Page 32 - MetalForming June 2012

Innovative Conveying Solutions
the floor to a scrap bin. The floor sec- tion of the conveyor acts as an accu- mulator, which will allow the press to continue to run while the conveyor pauses momentarily each time a fork- truck driver exchanges scrap bins.
To move scrap from under the die and out onto the conveyor, TCR spec- ified a mechanical press-mounted scrap shaker (a Shuffle Drive unit from the Press Room Techniques division of Mayfran) driven by an electric motor. As explained by TCR president Todd Wenzel, “compared to air shakers that employ linear back-and-forth motion, the Shuffle Drive creates rotary motion, rocking the crossbar on large pillow- block bearings of UHMW plastic that minimizes noise levels. And, the trays attach without the use of tools, mini- mizing setup time.”
Another benefit of the Shuffle Drive, says Wenzel, is its crossbar- shaft design that isolates off-center loading from the scrap trays away
from the motor. “As a result,” says Wenzel, “all of our customers using the shakers experience very few if any maintenance issues.”
Flexible Part-Out Conveyor
The job of moving stamped parts out of the press falls to a 42-in.-wide by 96-in.-long belted conveyor from QC Industries, rated to 233 ft./min. The conveyor was specified wider than the press’s Coe feed line “to handle larger stampings such as case wrappers and doors, and so that the conveyor would not be a bottleneck for future parts,” says Wenzel. Conveyor features include a cut-resistant top, a stainless-steel frame and imbedded magnets in the drop area to avoid part slippage and allow rapid conveyor acceleration for speedy part removal.
Flexibility is key to the custom design of the conveyor setup, to ensure quick changeover while accommodat- ing Miller Electric’s wide range of die
sizes and shut height. “Using the press to stamp everything from small brack- ets to large wrappers and door pan- els,” says Miller Electric designer/ drafter Jim Dimpfl, “we’ll run some 20 dies through the new press ranging from22by34in.allthewayto36by86 in. And shut height will vary from 12 to 17 in.”
To allow press-setup technicians to quickly change the line over, TCR engi- neered the conveyor’s mounting system to allow it to slide out of the bolster area to accommodate longer dies while allowing it to extend into the die area to reach shorter tools. The mount also incorporates a pivoting mechanism so the setup technician—no tools need- ed—can raise and lower the tail pulley to match die height.
“We change dies on the hydraulic progressive-die press an average of three times/shift,” says Dimpfl,” with a total changeover time of around 45 min. With the gain in productivity from the new press, I’m sure we’ll be chang- ing dies more frequently. As a result of the automation and other features built into the overall press line, we expect to reduce changeover time to 30 min. or less, further advancing our lean and machine-uptime initiatives.”
Safety Ensured
Last but certainly not least, Wenzel points to the built-in safety arrange- ment of the conveyor design.
“Often, the challenge for designing the exit end of any press opposite the feeder is guarding,” he notes, within the context of providing enough room and access to allow the operator to effi- ciently move parts away from the press, while preventing him from reaching into the die.
“In this application, we are using the part-out conveyor as part of the machine-guarding setup,” Wenzel says. “It will fill the entire press window so the operator can’t reach into the die area, and we’ve added some addition- al guarding to prevent him from stand- ing next to the conveyor and reaching around it.” MF
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30 MetalForming/June 2012
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