Page 20 - MetalForming September 2019

Problem-Solving
Pres
s Feeds
Two metal formers—one a Tier One and Two automotive supplier and the other, a manufacturer of door-trim hardware—with different manufacturing challenges arrive at the same solution: servo press feeds.
BY JOE JANCSURAK, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Wico Metal Products, a Warren, MI-based Tier One and Two automotive producer of small welded assemblies, needed to regain factory floor space. Meanwhile, Erie, PA-based Burns Manufacturing, a man- ufacturer of residential door accessories, including door kickplates in a range of sizes, wanted faster die changeover times. Both companies accomplished their objectives with servo press feeds. Here are their stories.
Space-Saving Solution
“We’re producing, on 30 progres- sive-die mechanical presses at three of seven plant locations, tens of mil- lions of deep drawn extruded fasteners that take the place of weld nuts or clinch fasteners,” says Ryan Pline, Wico’s vice president of manufacturing engineering. Pline says that a recent equipment-buying decision made at its North Warren, MI, plant, represents a significant change for the company moving forward.
All of Wico’s press feeds, except one, are at least 38 ft. long. The exception at 20 ft.: an UnderLoop space-saving
At Wico Metal Products, the underloop of the coil stock on this space-saving press feed line provides the necessary material buffer so that the feeder/straightener combination has suitable cache to draw from during the rapid pitch required by progressive forming: 13.350 in. at 28 strokes/min. in this application.
18 MetalForming/September 2019
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line from Dallas Industries, designed to run steel to 0.250 in. thick and 36 in. wide, and rated for coils to 30,000 lb.
“A hands-free threading system,” explains John Heuring, regional sales manager at Dallas Industries, “it fea- tures a servo-driven synthetic tension roll for maintaining proper coil tension while uncoiling along with a lower piv- oting table with a feeder/straighten- er-mounted rocker arm/debender for coil threading. Powered guide rolls eliminate the need for slide-on coil keepers and automatically center the coil on the mandrel while the servo feed with pull-through straightener combo features pilot release for both the upper feed and straightener rolls. To enhance setup time, the feeder
passline height, edge guides and coil- guide rolls automatically adjust to posi- tion with the settings stored in the AutoSet job-recipe feature.”
“We kind of backed into this,” recalls Pline. “We needed a new press, but floor space was an issue. We barely had room enough for the press—a 600-ton Minster link-motion mechanical with a 146 by 72-in. bed. That’s when we noticed that our conventional feed line takes up a ton of room and started looking at what else is out there, leading us to the UnderLoop.”
Pline continues: “Since we’re run- ning common materials (low-temper aluminum and low-carbon steel) at conservative tolerances, we felt com- fortable trying an unfamiliar configu-