Page 40 - MetalForming January/February 2022

Where Servo-Electric Presses Fit
presses provide the better fit, such as the crossing of a certain tonnage or force threshold where servo-electric presses lose cost-competitiveness. Beck- wood has built presses with multiple servo-electric actuators and motors grouped together and synchronized, which allow greater force generation than with a single actuator and motor. But at a certain point—six, eight or 10 actuators—the cost can't be justified.
MF: What servo-electric applica- tions can serve metal formers and fab- ricators?
JD: Servo-electric presses have been in the marketplace for a decade or longer, but traditionally for specific light-duty applications such as crimp- ing or light assembly. That’s the his-
industrial applications.
We receive everyday exposure to a
variety of industries and applications— metal and nonmetal, from OEMs to Tier suppliers to job shops, which enables the opportunity for cross-pol- lination—introducing applications from certain industries to unrelated applications and industries.
We recently built servo-electric presses for nonmetal trimming appli- cations, composite-forming and com- pression-molding applications, and even metal ammunition manufactur- ing—a compression and assembly application. The main benefits of servo on this project are repeatability, con- sistency and traceability—which the customer could not achieve with their
A servo-electric press fea- tures much tighter position and force control than can be achieved with a hydraulic press, making it a viable option in a variety of diverse applications. How tight? Enough to keep this egg intact.
torical niche. But we’re intro- ducing the technology into traditional hydraulic press applications. Many servo- electric benefits carry over from these light-duty appli- cations into more traditional
older hydraulic press. Having the ability to track each individual cycle and ensure that all are staying within their tight tolerances is paramount to their continued success.
Another example: an aerospace manufacturer hot forming titanium. Traditionally, a manufacturer uses a hydraulic press with platens that heat to 1600 to 1800 F, employing fire-resis- tant fluids to decrease the likelihood of a fluid leak resulting in catastrophe. The elimination of hydraulic fluid in an application that heats a workpiece to 1600 F (or higher) offers justification for switching to a servo-electric press with all of the other performance ben- efits inherent in the technology.
The bottom line: You may have heard about servo-electric presses and think they only serve certain applica- tions, but press manufacturers that understand this technology as well as traditional press technology can help bridge that gap, and show the benefits and the drawbacks. MF

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38 MetalForming/January-February 2022
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