Page 17 - MetalForming July 2010

The Evolution of the Turret Punch Press
Today’s fabricators must be concerned not only with meeting current demands, but also must have the vision and strength to anticipate future challenges and changes in the market- place. The equipment and tooling exist today to meet these challenges. The trick of course is to choose wisely.
Today’s turret press offers a great deal of flexibility to sheetmetal fabricators. Equipment and tooling manufacturers continue to develop new machines and tooling that improve accu- racy and efficiency, and that help fabricators eliminate costly secondary operations while per- forming functions once thought impossible.
The latest generation of the precision servo-electric turret punch presses represents a growing trend in the industry. Their precise upper and lower ram movements help to create special flanges and forms, reducing the need for secondary operations. And, servo-electric turret presses minimize connection power and power consumption—recent tests prove that by using a creative combination of servo-electric technology and mechanical power transmission, a servo-electric turret press consumes less than one-third the amount of electric power of a comparable hydraulic turret press.
Servo-electric turret punch presses also offer adaptive reduced ram speed, which sup- ports numerous operations including the forming of louvers, knock outs and shear tabs, and also proves beneficial for embossing and part marking.
Some of the latest turret-press models feature programmable clamp setting that automati- cally positions sheet clamps. The possibility of punching the clamps is eliminated, and pro- gramming is easier. And, when changing production from full size to small sheets, clamp set- tings can be made automatically without wasting operator time. Dead zones can be complete- ly eliminated by using individual one-clamp movement while the other clamp holds the sheet. This allows 100 percent utilization of the material.
the E5, we can make 48 parts in just 25 min.”
Servo-Brake Accuracy Reduces Assembly Time
The final piece of equipment added to the EEE sheetmetal-fabrication shop was a servo-electric press brake, which Greg Morroni credits with improving the shop’s bending speed and accuracy.
“The new brake (an E Series model from Finn-Power) forms our parts more quickly and the increased precision dra- matically reduces assembly time.
“Our outlook for the future is pret- ty good,” concludes Morroni. “The telecommunications marketplace has dwindled, with fewer customers and fewer vendors. However, there are plen- ty of doors open to us, due to our abil- ity to innovate and maintain manufac- turing flexibly, which allows us to meet tight deadlines.” MF
Information provided by Finn-Power Intl., Arlington Heights, IL: 847/952- 6500, www.finnpower.com.
are ready to bend. In addition, with no micro joints, I don’t have to worry about deburring or having them bump on the backgauge of the press brake.”
• The tapping feature of the E5 pays a big dividend to EEE. The company select-
The Tooling Challenge
As a producer of transmission and various drivetrain component parts, Exedy America uses coating on the stamping tools instead of lubrication to
maintain tolerances and produce part quality. Thermal diffusion coatings were used, but could distort a tool because it is a hot process. A TiCN coating was also tried, but needed recoating after 78,000 pieces.
ed a six-station servo-driven tapping unit. Explaining its payback, Tim Mor- roni describes a motor-base part that has 40 tapped holes in three different sizes.
“On our old machine it would take 2.5 hr. to fabricate 24 parts,” he says. “On
“We tried a TiCN coating, and it failed at 78,000 pieces. We then tried the FortiPhy coating process.”
Randy Collinsworth, Tool and Die Director of Exedy America, Mascot, TN
More than 3 times the number of parts were run with no recoating or downtime.
The Phygen Solution
FortiPhyTM UltraEnduranceTM Coating has given Exedy America Corp.:
• Tool life that is 3 times higher than tooling with an alternative coating
• Ability to maintain proper tolerances and produce quality parts
• Reduced die maintenance and cost savings
• TiCN coating produced 78,000 pieces before needing recoating, with FortiPhy coating more than 3 times the number of parts were run
• Draw ring with Phygen coating has yet to be rotated and Exedy officials expect the ring to run 750,000 parts before recoating
Phygen Coatings, Inc. / Toll Free 888.749.4361 / phygen.com / email: tech@phygen.com www.metalformingmagazine.com
METALFORMING / JULY 2010 15
Visit www.phygen.com/ Success_Exedy.html for
the full story or call 888.749.4361