Page 17 - MetalForming Magazine September 2022

Adjustable-Stroke Inclined Press
...delivers the flexibility that metal former Art Metals needs to master low-volume high-mix production of washers. The new 50-ton press, which provides eight different stroke lengths, more than doubles the productivity of the company’s straightside presses.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
The new 50-ton Sangiacomo adjustable-stroke inclined press at Art Metals offered the best solution for part ejection while allowing the firm to run at a significantly higher stroke rate than it could on existing straightside presses.
While servomechanical presses, as well as fixed- stroke straightside presses, have their place, many metal formers use servo only for their ability to run in pendulum mode and employ a shorter stroke, increasing stroke rate. Sure, optimizing stroke length and increasing press speed certainly are worthy goals for any metal stamper. Yet the production team at metal former Art Metals Group, Fairfield, OH, sought a different mouse trap to achieve those goals, and found one with an adjustable-stroke, conventionally driven inclined mechanical press.
“Our new press (a 50-ton Sangiacomo) employs an eccentric-geared design that allows us to select from among eight different stroke lengths,” says Chad Wyan, director of engineering at Art Metals. “In 2018, we started to notice that customers more frequently were asking us to quote small washers (0.5- to 2.5-in.-dia.) in lower volumes, often with complex design features, and we knew that we had to reduce our tooling costs and lead times to earn that business. This new press, combined with an optimized die design, provides unique capabilities that we now can leverage.”
Washer production accounts for some 25 percent of Art Metals’ work, and the firm finds its customers more often quoting specialty washers at lower volumes and moving away from more typical flat and conical styles, explains Brian Childers, the firm’s senior director of sales and marketing.
14 MetalForming/September 2022
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