Friction or electrical screw press?
There are electrical or friction screw presses. Which to choose? The choice of the model is linked to the type of parts you want to forge, but also to the press performance. Discover the differences between these types of screw press by reading this article.
The mechanic friction machine is provided with a flywheel that rotates the screws clockwise or counterclockwise so that to let the slide go down or go up. In this case the transmission of the motion from the electric motor to the flywheel happens through the friction created on a leather belt. This model does not permit a direct control of the motor and of the flywheel, even if it presents considerable advantages in terms of energy saving. Indeed, a friction screw press has a medium consumption of about 40 KWh.
These presses require a smaller investment than the one of the screw presses with electrical servomotor, but they need the leather belt replacement, necessary for the slide movement when it wears.
Suitable for the hot forging of every type of material, the friction screw presses are used for the production of full parts.
This press, as opposed to the friction one differs for an electrical motor directly mounted on the flywheel, in the upper side of the machine, that rotates the screw. Thanks to this characteristic, the electrical screw press allows a better control of the productive process. Indeed, it is possible to check the descent and rise speed at any moment, to have direct feedback about the production of the machine and to calculate the necessary tonnage for the hot forging of parts you want to produce.
The electrical screw press requires more electrical energy, but its components wear less, and it is particularly indicated for the production of parts that require more strokes to be completed. In addition, it is possible to obtain much more energy with a reduced stroke, which does not always happen in the case of friction screw press. As a result, this machine has a rate of production slightly higher than a traditional machine.
The mechanical screw presses of Mecolpress TDS series are moreover provided with Calipso software, which is also developed by our company, that allows the data collection and recording in real time. In this way the end-user can do a process evaluation and intervene to optimize it.
Mecolpress proposes to its customers both friction screw presses and direct control with electrical servomotor control screw presses, developed to satisfy the different productive needs and suitable for the forging of full parts destined to sectors such as automotive, medical and sport one.
Complete Mecolpress Line for hot forging of metals
Complete line for hot forging of metals
Mecolpress has the abilities and the experience to develop complete forging lines.
We have designed and composed various forging lines, taking care of the whole project:
From the initial choice of the machines and related interconnections, to the installation and commissioning, taking full responsibility of the service and of the after sales warranty of the whole line.
Mecolpress therefore, in addition to in-house designing and manufacturing of the hot forging presses, is able to provide to the customer a full turn-key plant, from the raw material bars to the forged piece (including of course the eventual trimming, sandblasting…).
The productive core of the line is clearly one of our presses, being a mechanical or an hydraulic one.
In the video shown as example here below, you can see a line with a mechanical press of the SEO range.
Forging line with mechanical press SEO
Forging line with hydraulic press ME-G
The ME-G hydraulic presses are particularly suitable to be installed in a complete forging line.
Are machines specifically designed to be used in the hot forging of brass, but have already proved to be extremely flexible and therefore suitable for other materials as well, like aluminium.
With this kind of presses, Mecolpress has introduced in the year 2010 a fully new production method for the hot forging processes.
This technic, called “inverse extrusion”, allow to forge parts even with the most complicated geometries, where the deformation of the material is obtained by means of a pre-determined and controlled flow of material.
This is generated by a programmable advancing of the punches into the die, after that the pre-heated billett has put deposited in the die and this has been fully closed.
The ME-G hydraulic press can be connected and interfaced with:
- Bars sawing / shearing machines,
- Traditional gas or electric induction heating furnaces,
- Furnaces designed for the shearing of the hot bar,
- Automation arms or external robots and of third parties automations for the loading and unloading of the press,
- Flash trimming presses, sand blasting machines…
The interfacing possibility is very useful for example when, in case of an alarm from the furnace side, the press has to be put in a stand-by status and has to record the reason for the production interruption.
In turn, the ME-G can send to the furnace the information “start / stop billet feeding” and can exchange signal of operating status with other components of the forging line, as well as the production parameters with the customers’ own factory supervisor systems.