| 34 -- Abrasive Water Jet Cutter |
| Program Summary |
 |
| Title: |
34 -- Abrasive Water Jet Cutter |
| GovCB Opps ID : |
ADP12026041290000220 |
| Document Type: |
Sources Sought Notice |
| FSC Code: |
34 - Metalworking Machinery
|
| NAICS Code: |
333512 - Machine Tool (Metal Cutting Types) Manufacturing |
| Solicitation No.: |
Reference-Number-FE700080290041 |
| Source: |
http://www1.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/DRU/10ABWLGC/Reference%2DNumber%2DFE700080290041/SynopsisR.... |
Place of
Performance: |
Address: USAF Academy, Colorado Postal Code: 80840 Country: UNITED STATES
|
Posted Date:
|
Feb 09, 2008 |
| Last Update: |
Feb 09, 2008 |
| Due Date: |
Feb 14, 2008 |
|
| Description |
|
General Information
| Document Type: |
Sources Sought Notice |
| Solicitation Number: |
Reference-Number-FE700080290041 |
| Posted Date: |
Feb 09, 2008 |
| Original Response Date: |
Feb 14, 2008 |
| Current Response Date: |
Feb 14, 2008 |
| Original Archive Date: |
Feb 29, 2008 |
| Current Archive Date: |
Feb 29, 2008 |
| Classification Code: |
34 -- Metalworking machinery |
| Naics Code: |
333512 -- Machine Tool (Metal Cutting Types) Manufacturing |
Contracting Office Address
Department of the Air Force, Direct Reporting Units, USAF Academy - 10 MSG/LGC, 8110 Industrial Drive Suite 200, USAF Academy, CO, 80840-2315, UNITED STATES
Description
The US Air Force Academy Department of Engineering Mechanics has a need for a water jet machining capability in it?s Mechanics Laboratory.
This is not a request for proposal or an invitation for bid and is not to be construed as a commitment to award one or more resulting contracts. It is anticipated a 52.211-6 Brand Name or Equal acquisition will be conducted. The salient physical, functional, or performance characteristics that ?equal? products must meet are at the bottom of this announcement.
This sources sought is issued solely for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. All information received in response to this announcement that is marked Proprietary will be handled accordingly. Responses will not be returned. In accordance with FAR 15.202(e), a response to this notice is not an offer and cannot be accepted by the government to form a binding contract. The purpose of this sources sought is to determine if this acquisition should be set aside for small business or should the Nonmanufacturing Rule (19.102) be invoked. If your firm has the capability of MANUFACTURING such a system respond to the point of contact indicated in this FBO announcement no later than February 14. The NAICS is 333512 and the size standard is 500 employees.
Nonmanufacturing rule
f) Any concern submitting a bid or offer in its own name, other than on a construction or service contract, that proposes to furnish an end product it did not manufacture (a ?nonmanufacturer?), is a small business if it has no more than 500 employees, and --
(1) Except as provided in subparagraphs (f)(4) through (f)(7) of this section, in the case of Government acquisitions set-aside for small businesses, furnishes in the performance of the contract, the product of a small business manufacturer or producer. The end product furnished must be manufactured or produced in the United States or its outlying areas. The term ?nonmanufacturer? includes a concern that can, but elects not to, manufacture or produce the end product for the specific acquisition. For size determination purposes, there can be only one manufacturer of the end product being acquired. The manufacturer of the end product being acquired is the concern that, with its own forces, transforms inorganic or organic substances including raw materials and/or miscellaneous parts or components into the end product. However, see the limitations on subcontracting at 52.219-14 that apply to any small business offeror other than a nonmanufacturer for purposes of set-asides and 8(a) awards.
(2) A concern which purchases items and packages them into a kit is considered to be a nonmanufacturer small business and can qualify as such for a given acquisition if it meets the size qualifications of a small nonmanufacturer for the acquisition, and if more than 50 percent of the total value of the kit and its contents is accounted for by items manufactured by small business.
(5) For a specific solicitation, a contracting officer may request a waiver of that part of the nonmanufacturer rule which requires that the actual manufacturer or processor be a small business concern if no known domestic small business manufacturers or processors can reasonably be expected to offer a product meeting the requirements of the solicitation.
