If you’ve kept track over the past several years on the different ways that stampers apply industrial electronics to press-control applications, you would see how much they have expanded.
Metal formers still rely on many of the basic sensor technologies to verify part ejection, feed progression and myriad other critical tasks in place 30 yr. ago. But a lot has changed in the sensor world since the 1990s, and an increasing array of modern electronics now find their way to the shop floor.
Fig. 1 and 2—Exact Tool built a nine-station progressive die to produce brackets (above) for a car suspension assembly. At the strip’s final station, the finished parts are cut away from the skeleton, which is removed, and the remaining left and right pieces are air-ejected down a chute to a collection bin.
Like all electronics-related products, sensors are faster, smaller, more accurate and intelligent than ever before. High-end functionality now is built into many basic designs. Software-controlled LED pixel arrays, real-time process efficiency updates sent straight to a cell phone, camera-based part positioning and quality-assurance scanning … who’d have envisioned these capabilities three decades ago?Ohio Metal Former Senses a Nine-Station Prog. Die
Located in Brook Park, OH, Exact Tool & Die Inc. is a privately owned metal stamping company that designs and builds its own tooling. The 68,000-sq.-ft. facility, with 48 full-time employees, manufactures products for a diverse array of industries, including automotive, telecommunications, agricultural, and lawn and garden.
Ron Gunter, director of manufacturing, recently tasked his team with creating a nine-station progressive die (Fig. 1) to produce brackets for a car suspension assembly. At the strip’s final station, the finished left and right parts are cut from the skeleton and (Fig. 2) air-ejected down a chute to a collection bin.
The in-die-sensing task was two-fold. First, to confirm that the part is positioned for the final cut. Second, after cutting the part, to confirm that a compressed-air blast successfully has cleared all parts from the die before the next downstroke.
Pour lire l'article complet : Sensors in the Modern Pressroom | MetalForming Magazine Article
