Page 14 - MetalForming August 2013

Tech Update
Tandem Leveler Line Handles Material Thick and Thin
To optimize productivity from its newest fineblanking press, the Cincinnati, OH, metalforming facility of Feintool, a Swiss-based company, sought an ideal coil-handling solution designed to handle a wide range of material thicknesses.
“The challenge we face,” says Lars Reich, vice president of sales and mar- keting for Feintool’s U.S. operations, “is handling a wide variety of materials for the different parts we produce.”
The firm specializes in seating and drive- train/transmission parts for the auto- motive industry. “About 95 percent of our parts go into this demanding sector,” Reich says. “We may have a part that’s 0.120-in. thick formed from a large strip, and we need a straightener that can make that material flat. Then the next job may be 0.5 in. thick.”
To avoid having to outfit its new press with two straighteners to accommodate such a wide range of material thick- nesses, Feintool turned to Germany-
based Arku Maschinenbau GmbH, also housing U.S. operations in Cincinnati, which supplied Feintool with its Coil- Master tandem leveler line.
“With the line’s tandem configura- tion, we get the best of both worlds,”
says Reich. “The line includes a pre- cision straightener with nine rollers that can handle thick material, fol- lowed by a second precision leveler with 21 rollers, to handle thin material. We achieve optimum flatness over the
12 MetalForming/August 2013
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