Brand Name or Equal Specification
for the Purchase of a Water Jet
USAFA/DFEM has a need for a WaterJet machining capability in its Mechanics Laboratory for several reasons: to allow cadets access to manufacturing equipment of a quality and capability that would be found in a standard machine shop; to allow the cadets to design and produce capstone engineering projects that are competitive with those from other universities; and to maintain the capability of the Mech Lab at a standard that allows the department to attain department academic accreditation. Currently, the laboratory lacks a rapid machining capability that the WaterJet cutter will fill. Without this equipment, cadet and faculty research, as well as capstone engineering projects either must be ?dumbed down? in design to match our capabilities, or machinist technicians must spend many hours of costly labor to machine the parts. For example, parts for a demo truss were cut and shaped by a machinist, requiring over 60 hours of labor. With a waterjet cutter, this labor would have been reduced to less than 10 hours.
The Brand Name that will be specified in the solicitation is the Flow International ?Integrated Flying Bridge? model with several specific accessories and options The Flow Integrated Flying Bridge (IFB) is an abrasive waterjet cutter, cuts at 60,000 psi (faster cutting, improved accuracy in thick part, lower operating costs) and includes a system to adjust cutter head angle to eliminate stream lag and taper. Its mechanical unit is separate from its catcher tank, allowing for versatile placement, large load footprint and reduced thermal expansion cutting defects. Additionally, the Flow IFB can cut brittle ceramics and composite materials, in addition to metals, and can cut materials up to 6 inches in thicknesses.
The salient physical, functional or performance characteristics are as follows:
--Shall accept (as a minimum) standard size sheet metal measuring 4 feet by 8 feet.
--Shall cut material from 0.01? to 6? thickness in ?adaptation mode?
(?adaptation mode? means adjustment of cutter head angle to maintain tolerance)
--Shall use abrasive garnet and high-pressure water in standard cutting operation
--Shall have ?water only? cutting (for soft materials)
--Shall be able to cut the following materials:
all steel alloys; all aluminum alloys; all nickel alloys; honeycomb sheet of any standard materials; rubber, foam, wood and other soft materials; ceramic-, metal-, and polymer-matrix composites using ceramic, carbon, glass, metal, or polymer reinforcement (includes all standard layup techniques: laminate, chopped fiber spray, filament winding, preform infiltration, densified); bulk ceramics; stone; glass.
--Shall include separate catcher tank (independent of cutting unit) to:
---eliminate problems with thermal expansion of ways and tank
---allow easy access to the table for loading and measuring
---enable more versatile placement and installation into laboratory
---spread load over large surface to prevent overload of the floor of our 2nd-floor lab
--Shall have cutting head with multi-axis articulation
---to hold tolerances on thick parts at reasonable cutting speeds
---to automatically cut parts with angled sides (small angles (up to 5 degrees))
---to eliminate stop, adjust, restart (?unwinding?) typical with wrist configuration
--Shall produce parts with a tolerance of +/- 0.005?.
--Shall have positional accuracy of +/- 0.004? and repeatability of +/-0.002?
--Shall traverse and contour at high speed (475 and 275 inches per minute, respectively.)
--Shall have pump system capable of producing 55,000 psi of water pressure
--Shall include capability to mount pump separate from other units for load distribution
--Shall have ability to follow contours
--Shall have collision sensor
--Shall be able to cut bevels of up to 45 degrees, with indexing for standard angles
--Shall include and use several sizes of orifice and mixing tubes for tailored operation
--Shall come with a software system (for operation of machine):
---able to accept drawings from MasterCAM software
---able to calculate feeds for types of materials listed above
--Shall include waste water filtration to 60 micron particles (environmental requirement)
---Filters should have reasonable lifetimes (greater than 40 hours before change)
Point of Contact
Mike Slocum, Contract Specialist, Phone (719)333-6081, Fax (719)333-9103, Email michael.slocum@usafa.af.mil
Place of Performance
| Address: |
USAF Academy, Colorado |
| Postal Code: |
80840 |
| Country: |
UNITED STATES |
|
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