Page 17 - MetalForming November 2013

es 14 automatic mechanical presses. The firm is one of the beneficiaries of the efforts of a large appliance OEM to reshore much of its stampings.
Three of CFI’s presses are less than 2 yr. old, and Chadwick (as of this writ- ing) has been negotiating the purchase of four additional new presses to be completed by 2016. These will replace what Chadwick refers to as aging press- es—vintage 2000 or so.
Backshaft, Bearing Repairs and More
Charles Richter’s presses range from a pair of 5-ton Blisses with 7.5-in. shut height to a 275-ton Bliss SE-2 with 48- by 84-in. bed and 15.5-in. shut height. The 50,000-sq.-ft. shop is divided into three pressrooms—one for heavier drawing operations, one for second- ary operations and the third for small- part stamping. Once home to 70 employees, the offshoring of stamp- ings to China beginning in 2005 has left the company with some 20 employ- ees. And of its inventory of 100 or so presses, about 12 are running at any one time, says David Richter.
“We have the luxury of matching the right press to each and every job,” he says, “thanks to a vast range of bed sizes, tonnage ratings and shut heights.” The firm has some 150 active customers and 500 active dies, from an inventory numbered in the thou- sands. Draw capacity is 10 in. on a 17- in.-dia. blank.
Richter’s presses stay busy drawing and stamping primarily steel from 24 to 14 gauge. Draw/first-operation presses run coil stock; its seven trans- fer presses typically run five to nine die stations. When we spoke with Richter, two of the 12 presses in action were transfers.
Richter is not concerned with new- press features like improved rigidity and accuracy. Part dimensional toler- ances, he says, are ±5 to 10 percent, and “I would never overload a press,” he adds, “so adding rigidity by adding gussets or beefing up a crown or bed is not something we would do. We have enough capacity with the presses
One of the newest presses at Choice Fabricators is this Aida 660-ton link-drive model, pur-
chased in 2012. It tackles the firm’s most challenging work— complex parts that have diffi- cult draw or coining operations
already here to meet cus- tomer requirements, espe- cially since we keep the press- es in perfect working condition.”
Such attention to press maintenance and repair has
Richter periodically repairing
or replacing crankshafts—“we
have, in a few instances,
replaced crankshafts to add 2
in. or so to a press’s stroke,
to increase draw-depth capacity,” Richter says. It also has, in several instances, replaced mechanical clutches with air clutches, to improve safety. Other common repairs, typical- ly performed by FSM, include back- shaft repair, ram and gib machining, repair of slide-adjustment mecha- nisms, counterbalance and cushion repair and rebuild and lubrication-sys- tem repair.
“We’ve had FSM in here probably 10 times in the last 10 years,” Richter says. “Most recently, they performed a com- plete backshaft rebuild on a Bliss gap- frame press. They had the press back up and running in 3 weeks.”
Expansion, on the Backs of Bigger, Better Presses
At CFI, reshoring of appliance work
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MetalForming/November 2013 15
This 2008-vintage Aida 1100-ton transfer press is a workhorse for Choice Fabricators, so much so that the company expects to purchase an even larger transfer press in the next year or two. Its Noble transfer system swings out of the way to allow a quick 15-min. changeover for progressive-die work.