Aluminum Extruder Expands Cut-to-Length Capabilities with State-of-the-Art MetlSaw Equipment

UNION, MO June 30, 2025 – National aluminum extruder Gateway Extrusions has installed a CS3-T8 Precision Sawing system from MetlSaw Systems, expanding the company’s cut-to-length and fabrication capabilities for custom and standard aluminum profiles. The fully automated saw, brought online in June at the company’s Union, Missouri facility, is now in production and supporting faster, more accurate finished parts for customers in building products, windows and doors, curtain wall, and lighting markets.

The CS3-T8 is a high-speed, high-precision cutoff saw designed for non-ferrous extrusions. It features a 36-inch cutting window, 8-inch thickness capacity, programmable backgauge, universal clamping for single or stacked cutting, and a touch-screen operator interface with Rockwell Automation motion controls. Factory-rated positioning tolerance is ±0.003 inch, with vertical squareness to ±0.0005 inch per inch of thickness and horizontal squareness to ±0.002 inch per foot. Carriage cutting speeds reach 500 inches per minute.

This investment lets us deliver cut-to-length extrusions that are ready for assembly or finishing with far less secondary machining,” said the General Manager of Gateway Extrusions. “Customers want tighter length control, cleaner edges, and shorter lead times. The MetlSaw system gives us the accuracy and throughput to meet those requirements while keeping quality consistent from lot to lot.”

The new saw strengthens Gateway’s existing fabrication offering, which already includes precision cut-to-length, punch presses, drilling, and milling. Combined with the company’s 7-inch and 9-inch extrusion presses and vertical powder-coat line capable of finishing profiles up to 25 feet, the CS3-T8 allows Gateway to move material from press to finished cut parts more efficiently. Stack cutting and automated loading/unloading options reduce handling, limit surface damage, and free operators for other work.

For customers, the practical benefits include

• Tighter cut-length and squareness tolerances that can reduce or eliminate secondary machining
• Cleaner cut surfaces suitable for visible applications such as storefront, curtain wall, lighting, and architectural components
• Faster turnaround on both small custom runs and higher-volume standard profiles
• Greater flexibility on solids, hollows, tubes, and stacked extrusions
• More reliable repeatability for parts that must mate with hardware, thermal-break systems, or painted assemblies

MetlSaw’s CS Series saws are widely used by extruders and metal service centers because they are built for high-volume aluminum, copper, and brass work that can be configured to a plant’s material-handling needs. Easy blade changes and digital controls support efficient changeovers between jobs.

The installation continues Gateway’s multi-year program of capacity and capability upgrades in Union. Previous phases included purchase of the production campus, addition of larger extrusion presses, and installation of the vertical powder-coating line. Those investments expanded profile size range, finishing length, and overall throughput. The precision saw extends that same approach into fabrication, giving customers a more complete in-house path from die design through extrusion, cutting, and finishing.