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the material,” says Southwell, “and make it impossible to reform after that first strike. So, the final form must be made in one hit. This is where servo capabilities come to light. Where part geometry hasn’t changed significantly from what metalformers pro- duced 5 yr. ago, material properties have definitely changed. Back then, good parts could be produced eas- ily with a traditional mechan- ical press, but not anymore.”
Switching to servo presses to tackle materials once con- sidered exotic but now find- ing ever-expanding usage, Southwell has seen metal- formers decrease scrap rates from 50 percent to nearly zero. Servo technology, he offers, has enabled through- puts to increase by as much as 80 percent in some appli- cations, and tool life to extend by three to four times–staggering numbers to be sure.
Pushing the Envelope
Komatsu has developed a dual servo-drive system with independent control and monitoring of each connection point’s (right/left) actual position. The press control monitors slide position with refer- ence to the bolster. The standard linear scales feed slide position back to the control and adjust- ments to die height are made automatically to maintain slide-to-bolster parallelism and compensate for off-center loading.
With benefits of the tech-
nology becoming more apparent to the metalform-
ing community, press manufacturers are pushing the servo-technology enve- lope. Aida-America, reports Southwell, has extended its servo-drive offerings, starting at 80-ton gap-frame presses through large, 3000-ton-capacity pro- gressive-die and transfer presses. Other recent innovations include the ability to fully integrate transfer and coil-feed systems into the servo-press controls.
ommendations on processes for pro- ducing the parts.
“We have several servo-driven press- es in our Dayton facility, used for die tri- als to prove the processes,” Southwell says.
Even with such assistance, addi- tional training is critical.
“Customers may install the presses, but without proper training they likely will run them as they would tradition- al mechanical presses and won’t expe- rience dramatic differences,” says Southwell. “We perform onsite training using customers’ dies, presses and per- sonnel, and we show them how to nav- igate the logical process to improve part quality and then maximize pro- ductivity. The hands-on experience on
the shop floors with their dies is critical, so users truly learn how to leverage the capabilities offered by servo-driven presses.”
Technology Evolving to Provide New Advantages and Flexibility In 1994, Komatsu introduced its first hydraulic servo-driven press, with AC- power servo-drive units debuting in 1998. As a pioneer in the development of servo-drive presses, the company has witnessed the technology’s trajec- tory from mysterious, high-investment “new kid on the block” to must-have equipment for those handling diffi- cult-to-form materials and needing to accomplish more work in the press
bed.
With servo-press technology advanc- ing and gaining in acceptance, manu- facturers are helping metalformers to get the most from their new servo-driv- en presses. For its part, Aida-America has a group of servo application engi- neers who review customers’ applica- tions, parts, die drawings and any issues they encounter related to part formability. The engineers provide rec-
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