Metal Forming Machines
Roll forming machines fabricate specific configurations out of long strips of metal—most commonly, coiled steel. The machine sends the strip through consecutive sets of rollers that bend it incrementally, bit by bit, until it achieves the desired shape and profile.
This process can create complex geometric shapes and can handle long lengths. It’s also energy efficient and doesn’t require any additional reheating of the metal.
Metal Forming Process
Metal forming is one of the most versatile manufacturing processes that transforms raw material into finished products. It is generally divided into two categories: bulk forming and sheet forming. Bulk forming includes processes such as rolling, forging, extrusion and wire or rod drawing while sheet forming encompasses techniques like bending, deep/cup draw and shearing. The choice of a particular process depends on the application, the desired shape and physical properties and the metal type.
Sheet metal forming is the most common form of forming in metal fabrication. This is because it allows for a wide range of shapes to be created with little waste or loss of material. The process involves placing a strip of metal in a die and applying intense pressure to shape it into the required design. It can be automated and done in a factory setting or performed manually by a metal worker in a workshop.
The advantages of this form of forming include the ability to create parts with a high degree of accuracy and tight tolerances. In addition, it is possible to use this method to shape components that are Forming Machine already painted or plated and still have excellent mechanical properties.
Another advantage of this type of forming is that it can be used to create curved or angled pieces with minimal loss of material. This can be useful in applications where the space is limited, such as in vehicle components or plumbing fixtures.
Other forms of forming include roll forming, which is a popular choice in the automotive industry for creating body panels and other structural elements. It is a relatively inexpensive and accurate forming process that can be automated or done by hand for smaller batches of parts.
In order to make the best use of this technique, it is important to understand what goes into making a part from scratch and what types of tools are available. The selection of the right metal forming process also depends on the intended application and the size and complexity of the finished product. For instance, soft metals are better suited for flexible forming processes, such as stamping, while harder metals may need more forceful processes, such as forging. Lastly, the material type must be chosen carefully in order to ensure that it will be able to undergo the selected forming process without losing its integrity or strength. This is particularly important in applications that require a large amount of stress or strain on the metal. This is particularly true in the case of bending and shearing. The bending and shearing process uses shear to bend and stretch a piece of metal, respectively.
Wire Drawing Process
A wire drawing machine is a piece of equipment that takes metal and reduces its diameter while changing its shape. The process has changed very little over the years but it remains one of the most critical and useful pieces of manufacturing equipment. Drawn wire is found in thousands of finished products ranging from springs to re-bar used in construction world wide, even paper clips and staples have drawn wire.
A wire is drawn through a series of dies that gradually narrow the opening until the desired diameter and shape is achieved. The forces applied through a drawing die can stretch or break the wire unless they are carefully controlled. To accomplish this, many factors are weighed and the machine design must take into consideration the initial tensile strength of the wire, its rate of work hardening, and the mechanical gear set size required.
Today, the majority of ferrous wire drawing is accomplished on non-slip, dry lubricant machines. The main advantage of these machines is their ability to accommodate a wide range of wire sizes efficiently.
Other important features of these modern machines include a high degree of control to prevent erratic payoff and vibration in the accumulator towers or sheaves. This is due to the fact that a loose and bushy wire bundle will oscillate erratically between each capstan on the dancer roll or sheaves. This erratic movement will then be transmitted to the next capstan and can cause that sheave or tower to vibrate.
To address these problems, the capstans on modern wire drawing machines are equipped with a wide variety of control devices. This includes a variable speed line shaft, vector controls and serial communications to synchronize the wire feed. This eliminates the need for a large number of control wires and allows many signals to be Forming Machine factory digitized at the machine and carried on a single pair of wires back to the PLC.
Another important factor in the design of a wire drawing machine is its ability to provide adequate cooling to the accumulator towers and sheaves. This is particularly critical for higher carbon steels and can be accomplished with a combination of water cooled jacket cooling, air blown over the sheaves or by use of an oil bath.
Finally, a wire drawing machine should have enough power to maintain its top speeds when the spooling device is in operation. This is a crucial consideration when considering the purchase of a new machine because it is not uncommon for high-speed drawing machines to reach speeds in excess of 10,000 fpm. To maintain these speeds the spooler drive motor must have sufficient horsepower to drive the maximum package weight spool at top speed and then accelerate it to that same speed from a dead stop.
