Where is Mecolpress at EMO2017
As with past editions, Mecolpress has a stand that is important and centrally located with respect to exposure.
Visitors can find Mecolpress at:
Booth E28 Hall 015
Emo 2015 - Milano
Emo 2013 - Hannover
What is EMO?
EMO2017 is the new edition of the world’s largest trade show of industrial machines and mechanical tools. EMO is held every two years alternately in Hannover, as it does this year, and in Milan where it was held in 2015 and where it will be held again in 2019.</span
All the major companies that manufacture and buy industrial machines and mechanical components in the world are participating in EMO, making this fair event the most important event of the industry for a long time.
The areas where the trade fair is divided are numerous, ranging from the most advanced machinery to mechanical engineering specialists, assembly tools, and software and accessories. EMO has always been the international event in which the latest innovations and inventions are announced in the field of mechanics.
The past edition of EMO in Hanover has counted nearly 150,000 visitors from over 110 countries around the world and has been set up over an area of more than 180,000 square meters, entrusted to more than 2,100 exhibitors who could count on a highly qualified clientele made up almost 99% by industry professionals.
The new hydraulic press with heating-cutting bars online
Presentation of new hydraulic press ME100 / 4L30 with with very high productivity,
Heated+Cutting Bar on-line
The new compact hydraulic press ME100-4L-30 dedicated to the forging of complex shapes with low weight, with extremely high productivity.
The new machine is an evolution of the well-known and appreciated Mecolpress ME hydraulic machines, installed and working all around the world, from Japan, through Korea and China, up to Germany and Italy.
Features:
- Multiples coring possibility, single or double shape forging (parallel or head-to-head), in vertical, horizontal and at any angle.
- Advanced motion solutions to grant highest speed and the most precise control.
- Designed with focus on fast set up and easy access, maintenance and cleaning.
The brass bars heating+shearing furnace GBH5000 is what the market is since long waiting for:
a bar heating furnace, that at the same time can shear into billets, built as a stand-alone unit.
Advantages:
– independent from the press, as furnaces have always been: can be connected to new or existing presses, hydraulic, mechanic or screw presses, and loading automation, of whatever brand;
– allow the user the best flexibility in the production organisation and company development;
– for all lengths of bars up to 5 meters;
– no problems with small diameters;
– no damaging of the brass grain structure because of long-time high-temperature heating.
We will preview the machine at EMO 2017, follow the event.
Die Lubrication in the new generation of presses
In the most modern presses, like the continuous cycle eccentric SEO-CVE-CS or the hydraulic presses of the ME range:
- The mix oil+graphite is “pulled out” by the compressed air exiting the spraying point.
The lubrication fluid and the air are flowing in two concentric pipes, from the distribution blocks of the single lines to the application or spraying point.
For each of the points, the control is independent and it is therefore possible to decide for each one, from the operator panel:
- How long to spray air only (for example to reduce the temperature of the die and clean it from small burrs);
- How long then to spray air and the oil+graphite mix;
- How long at the end to blow again air only, to spread the lubricant and avoid thick deposits.
- The lubricant reach the application point through the press structure, the base (subpress) onto which the die is positioned, and through the die itself, all of them foreseen with channels and holes to reach the right points without losses and without spraying where it is not needed.
- Having the lubricant flowing through the machine and the die allow high time saving, because there is no more the need to reposition the and re-bend the singles pipes.
A modern and well thought press must in any case always allow to work with the pipes (Read previous article), that are still useful in case of work with third parties dies, or small batch testing with older dies.
It is even possible to modify existing dies, at the purpose to improve the performances and the precision of the lubrication, and adapt these for less modern machines to have internal lubrication channels.
Furthermore, from the operator panel, it will be possible for each lubrication point, to select if it should work as:
Upper die lubrication point;
Lower die lubrication point;
Punches lubrication point.
Each one of these settings offer specific pre-programmed activation conditions, each single point with its working time for air blowing, oil spraying…
Moreover, in our hydraulic presses ME the lubrication fluid is kept mixed and if necessary heated up in the power unit tank.
