Many Fabrication Shops around the country have started with little more than a Welder and a Bandsaw, but these shops also possessed the drive to grow their metal fabrication business. Young start up shops then added a Metal Shear and Press Brake to their capabilities in order to better cut and form the sheets of metal they were working with. However the next step in the evolution of a typical Metal Fabrication Job Shop is shape cutting, and whether its a Turret Punch, Waterjet, Plasma Table or Laser Cutting System it becomes a very necessary tool to have but the cost ceiling kept several of these faster processes out of the reach of many.

As these shops grew, one of the more affordable options was a Waterjet. A waterjet machine is generally affordable (under 100K for quality used systems and under 200K for a well equipped new system) yet is also a very capable system allowing any material to be cut to very exacting tolerances. However gaining this versatility does present some setbacks; It's expensive to run (typically about $30 p/hour), rather slow compared to other processes and indeed, it is quite messy. 

The other options available to a shop where either too narrow in capability (Plasma / Punching) or were simply out of reach price-wise to the small shop. Do to it's speed, perfect process compliment to waterjet and low operating costs, Laser Cutting became the next step.  However with the average new machine price of $550-$600K, the limitations to the small shop owner was very apparent and especially when one considered the 10K-12K P/MO payment.  Because of this need, Southern Fab realized there was a HUGE gap between the need to grow and the affordability of laser cutting systems. 

Several years back Southern Fab begin working with Polaris Machinery Group to provide a full featured, yet affordable Fiber laser system designed to assist the small job shop make the jump to laser without breaking the bank. With a market focus on growing small shops and a budget offering of under 5K a month we achieved that goal in a US Built machine; The Polaris L510 series of laser cutting systems.

Here is a great example of not only a Polaris Laser in action, but the whole premise behind the most affordable job shop laser, in the country directly from on of our very own customers. 

"In 2017 we had this job that came in every few months. The order totaled 65 parts. On our waterjet it would take us 4 hours and 31 minutes to cut which is approximately 3 minutes 48 seconds a part at an operating cost of approximately $30 per hour to run." Now with the addition of the Polaris Laser "these very same parts off the laser are only 27 minutes total! That's only 22 seconds per part" - That's a savings of over 4 hours machine time and at a cost far less than waterjet cutting".

The Polaris Laser has proven time and again to be smartest next step for many growing Fabrication Job Shops. We achieved the performance of the "Big Boys" in one of the only US Built Fiber lasers available and all at a price point that makes perfect sense for the  growing Fabrication Shop. Contact the experts at SFMS today  to learn more about how a Polaris Laser can be the right, affordable decision for your shop.New Call-to-action