A new laser cutting and fabrication quoting tool suite is being introduced to  Australasia and Asia-Pacific to save job shops time, and keep quotes accurate and consistent, no matter who is preparing them.

The ToolBox digital tool kit from Tempus Tools Inc turns a CAD drawing into an accurate quote in seconds, and the time saved can be used to allow laser job shop staff and resources to be reallocated into areas such as business growth.

Toolbox can also provide an innovative 3D unfolding service, whereby it can be fed full 3D schematics of a product and it will select precisely all the 2D sheet metal surfaces required to be cut by a laser workshop.

It’s also possible to create the drawing without using any CAD software, using Toolbox’s Quick Part parametric parts library.

Quick Part has a broad range of customisable parts, including brackets, flanges, gussets, and plates that can be adjusted to the specific needs of the user.

“ToolBox is designed to put the tools in the hands of small laser cutting and fabrication workshops that are looking to grow their business. It helps with cleaning drawings, part creation or extraction, and laser cutting calculations, so the business can quote more jobs and expand its operations,” says Mr Felipe Lechuga, President, Tempus Tools.

“With the shift to Industry 4.0, slow quoting processes just aren’t competitive anymore, so job shops need new tools to get the job done faster, more accurately, and with total consistency,” says Mr Lechuga.

The laser cutting market is growing due to its importance to vital industries such as automotive, aviation, architectural and construction products, defense, engineering electrical, manufacturing, metals, mining and energy, shipbuilding and textiles.

“Customers in these demanding industries need fast quotes. ToolBox empowers job shops, particularly smaller ones, to win more projects through quicker turnaround times,” says Mr Lechuga.

ToolBox allows the user to select shapes, sizes, quantities and materials, and can also provide a folding quotation service by calculating the estimated time to run the press brake for the part’s requirements. Key parameters are all configurable by the user.

“Configuring parts for folding can be done either by manually inputting parameters, or by selecting fold or bed lines directly from the CAD drawing for calculation,” explains Mr Lechuga.

“Using ToolBox’s simple, user-friendly interface, users can feed these useful calculations into ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), MRP (Material Resource Planning) and other systems quicker,” he said.

“And, you don’t need someone with a highly specialised CAD skillset. Anyone in the business can use ToolBox to create fast, accurate and consistent quotes.”

In addition to the suite of new tools being released, Mr Lechuga says Tempus Tools will provide the service and back-up to assist job shops with getting the most out of their new software.

Time-saving Tools

The new Tempus Tools ToolBox suite is comprised of four key time-saving and labour-saving components: Drawing Doctor, Quick Part, 3D Model Sheet Metal Extractor, Calculation

“The culmination of these tools is that the job shop can create a fast quote, send it out to the customer with their branding, and continue generating more new business,” says Mr Lechuga.