Page 27 - MetalForming December 2012

acquired a servo-electric panel ben- der (the Prima Power EBe Express Ben- der). Using the bender, production is completely automated, from the load- ing of flat, punched parts to the unload- ing of the finished product.
The machine has a maximum bend- ing length of 100 in. and a maximum opening height of 8 in. Actuation of the bending blade (vertical and hori- zontal) is by NC servo motors, instead of hydraulic cylinders. Upper-tool movement also is driven by an NC servo motor.
“The EBe has been a very depend- able machine,” says Dolinski. “It just runs and runs. One of our jobs used to require three separate press-brake operations to produce 80 to 100 parts in an 8-hr. shift. With the EBe, we com- plete the job in just 90 min.”
Describing additional benefits of the panel bender, Dolinski explains that while the EBe is used primarily on galvanized parts, it will soon begin to form stainless-steel panels. “On these large stainless panels, we often require two different press-brake operations,”
says Dolinski. “With the tool change in between oper- ations, it takes an operator aslongas4hr. to run the parts.
With the integrated punch/right-angle shear combination concept, the objective is to pro- vide one machine capa- ble of transforming a full-sized sheet into punched parts. Sorting and stacking automa- tion then moves the parts to secondary bending operations without being touched by human hands.
We can fabricate the same part in about 1 min. on the panel bender, and setup time is next to nothing. And we also can emboss the panels on the bend line.”
One Happy Plant Manager
Sub-Zero plant manager Ron Jones sums up the benefits of the company’s recent capital-equipment purchases:
“The punch-shear combo and servo-electric panel bender have allowed Sub-Zero to improve sheet- metal performance in many ways,” says Jones. “Large parts requiring multiple tooling changeovers for forming have been moved to the panel bender, and are improving productivity by approx- imately 800 percent, while also improv- ing the ergonomics of forming large parts on traditional press-brake tooling.
“Meanwhile, the punch-shear com- bination machine provides significant improvements in cutting, punching and palletizing,” Jones continues, “work that previously required multiple rout- ings and operations. Overall, our once- complex machine routings and pro- grams have evolved into simple operations that provide significant
improvements for running multiple products and operations. As a result, we’ve improved our speed, accu-
racy and flexibility.”
What plant manager wouldn’t
want to be able to say that? MF
Article provided by Prima Power North America: 847/952-6500; www.primapower.com.
Sub-Zero’s servo-electric panel bender has a maximum bending length of 100 in. and a maximum opening height of 8 in. Using the bender, production is completely automated, from the loading of flat, punched parts to the unloading of the finished product.
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