It is also important to know that the distribution line is built as a ring.
What does it mean? That the lubricant is always moving in the pipes, and it is therefore excluded every possible problem like lines clogging or lubricant cooling down too much, because the fluid is not staying in the pipes waiting for a valve to open, but continuously run around.
Moreover, there are control manometers at the beginning and at the end of the line, to keep the pressure at a constant level independently from how many spraying points are activated simultaneously.
ADVANTAGES OF THE LUBRICATION SYSTEM:
- Less waste of lubricant materials;
- Tool set-up time extremely reduced;
- Zeroing of the possibility of wrong or imprecise position;
- The lubricant is always moving, it is not staying in the pipes waiting for a valve to open: it is therefore excluded every possibility of clogging of the line or cooling down too much of the fluid;
- The pressure in the circuit is kept constant thank to the control manometers.
All of this is thought to grant to your forging process the “right lubrication”.
Dies Lubrication
For sure, among the secrets of an expert, to get forged parts at high productivity and without defects, the ability to manage the dies lubrication is one of the most important.
Actually, it is necessary to know how to have a “right lubrication” of the dies.
Clearly, “right lubrication” does not mean “a lot”, but on the contrary it means:
- Well distributed on every point of the die;
- Specifically differentiated between lower die figure, upper die figure, punches heads and their sliding channels…
Punches with spiral grooves to ease the lubrication distribution around the surface
“Right” means first of all to choose the most suitable materials, for the metal that we will forge, and dose or, if required, mix them in the best ratio to obtain the two basic effects of this operation:
- To allow the easy sliding of the punches on the die and of the billet material in the die figures;
- Reduce the temperature of the die components, to increase their working life duration.
The dies lubrication mix, typically oil and graphite, is dosed by valves that are very distant from the spraying point, therefore a variation in the quantity settings becomes effective only after many cycles, all those necessary for the new quantity of fluid to cover the whole way from valve to spraying point.
These, the spraying points, are copper pipes that, from a distribution block mounted on the subpress, are directioned and bent to target the specific points: the die figures, the punches etc.
In this way, every time the die is to be changed, it becomes necessary:
- To redirect the copper pipes, having every time to find the perfect position;
- To dedicate a lot of time to the set up operation.
And how is it made in the new generation of presses? Read more
Industry 4.0
Hot forging becomes 4.0.
Our machines meet the requirements of industry 4.0.
The ME series hot forging hydraulic presses allow to control the speed, the sequence, the stroke and the force of each punch, allowing to print without any burr even some of the most complicated shapes. The production phases are programmed and monitored to get the best shape.
WHAT WE PROPOSE WITH OUR INDUSTRY 4.0 MACHINES?
- We program what the press must do;
- We program tolerance limits around a test cycle;
- We can control what the machine has actually done;
- The system verifies that the process is stable and identifies irregular anomalies or tendencies of deviation;
- We supervise and record parameters for at least 10,000 cycles;
- We provide a graphical representation of the process;
- All information can be sent to an external PC for further evaluation, registration and quality assurance purposes;
- The machine can send personalized messages to the supervisor, via email, to have full control over the performance of the equipment.
RESULT:
- To get precise analyzes and to make correct decisions;
- Have an automatic selection between compliant printed parts and irregular parts.
By ordering one of our machines you will be able to take advantage of the 250% hyper-depreciation. Contact us for further information
Calipso Software
The Mecolpress Calypso System is a powerful software instrument that, thanks to a network of specific sensors and transducers on the press, collect up to 16 different parameters during each single forging cycle, all day long.
The recorded data are compared with the values set by the operator, for each of these it is checked that they stay inside a tolerance range (the width if which is decided by the operator) and in case one of these parameters in one cycle should result to be too different from what we had verified being the desired value, the piece forged during that specific “irregular” cycle is discharged in a separate area, to allow further controls.
