third to one-half the floor space of a | | | | detect the fabric edge, which was no problem with |
| flatbed;lasers use minimum heat, for less material | | | | the earlier translucent material. The most recent |
| distortion;lasers provide a high degree of accuracy, | | | | version of fabric, however, is transparent, so edge |
| consistency, control and flexibility;the extremely small | | | | detection becomes a bigger problem. |
| cut width allows for detailed work and close nesting | | | | Performance and perforation |
| of components, minimizing waste;lasers decrease the | | | | Momany suggests that the SDC system would be |
| risk of injury, com-pared to many mechanical cutting | | | | suitable for a variety of applications with simple |
| methods. | | | | cutting patterns requiring high volume throughput, |
| "We started focusing on designing and developing | | | | such as automotive air bags. The RFL system is |
| other laser tools, and were invited by Eastman | | | | faster than a flatbed, and the SDC is faster yet, able |
| Worldwide, an industrial fabric company, to exhibit in | | | | to handle 350 or more linear feet of material per |
| their booth at the 1997 Industrial Fabrics Association | | | | minute. |
| show in Nashville. That’s where I met Raven | | | | In addition to the advantage of taking up much less |
| Industries’ Ron Stevens, who was heading up | | | | floor space than flatbed systems, the roll-feed SDC |
| the manufacturing end of NASA’s Ultra Long | | | | allows for faster throughput without increasing safety |
| Duration Balloon Project," relates Momany. | | | | compliance issues or the need for training. "We try to |
| The Single Direction Cutter (SDC) system was | | | | make every machine using a Class One laser |
| designed to provide precise beam delivery, material | | | | beamas safe as your laser printer," Momany |
| handling and motion control, developed to | | | | notes. By definition, Class One beams are totally |
| compensate for distortions due to material stretching. | | | | enclosed. If, for example, the ULDB gores were to |
| The Ultra Long Duration Balloon Project (ULDB), | | | | be cut with a laser moving over a flatbed, "to move |
| profiled in our October 1999 issue, is NASA’s | | | | 600 feet, it would have to be a Class Four |
| latest development in near-space scientific | | | | beamand everyone in the room would have to be |
| exploration. The project aims to develop balloon | | | | laser-trained and wearing goggles," he explains. |
| systems capable of supporting scientific observations | | | | Now, EdgeWISE is working on adapting laser cutting |
| above 99 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere, | | | | technology to perforation applications. "We can take |
| for durations of approximately 100 days. Innovations | | | | 60-inch-wide material and perforate it with a quarter |
| in materials and constructionthe current design is | | | | inch separating the holes in a row, and a quarter inch |
| 600 feet tall and pumpkin shaped, with lobes that | | | | separating the rows, at 85 feet per |
| increase its strength, and made of a one mil | | | | minutethat’s a half-million holes a minute," |
| five-layer Mylar-polyethylene-polyester composite | | | | Momany says, noting that one client, an aerospace |
| that provides a previously unavailable combination of | | | | company, uses the resulting perforated material to |
| gas barrier, tear resistance and strengthadd up to | | | | filter resin evenly onto parts that must be glued |
| a balloon that can take near-space extremes of | | | | together. |
| temperature and sun exposure, and carry a couple | | | | "The limitation on most perforation operations is |
| thousand pounds of equipment. | | | | mechanical; it’s like they’re using a |
| "Ron and I discussed those 600-foot lobes, and I | | | | rotary pincushion, and the needles break all the time," |
| said, Sure, we can do that,’" Momany says | | | | Momany says. It’s not uncommon for needle |
| nonchalantly. "Our thinking has always been | | | | breakage to occur several times a week, or even |
| not-quite-mainstream, and that’s me. | | | | daily, resulting in four to eight hours of downtime |
| I’m a conceptualist; I have engineers to tell | | | | each time. "The laser perforation could be used in |
| me what we can’t do. | | | | manufacturing disposable diapers, band-aids, all kinds |
| " The enormity of the ultra long duration balloon | | | | of geotextiles." |
| poses huge manufacturing challenges. "The biggest | | | | While in Momany’s view it’s |
| problem was that NASA wanted the lobes to be cut | | | | EdgeWISE’s small size and flexibility that |
| to 600 feet plus or minus a quarter inch," Momany | | | | enables it to take on these kinds of problem-solving |
| marvels. "These scientists are amazing. You get them | | | | challenges, he also admits that the aerospace client |
| in a room together and they have all these ideas, but | | | | was originally nervous about the reliability of such a |
| they’re some-times not very realistic about | | | | tiny supplier. The ULDB Project provided a needed |
| manufacturing reality. We got them to agree to plus | | | | dose of credibility. "When you say you’re |
| or minus three inches; that’s a .5 percent | | | | working with NASA, that tends to get |
| margin of error." | | | | people’s attention," he concludes. |
| Momany knew immediately that their RFL system, | | | | Reprinted with permission from Industrial Fabric |
| which moves material backward and forward under | | | | Products Review April 2000. Copyright ® 2000 by |
| stationary cutting heads, wouldn’t do the trick; | | | | Industrial Fabrics Association International. |
| moving the film that Connecticut-based Dimension | | | | |