Page 30 - MetalForming Magazine August 2022

Punch-Shear Combo Makes Quick Work of Full Sheets
With the Shear Genius concept, the objective is to provide equipment capable of transforming a full-sized sheet into finished parts. These parts can be moved to the final pro- duction stages for imme- diate integration directly with the final switchgear assembly.
At the heart of the
Shear Genius SGe: an
updated servo-electric 30-metric-ton punching
machine with 1000-
hits/min. stroke speed,
250-rpm index speed and 150 m/min. sheet-positioning speed. The right- angle shear features a servo-electric actuation system, which delivers quick, fully CNC-controlled shear movement. The machine can shear mild steel sheet to 4 mm thick, aluminum to 5 mm, and stainless steel to 3 mm. Automatic loading has been integrated, along with programmable and automatic part removal and part sorting.
“We also appreciate the ability to take SolidWorks CAD files straight to the machine,” Smith adds, “and not have to always program offline. This dramatically improves our flexibility to get us out of binds. While we of course can program the machine offline—for nesting and to optimize sheet utilization—we don’t have to. If we need a part immediately, we can take the SolidWorks drawing to the machine and make the part. We like that a lot. Speed to market, and the ability to say ‘yes’ to our customers is priceless. That’s why we invested in the combination machine rather than purchase separate machines. So many manufacturers, when their customer needs something special, they say ‘no.’ We want to say ‘yes’ to our customers, regardless of their needs.”
The SGe eliminates wasteful skele-
from the storage tower and loaded and squared in the machine, without human intervention, ensuring accuracy. And, the same clamps that hold the sheet for punching also hold it for shearing.
As loading, punching, forming and upforming on the punch-shear combo become auto- mated, as well as unload- ing, sorting and stacking, the result is finished parts with little to no scrap, minimal manual labor and optimum pro- ductivity. “Another really nice feature is the upforming capability, for
forming louvers and other features,” adds machine operator Milton Fuentes. “We have specialty tooling for those operations.”
“In essence,” Smith says, “the Shear Genius allows the automated process
Fabrication: CNC Punch-Shear Combo
Switchgear, shown here being assembled at the new JST facility in Florida, are engineered-to-order products with a lot of variation from job to job. The firm’s new sheet metal fabrication equipment allows it to excel at taking on the low-volume work.
tons and costly secondary operations such as deburring. Nibbled edges on the part exteriors are eliminated through the use of the integrated right- angle shear. Full sheets—4 by 8 or 5 by 10 ft.—are retrieved automatically
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The Shear Genius SGe CNC punch-shear combination machine features an updated servo-electric 30-metric-ton punching machine with 1000-hits/min. stroke speed, 250- rpm index speed and 150-m/min. sheet-positioning speed. The right-angle shear has a servo-electric actuation system, which makes shear movement quick and fully CNC- controlled. The 10-station Combo Tower allows JST to store several gauges of galva- nized cold-rolled steel, stainless steel and aluminum.