Page 26 - MetalForming November 2012

New Controls
Tons of Hydraulic
Press Solutions!
Forming, Trimming and Coining
Challenge
Add more press capacity and capability while providing shorter
lead times for tool manufacturer.
Solution
Fully adjustable gib- guided press with uni-frame design to consolidate 3 operations into one progressive station.
Results
Faster cycle times, increased capacity and production throughput.
Pressing for the best solution
800-877-9110 www.greenerd.com 24 MetalForming/November 2012
American Made
The new controls store in memory the points in the stroke where a die sensor turns on and off, over consecutive strokes. When setting up the sensors, this allows an operator to identify the best place to set the on/off angles, a time-saving fea- ture that also helps ensure proper die- protection practice.
ities,” shares Meyers. “The investment became part of our improvement plans, not just a means of cost avoidance.”
With the ability to use sensors on more tools, D & H has been able to run more jobs unattended without risk of schedule-shattering die crashes. Ton- nage monitors have helped reduce setup times, and the firm is relying on the monitors to stop presses when a tonnage change indicates a variation in the process, such as dulling of the tools and changes in material thickness. Also, the new controls are managing PLSs to control feed timing, air blowoffs and other events.
Avoiding Calls to Maintenance
In addition to the gains in process control, the added diagnostics capa- bilities with the new controls often allow operators to troubleshoot and correct downtime issues themselves, sparing a call to the firm’s maintenance department. And, if issues become too complex for the operators, ”the new control diagnostics help even experi- enced maintenance technicians,” says Brad Wehr, head of maintenance. “The diagnostics immediately identify what is preventing a press from stroking, so that instead of spending valuable pro- duction time identifying a problem we can move immediately to a corrective action and get the press up and running.
“Also useful is the fault-history capa- bilities of the new controls,” says Wehr. “The electricians can go back several days, if necessary, and view the exact causes of previous press stoppages and identify, in minutes, the root causes of any issues. This lets them proceed directly to the needed repair, saving potentially hours and even an entire shift of production time that otherwise would have been lost.”
Meyers and Wehr note additional capabilities of the new controls that prove useful for maintenance. For instance, the controls not only meas- ure stop time with every stroke, but they also measure the time required to engage the clutch. With a simple record of the starting time for each hit, technicians can move from press to press to check stop and clutch- engagement times, and track brake and clutch wear. MF
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