Courtesy / Front Street Shipyard
Seen here are samples of precision-cut parts from Front Street Shipyard’s new cutting machine.
Updated: January 29, 2021
Front Street Shipyard invests in manufacturing that goes beyond boats
Courtesy / Front Street Shipyard
Front Street Shipyard in Belfast acquired a Suprema DX 1340 waterjet cutting machine, which the company said is the largest of its kind in Maine and among the largest in the country.
By Staff
Front Street Shipyard in Belfast is operating a five-axis 3D waterjet cutting machine that the company said is the largest of its kind in Maine and among the largest in the country.
The new machine is cutting large parts for use in the yard’s own boat construction and refit projects, and is also providing cutting services to outside businesses as part of a new division of the company.
“For our boat building and repair team, this machine will streamline our work on custom and production boats, reducing costs and improving the quality of the end-products,” JB Turner, president of Front Street Shipyard, said in a news release. “It also gives us the opportunity to diversify the services we offer beyond boat building and repair, which will ensure our company’s success through occasional downturns in the industry.”
High-pressure water
The yard purchased a Suprema DX 1340 model from Illinois-based Waterjet USA LLC, the largest model the company has ever built and installed. The material table size is 41 feet by 13 feet.
The machine uses high-pressure water streams to cut, shape and ream very large parts such as frames, molds and panels used in manufacturing and construction.
Capable of working with nearly any material including textiles, stainless steel and titanium, the machine cuts parts directly from engineer-drawn electronic data with precisions as high as two-thousandths of an inch. The parts can be as simple as flat panels and as complex as tubes, bevels, countersinks and wraps.
Beyond boats
The machine expands the yard’s capabilities beyond the marine market into the manufacturing sector.
FILE PHOTO / TED AXELROD
JB Turner
The machine facilitated the yard ‘s expansion beyond the marine industry. The 10-year old company launched its new manufacturing division to leverage the machine’s full capabilities in any industry.
The division is now selling waterjet cutting services to manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers and custom builders around the country.
The overall investment is about $900,000, Turner told Mainebiz last summer. The cutter is paid for in part by a $667,028 award received in 2018 from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration’s Small Shipyard Grant Program.
Support from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, was instrumental in securing the grant.
The remainder is financed through a loan from Androscoggin Bank.
Turner, a 2017 Mainebiz Next honoree told Mainebiz earlier this month that boat work surged in 2020 as people looked for ways to get outside. The trend seems to be continuing into 2021 as people look for both new and used boats of all sizes at rates not seen in years.
A video of the machine in action can be seen here.
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