Tag Archives: cut steel parts

Rentapen Continues To Expand

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Rentapen Inc. located in Waukesha, WI just hired a Shop Maintenance Associate and Customer Order Manager

Rentapen’s team continues to grow in order to support their mission of helping manufacturers reduce costs. Rentapen has added two new employees to their team, Vicki Treul and John Edward Murphy. Treul is the new Customer Order Manager and Murphy is the new Shop Maintenance Associate.

Treul will be responsible for 2D drawings of parts for quoting, inventory control, and creating files that will be sent to the metal cutting laser as part of Rentapen’s Just-in-Time Laser Cutting Services.

“Vicki Treul’s extensive background and skills in production management, will contribute to Rentapen’s growth,” said Susan Straley President at Rentapen Inc.

Murphy will be in charge of all the maintenance in Rentapen’s CNC machine and metal cutting lasers and other factory equipment. Murphy will be taking care of all the machines, assembly, cleaning, packaging, and assisting all the employees that work in Rentapen’s factory.


“I’m excited to join the Rentapen team and I’m happy to see the company grow,” said Murphy.

“Ed has experience in machine maintenance and along with a good work ethic, he fits right into our culture,” said Straley.

Rentapen’s CNC machine and Laser Cutting machines are used for producing Rentapen’s RAPid Tooling Components, a line of blocks, plates and clamp risers and shims used to reduce the costs of jigs and weld fixtures.

Rentapen’s larger, metal-cutting laser is used for Rentapen’s Just-in-Time Laser Cutting Services. Rentapen has a Mitsubishi 4000 Watt CO2 laser that cuts up to 1 inch steel, .5 inch stainless steel and .5 inch aluminum. The laser table will accommodate a sheet size of 5ft by 10ft.

The key benefits of Rentapen’s Just-In-Time Laser Cutting Services are a small affected heat zone, repeatability, close tolerances, and speed of cut. The cutting feed rates for Renatpen’s laser are ½ inch of aluminum is 200 inches per minute, 1 inch mild steel is 100 inches per minute and 1 inch of stainless steel is 100 inches per minute.

Rentapen’s Just-In-Time Laser Cutting Services can help manufactures reduce their inventory costs because they can order only what they need when they need it.

Laser Metal Cutting Services Verses Water Jet

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A Wisconsin battery manufacturer decides that Rentapen Inc.’s Just-In-Time Laser Cutting Services™ is better for cutting its cut metal parts than water jet cutting.

On December 15 2011, a battery manufacturer that wishes to remain anonymous needed to have some aluminum plate cut for its windmill energy storage unit. It had samples of the metal parts cut with Rentapen’s laser and some with a water jet.

The main differences between water jet cutting and laser cutting is in the thickness of the material, accuracy of the cut, heat affected zones and machine cleaning.

Water jet cutting machines can cut materials such as: stone, ceramics, and materials of a greater thickness, sometimes up to 10 inches.

One benefit of a water jet are sheets of material can be stacked onto each other, allowing the water jet to cut multiple sheets of material at one time. However, the cut tends to taper out as it goes deeper into the metal. So instead of a close-to-perfectly vertical cut through the metal that is provided by a good laser cut, the water jet sprays out a bit causing a slight taper to the edge of the thicker cut parts.

This was the difference that really made the decision for the Battery Manufacturer. “They needed to fixture the part and it is easier to hold a straight vertical edge than one that is tapered,” said Susan Straley, President of Rentapen.

Rentapen Inc., located in Waukesha, WI purchased a 4000 watt CO2 Mitsubishi Laser Cutter, which started their Just-In-Time Laser Cutting Services™. The laser can cut up to 1 inch mild steel, .5 inch stainless steel, and .5 inch aluminum.

metal shims for the machine tool industry each year.

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