In manufacturing, the proof is in the pudding. Quality machinery provides quality output and in the long run this can only strengthen your company’s reputation. Building a solid foundation and investing in your company brings true value to your business helping to develop and build on partnerships while establishing where your company ranks in the industry. If this matters to your organization, then investing in quality and reliable capital equipment right from the very start will help eliminate unnecessary worries that can affect your bottom line in manufacturing and help to maximize your profits.
Flying Cut-Off Presses
There are many benefits to investing in a closed loop flying cut-off for your panel line. Although these machines are more expensive than its competing counterparts, investing in capital equipment can help bring costs down in the long run. Generally, panel lines are designed to run stop-and-go. But with flying cut-off presses, continuous movement throughout the entire process flow reduces downtime significantly and increases throughput. Speed and accuracy are key components to the success of any flying cut-off panel line when considering its performance.
There are many types and variations of cut-off dies or shears that are available. The flying shear with cut-off die and the slugless crop die are the most commonly used, especially in the building and roofing industry
Slugless crop dies basically feature a short stroke length while rapidly cutting off the finished part. The benefits of this die are accurate cuts that can normally be produced preventing interruption for continuous line operation. The cut-off action is extremely fast with this application.
The flying shear with cut-off die comes in many types and variations. The feature of the cut-off operation is that it accurately cuts the part to any desired length while the operation is in continuous motion.
One of the challenges is to fly the press while also having the unit cut wide panel products. The weight of the press will affect the acceleration. For example, if you are using a flying cut-off with a line speed of 230 feet per minute that can cut the work piece in milliseconds and return to the home position, this will enable you to run an efficient line with high output and will maximize product efficiency. In addition, by using hydraulic double-ended rods and a combination of linkage type presses, this will help minimize the press cutting time. As a result, the entire cycle repeats itself about 28 times per minute. With careful consideration to areas in cycle time and accelerating a large mass to the high speed you can still accomplish the cut accuracy of about +/- 0.8 mm. Note that this is a closed loop system with a servo motor drive, which receives constant feedback from a rollformer encoder and corrects the cut accuracy.
Extending Your Equipment Life
To help extend the life of your equipment, one must also carefully consider the proper type of lubrication to be used. The most common lubricant utilized in the roll forming of building panels is vanishing oil. The properties in this product provide the necessary lubrication for this forming process. It quickly evaporates over time, resulting in ease of material handling and installation at the construction site. However, in order for this type of lubricant to be effective, it must contain at least 95 percent solvents or must be a water-based lubricant to achieve low residue.
Finished Panel Inspection
Keep in mind that even when investing in quality panel cut-off presses, inspection is still a critical component to the manufacturing process. Criteria to look out for when inspecting a finished panel:
Check areas where possible imperfections may appear. Identifying the tooling and gap settings where the imperfections are occurring and in the stands upstream are critical as well as adjusting to the appropriate settings.
Material should always be within the property tolerances and ordered width particularly yield strength, elongation and thickness.
Look down the length of the panel to determine if radius lines appear. Causes can be improper tool alignment, worn tooling and dry material.
Check if there are tight or loose areas on the finished panel radii. This type of imperfection usually means improper tooling adjustment or worn out bearings and/or tooling.
Benefits
By considering a flying cut-off panel line you will experience the benefits of increased production, improve accuracy, minimize downtime, cut down maintenance/service costs and overall streamline operations. Although the cost of these units must be considered, more and more rollforming machinery units are being converted to this technology to meet the high production demands of today’s manufacturing industry. Nonetheless, there are sound financial justifications for this trend—the overall advantages far outweigh the equipment costs. Flying cut-offs also produce good results regardless of the experience or skill level of the machine operator. Not to mention the green benefits of reducing waste and power consumption while extending the life of your machine.
Christine Hennelly is the marketing coordinator at Samco Machinery Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Learn more about Samco’s flying cut-off panel line products at www.samco-machinery.com.
