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Make
Coil Feeding
"Pay Off"
Machine
coil feeding offers opportunities for manufacturers to make significant
gains in processing flexibility, floor space use, and productivity.
Bruce Grant,
R&D manager of Coe Press Equipment Corp. (Sterling Heights, MI) notes
that servo feeds have become more reliable, less expensive, and generally
easier to deal with, making them more likely to pay dividends. Thus, changing
from a gripper-type or press-linked feeder to a servo roll feeder may
still be one of the few things a shop can do to significantly increase
efficiency.
Servos
filled a gap in machine-feeding technology. Roll feeders that are air-driven
or mechanically linked to press operation have limited feed lengths and
adjustments, no jogging or "inching" capabilities, and no ability
to interface electrically with other machine controls, says Grant. Along
with providing higher feed speeds, servo feeds aren't handicapped in these
areas. Moreover, "features such as programmable move patterns, self-diagnostics,
auto-correction, and the ability to communicate with automation, just
to name a few, set them apart from other types of feeds."
He points
to an example of 25% improved productivity resulting from a switch to
servo feeds at stamper United Tool and Engineering Co. (S. Beloit, IL).
The company replaced all its air-driven coil feeders with Coe's ServoMaster
feeds on seven major press lines. One initial benefit from the servos
reportedly was increased operational flexibility, because they don't limit
the length of stock that can be fed into the press as the air feeds did.
The servo
feeds also cut setup time and scrap. "Air feeds needed more tweaking,
and it was difficult getting stock aligned to the die and getting the
feeder set to the exact progression," reports United owner Rod Meade.
"With dies being changed often, a lot of time was spent tweaking
the air feeds from die to die, taking precious time away from stamping
parts.
"Servo
feeds eliminated all these problems," he adds. "You just input
the program into the controller, adjust the rolls to the metal thickness
and width, and start the operation.
Direct
Link to rest of article below:
http://www.sme.org/gmn/mag/2003/03juf001/03juf001
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