Page 29 - MetalForming April 2009

to invest in new CNC sheetmetal-fab- rication equipment that would increase the capacity of its small, captive fabri- cation shop. The goal was to bring back inhouse all of the fabrication capabili- ty needed to keep up with current orders, as well as fuel future growth.
Investigating state-of-the-art CNC turret punch presses at a local trade- show in 2005, A-G Body management knew that one restriction on its existing punch press was maximum sheet size. “We could only process 40 by 60-in. sheets on that press,” says engineer Matt Briggs. “That meant we had to shear full-sized 60 by 120-in. sheets to fit, adding a process step. And it limited the sheet utilization we could achieve with our parts nests. Even with program- ming software to prepare our nests, we only achieved 65 percent utilization.”
Space-Saving Automation
Other items on the firm’s turret- press shopping list included automated sheet loading, so that operators need not handle large sheets—the firm fabricates 12- and 16-gauge sheetmetal. This was primarily a safety concern for Gianelo. Also, it needed a space-saving solution since it planned to install its new auto- mated turret press in a relatively small and recently vacated room in its shop, once home to a paint line.
“We believed that locating the new press in that room, although only 40 by 50 ft., offered the best opportunity for us to create an efficient flow of materials through our sheetmetal shop (6000 sq. ft.),” says Gianelo.
To gain the sheet capacity it needed along with the required
level of material-handling automation, A-G Body purchased
a model C5 Compact Express hydraulic CNC turret press from Finn-Power, Arlington Heights, IL (now Prima Finn- Power North America). The machine, with 33 tons of punching force and a nibbling speed of 1100 hits/min. (on 1- mm centers), handles sheet to 50 by 100 in. Combined with its automatic load- ing/unloading system, the machine’s total footprint measures a tight 20 by 24.6 ft. “With the addition of the C5 Compact Express, we have been able to bring back inhouse all of our out- sourced sheetmetal work,” says Gianelo, “and we still have capacity to run more production through the machine.”
The new turret press brought other new capabilities to the A-G Body sheet- metal-fabrication shop, which Briggs and his team quickly leveraged. One exam- ple is the machine’s large work chute, capable of offloading parts to 20-in. square. Now, rather than having to keep
parts nested in sheet blanks until an operator can “shake and break” the parts loose, A-G programs the press to separate parts that will fit through the work chute. A conveyor underneath the press moves the parts up and out to a parts bin,
dramatically improving productivity.
Upforming Ability Eliminates Welding
Another bonus gained with the new press is the ability to upform part fea- tures such as louvers, knockouts, and small flanges and pins. In particular, the firm’s product designers have been able to redesign some parts to include half-sheared and formed pins and slots to facilitate assembly and, in some cases, eliminate welding.
“For example,” explains Briggs, “”we used to weld drawer sides as separate pieces, welding in the corners and along the bottom. Now we use the half-shear pins and slots to interlock the drawers together. We make 20,000 drawers per year—eliminating welding saves us a lot of time and money.”
Mechanically interlocking the drawers
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METALFORMING / APRIL 2009 27
The firm equips its servo- electric press brake with a tool that hems and bends drawers in one setup, a big time saver compared to its previous hydraulic press brake that required separate hem and bend tools. Note (below) the series of bridge lances formed on the drawers—the C5 turret press upforms these features (a patent-pending drawer design) to locate drawer dividers.