FIRSTCUT+® Processing Services

At United Performance Metals, we don't just sell metal, we offer FIRSTCUT+® Processing Services to further extend our commitment to you, our valued customer. FIRSTCUT+® Processing Services include additive manufacturing, cut-to-length, leveling, slitting, edging, custom rerolling, shearing, laser cutting, laser gauge measurement, water jet cutting, sawing, precision cold saw cutting, precision blanks, first stage machining, heat treating, ultra-sonic testing, boring, trepanning, deburring, and angle cutting.  

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  • Cut to Length

    Cut to Length Processing

    A Cut-To-Length line is a popular method of creating flat, rectangular blanks from larger metal coils.  Also known as a CTL or a Blanking Line, our machine will uncoil the larger material or master coil, straighten or flatten it, and then cut the metal to the required length as it moves through the line, and ultimately stack the material into a bundle.

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  • Leveling

    Leveling services

    Flat or even surfaces are ensured through our in-house leveling capabilities.  Our skilled operators are experts at surface inspection, maintaining flatness and performing shape correction.  Our inventory can be carefully checked with flatness tables, calipers and calibrated micrometers.

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  • Slitting

    Comprehensive slitting capabilities

    Slitting is an important process when tight tolerances need to be maintained and smaller coils are a better fit for your application.  Working with a smaller coil can also mean less scrap and better economics when developing a finished part.  With five slitters including 12”, 18” turret, 18” light gauge, 24” and 50”, our slitting operation can meet your most pressing needs.  At UPM, we also offer specific edges or edge conditioning for these smaller cut coils.

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  • Edging

    Edging Process

    In many cases, slit metal strips of steel will require edge conditioning before moving on to the next step of the production process.  The metal strips are rolled to smooth the edges and remove burs.  Our in-house edging capabilities include the ability to deliver a #1 round and #5 partial or full square skived edge. 2R and 3R groove inserts are available as well as traverse wound coils based on your customers' requests.

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  • Precision Rerolling

    Sendzimir Cold Reversing Mill

    Our precision rerolling process produces rolled strip with extremely tight tolerance. Stainless steel repeatedly passes through our Sendzimir cold reversing mill to achieve measurable gauge reduction. The result is ultra-light, precision rolled strip in thicknesses as low as 0.0008”.

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  • Shearing

    Metal Shearing

    Shearing is the process of cutting sheet metal to size out of a larger roll or flat stock.  As the material moves through the shear machine, cutting blades come together in order to fracture the material into separate, smaller pieces.  This process creates quality clean cuts that can be repeated quickly.  Typical shear machines are categorized as 'Guillotine' or 'Swing Beam', and basic operations methods are referred to as 'Mechanical' or 'Hydraulic'.

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  • Laser Cutting

    Laser Cutting

    Our laser cutting solutions bring your cut metal to you more efficiently than ever before.  Whether you choose our fiber laser or traditional CO2 laser, UPM has a variety of laser cutting services to save you time and money.  To compliment this service, we offer reverse engineering, leveling and deburring options to reduce the need for managing multiple sources for laser cut parts.

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  • Laser Gauge Measurement

    Micing

    Flatness, width and thickness measurements are taken through the use of discrete laser line sensors and lateral micrometers to ensure the materials you purchase meet your exact specifications.

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  • Water Jet Cutting

    Water Jet Cutting

    United Performance Metals can deliver material that is custom cut to your exact specifications. Our water jet cutting capabilities allow us to cut virtually any material in a variety of thicknesses and tolerances.  Best of all, our cutting processes, inspection, reverse engineering and finishing options allow us to save you time and money.  Let us be your single source for material and cutting requirements.

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  • Sawing

    Bar Saw

    We utilize band saws, cold saws, and plate saws to provide the flexibility to tackle almost any cutting requirement, regardless of size.  With 29 saws in house, we have the capity your job requires.  These precision saws produce square cuts with tight tolerance.

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  • Precision Cold Saw Cutting

    Tungsten Carbide Tipped Saw Blade

    Cold saw cutting virtually eliminates the heat affected zones often incurred as part of the plasma cutting process and minimizes labor time and expense.  Our cutting process produces square and parallel edges at standard length and width tolerances flattened and deburred.

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  • Near Net Shapes

    Near Net Shapes

    United Performance Metals goes beyond standard cut-to-length and slitting by taking the cut metal and creating smaller, more precise pieces that are customized for the end-user.  Near net shapes can be square or round or a custom shape, and can be formed through laser, waterjet, or cold saw processes, or even by more traditional steps in the leveling and cut-to-length process.

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  • Heat Treating

    Metal Heat Treating

    Heat treating is the process of heating, holding and then cooling certain metals to improve their structural and physical properties.  This changes the internal structure of the metal and may cause the material to become harder and stronger, or softer, and weaker, depending on the method used.  Heat treating can also impact straightness and tolerance.  It is one of the most significant processes for making alloys and metals usable in further processes like forming, bending and machining. 

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  • Ultra-Sonic Testing

    Ultra-Sonic Testing

    Ultrasonic testing uses beams of high-frequency sound waves to detect flaws, measure thickness and evaluate material properties. Very short, high frequency sound waves with center frequencies or pulses are transmitted into materials to test their thickness or detect internal flaws.  It plays an important role in safety, quality assurance and cost. 

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  • Boring

    Metal Boring Services

    The Boring process is used to enlarge a hole that has been previously drilled out. The boring process improves the accuracy of the hole's diameter tolerances. Boring types include Line Boring, Back Boring, Finish Boring, and Counter-Boring.

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  • Trepanning

    Trepanning services

    United Performance Metals offers trepanning from 5.00" - 12.00" on center & off center up to 200" long. Trepanning is a rough size process which is usually then followed by a honing process for finish, or further machining. It is a deep hole drilling process that has broad application over many industries including, Aerospace, Chemical, Oil & Gas and Industrial.

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  • Deburring

    Deburring service for your metal orders

    United Performance Metals also offers finishing options to its laser customers by incorporating a Timesaver® high-production deburring machine.  This machine further removes small burrs and imperfections.  The end result is a high quality, finished part that will move quickly through the next stage of its production.

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  • Packaging

    Packaging

    United Performance Metals employs industry leading packaging solutions to protect your order. All of our crates and skids are produced from high quality Hardwood and Southern Yellow Pine.  In addition to several standard size skids and crates, we are also equipped to build custom sizes to meet your specific requirements. Ocean, Air and ground packaging is also available. 

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