In addition, the operator can program the system when this has to interrupt the automatic cycle production, after how many rejected pieces the machine shall suspend the production and wait for a human decision before to restart.
To go back to Einstein statement mentioned in the previous article, to be sure to do what I always did, and exactly in the same way I did it, I need an extremely reliable and precise process control and data collection system, and I also have to have an evaluation instrument of the collected data that allow me to have a true picture of how the forging cycle is performed, so to lead me to take decisions on the basis of reliable information.
Mecolpress Calypso does not only collect the typical data of the forging process for thousands of cycles, but create as well graphical representations of more than one parameter on the same graph to understand, for example, how the punches forward force is changing depending in relation with the billet temperature, and for all parameters show the variation trend over the time.
Mecolpress presses for the hot forging of metals are offering to you a production cycle analysis instrument that allow you the statistical forging process control, helping you to foresee when irregular deviation from the “nominal” process will arise, so that you can anticipate them and avoid that time and resources go lost in producing irregular parts and in sorting the good and the bad ones from a single container.
SPC CALIPSO
From Wikipedia, :
“Statistical process control (SPC) is a method of quality control which uses statistical methods. SPC is applied in order to monitor and control a process. Monitoring and controlling the process ensures that it operates at its full potential. At its full potential, the process can make as much conforming product as possible with a minimum (if not an elimination) of waste (rework or scrap). SPC can be applied to any process where the “conforming product” (product meeting specifications) output can be measured. Key tools used in SPC include control charts; a focus on continuous improvement; and the design of experiments. An example of a process where SPC is applied is manufacturing lines.”
How to translate in simple words the concept of Statistical Process Control?
Albert Einstein was saying:
“If we keep on doing what we always did, in the same way we always did it, we will always get the same result”.
The great physician used this statement to suggest the need of innovating, of thinking in a different way. But at the same time, we can have a fully positive interpretation of this principle: to be able to repeat a successful process exactly in the same way it was done previously, will certainly deliver again as good as the previous ones.
Let us transfer the concept in our world, the hot forging of metals. Here is an example:
If with a forging cycle we have obtained parts that, after dimensional, aesthetical and quality testing, are verified to be perfectly complying with the order prescriptions, it is highly possible that the next cycles, if repeated exactly with the same parameters, will lead to the same production result.
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- software calipso di Mecolpress
During a component hot forging cycle process, there are so many parameters that can influence the result and therefore the quality of the produced parts and that are peculiar of that specific cycle, among these are:
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- Temperature of the billets,
- die closing force,
- force applied by the coring punches,
- total cycle time,
- stroke of the punches,
- speed of the punches,
- weight of the unloaded forged piece…
Read more about Calipso Software
We expose to EMO 2017
Also this year Mecolpress will be present at the EMO exibithion, which will be held in Hannover from September 18 to 23 in the 2017 edition.
Participation in the exibithion will be an opportunity to share with all our customers and participants in the event the latest technological innovations on Mecolpress machines, which this year will be particularly numerous and interesting.
The Research & Development laboratory of Mecolpress has in fact released in 2017 a series of new configurations and solutions that will allow to realize further benefits from the point of view of precision and cost of production.
Mecolpress will present to the international customers of EMO 2017 an important news and will provide some advances in the coming weeks through this blog.
Materials Forged
Mecolpress is leader in the production of industrial presses for the hot forging of materials like:
brass, titanium, aluminium, copper and steel.
The competence of the Research and Development department of Mecolpress support our customers to obtain several goals:
- To be informed about the methodologies to optimize the production thanks to the hot forging of the parts in an efficient way, without the need of subsequent operations like trimming the flash or similar, and also in an effective way, producing a piece that is robust and perfect as the shape to which is inspired;
- To learn which are the most suitable materials for which applications and determine in which conditions the properties of the materials itself are best performing;
- To adapt the best production technics to the need of specific industry sectors, to particular countries prescriptions, according to the local laws and styles.
Mecolpress is therefore a competence centre for the hot forging of material on international level, and this also thanks to the global success that the company has reached in its history.
