Page 37 - MetalForming November 2013

the manufacturing facility.
All of the new presses came outfitted
with the same die-load/unload and clamping quick-die-change (QDC) equipment originally specified on the firm’s existing hydraulic presses (300-, 600- and 900-ton models). QDC-system components, all Hilma equipment from Carr Lane Roemheld: hydrauli- cally operated rollblocks; spring-return ledge clamps on the front side of each press; and hollow-cylinder-type T-slot clamps on the press backsides and upper slides. The hollow-piston cylin- der clamps, according to Hilma litera- ture, are designed to clamp dies on subplates with U-slots. With single- acting spring return, the cylinder’s spherical washer adjusts to irregular clamping surfaces.
“Hydraulic die clamping provides the safe yet quick die changes we strive for,” says maintenance superintend- ent Mark Long.” “We don’t have to worry whether or not the clamps are torqued appropriately, as we would with mechanically actuated clamps. Any chance for operator error is elim- inated. We just have to program the required setpoints for the pressure on each clamp, and the press control mon- itors the hydraulic system to ensure we get the pressure we need.
“And, when we change dies,” con- tinues Long, “proximity sensors at each clamp location sense whether the clamps are in their home positions. The system prevents a die from being opened until every clamp is ready, so we don’t open the die with one clamp still activated.”
Expanded Die Storage Welcomes a Slew of New Dies
When the 450,000-sq.-ft. Fitchburg plant opened in 2000, a value-stream- mapping exercise called for surround- ing the centralized 300,000-sq.-ft. assembly lines with 150,000 sq. ft. of fabrication and stamping operations. Material flows from the outside in.
The Sub-Zero and Wolf pressroom runs more than 100 active dies, includ- ing 10 newer progressive dies that run in the newer Minster mechanical press.
Dies, which weigh as much as 50,000 lb., move around the pressroom on an Atlas die-handling cart, which rides on floor-mounted track. The track links each press to a centralized die-storage rack conveniently located at one end of the pressroom. Track sections also run to a pair of toolrooms, one located at each end of the press shop, to minimize die travel.
“We recently expanded the die rack
by 27 slots, to a total of 106 slots,” says manufacturing engineer Pete Rounds, “to accommodate part production for our newly launched line of refrigeration and cooking appliances.”
In addition to that main die rack, the shop maintains six smaller die-stag- ing racks closer to the presses. During a press run, the operator can call for the next die in his queue and have it prestaged in one of these racks. The
MetalForming/November 2013 35
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