Page 18 - MetalForming April 2011

HydrPaulic
resses
Surging into
the Marketplace
“The aerospace industry is using hydraulic presses with associated advanced control systems to manufacture parts of advanced composites and high-strength materials, such as titanium alloys,” says Macrodyne president Andrew Kirk. Examples include precisely controlled high-temperature presses, such as the 11,000-ton elasto- forming press shown here, for superplastic forming and elastoforming.
hangers. For the defense
sector, new presses are being called on for coining (ironing) of tank components—a post- forging process on hot parts. We’re also selling to a compression molder of mil-
itary personal-protective equipment. In automotive, a U.S.-based com- ponent manufacturer recently began retooling its Mexican operations and is
To compile information for this article, MetalForming spoke with the following hydraulic-press builders:
• Multipress, Columbus, OH—Barney Raye, president
• Eagle Press & Equipment Co., Oldcastle, Ontario, Canada—Tom McCarthy, account
executive
• Macrodyne Technologies, Concord, Ontario, Canada—Andrew Kirk, president • AP&T Press Systems, (North American headquarters in Monroe, NC)—Bengt
Walkin, technical manager
• Neff Press, Inc., St. Louis, MO—John David Murphy, general manager/president
• Greenerd Press & Machine Co., Nashua, NH—Tim Dining, president and CEO
• Phoenix Hydraulic Presses, Hilliard, OH—Mike Gardner, vice president
• Pacific Press Technologies, Mt. Carmel, IL—Steve Schurman, director of sales and
marketing
• Beckwood Press Co., Fenton, MO—Jeff Debus, president
Press performance improves as new technology infiltrates, including developments in closed-loop control systems and upgrades to valves and pumps. Here, hydraulic-press manufacturers describe all that’s new and explain how metalformers can leverage new presses to elevate their status.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
Q:
Raye (Multipress): New orders picked up during in the last half of 2010, and we’re getting calls from cus- tomers we haven’t heard from in years. Some of these are Midwestern auto- motive-parts manufacturers, but we’re also seeing activity from suppliers in the energy, aerospace, appliance, HVAC and ammunitions industries.
Dining (Greenerd): We’ve seen activity in the HVAC market as well as in automotive and in the defense sec- tor. The HVAC market gets healthier as the U.S. residential and commer- cial building market rebounds. New presses, as well as rebuilds of older presses, are being used to manufac- ture heating and cooling equipment, in addition to ductwork, flanges and
16 MetalForming/April 2011
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