First Anniversary of the LT12 Tube Laser

BLM GROUP USA celebrates the anniversary of the LT12 global launch this September after a successful introductory year on the market. Inspired by unmet customer needs, the LT12 has filled a gap in the market for fabricators that process a diverse array of materials with a higher max weight, diameter and length than provided by smaller tube lasers. BLM GROUP has listened closely to customer feedback and finetuned the LT12 as the ideal machine to add the next level of versatility to their shop floors.

“The spirit behind the LT12’s inception was to combine a wide range of our technologies into a single machine that can process virtually all tube types and open profiles with a higher weight capacity than the LT8.20,” explains Lorenzo Carminato, Business Development Manager at BLM GROUP USA. “This will add the most value to customers who already have one of our smaller tube lasers and want to process larger, longer, heavier materials. This drives greater efficiency for fabricators focused on agricultural equipment or light structural parts. It’s a circular solution that starts with the technology in our machines that is constantly evolving thanks to the feedback of our customers.”

Less Scrap, More Support for Long Tubes

While retaining some popular features from the LT8.20, such as Active Scan that allows operators to automatically compensate for imperfections in material to consistently cut quality parts and Active Weld to automatically detect and compensate for weld seams, the LT12 also offers some new features to ensure the highest quality and efficiency. Scrap Efficiency Mode brings the material waste down to only 4.5”, which is similar to the efficiency of the LT8.20 that can be applied to much longer tubes. In addition, two universal support templates clamp the tubes from the top and the bottom, providing consistent part accuracy and quality by preventing a tail-wagging effect inherent when processing long tubes.

“Our Active Scan is what really sets us apart from the competition,” adds Carminato. “Our machines use laser lines to measure and compensate for inconsistencies of the material, such as twist, bow and manufacturing tolerance, and this all takes place in 0.6 seconds. This is 10s of times quicker than conventional measurement methods. Our LT12 also offers a drill and tap, which can eliminate secondary processes and add a new level of versatility to the machine. For example, one of our customers was able to replace 5 manual machines for processing aluminum extrusions on their shop floor just from this function alone. As a result, this freed up 15 employees that were running those machines so they could shift their efforts to other projects on the shop floor. We have had such a positive response over the past year, and we are looking forward to seeing the great innovations our customers discover with our LT12 yet to come.”

The first LT12 prototype made its debut in July 2022 with a limited test group where BLM GROUP collected feedback for further optimization. Since then, the LT12 launched on the market in September 2023 and has already found numerous homes in North America with several more on the way for installation by the end of 2024.

www.BLMGROUP.com

About BLM GROUP
With more than 60 years of experience, BLM GROUP is a global leader in advanced fabricating machines including flat sheet, tube and 5-axis laser cutters; tube and wire benders; press brakes; and tube end forming, cutting, sawing and turning solutions. With headquarters in Italy, the North American location in Novi, Michigan, provides tube processing solutions to the United States, Canada and Mexico.