Hydraulic Presses - Fast, Reliable, Productive, and Flexible
Faster and More Reliable than Ever
Today's hydraulic presses are faster and more reliable then ever. In the last decade, the technology has gone through constant change. Improvements in seals, more efficient pumps, and stronger hoses and couplings have virtually eliminated leaks and minimized maintenance.
Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and other electronically-based controls have improved speed and flexibility. With new computer interfaces and monitoring, hydraulic presses are now widely used in advanced computer-integrated manufacturing systems.
More Productive on Hand-Fed Jobs
Mechanical presses are often faster in automatically fed, short stroke, and short feed-length blanking operations.
But, despite the automation trend, the vast majority of jobs are still hand-fed. The lot size of many jobs is simply too small to justify the expense of automatic feeding. With markets changing so rapidly, many manufacturers are reluctant to make large investment in automatic feeding equipment. Just-In-Time (JIT) manufacturing has further increased the incidence of short runs.
So, hand feeding remains the primary feeding method, and hydraulic presses offer obvious competitive advantages on hand-fed jobs.
Faster Setups and Changeovers
Users of hydraulic presses are often amazed at how quick they can change dies and get on with a new job. It's especially true if they're used to the highly critical job of setting the stroke for a mechanical press. Hydraulic presses eliminate this very tricky, time-consuming task. Because hydraulic presses maintain full tonnage throughout the entire length of their stroke, there is no need to determine the exact location of maximum tonnage.
On hand-fed jobs, the floor-to-floor or bench-to-bench time is often the same for mechanical and hydraulic presses. So, faster setups and greater up time make hydraulic presses more productive than mechanical presses.
Flexibility for a Wide Range of Applications
Lines of hydraulic presses are showing up in increasing numbers on high volume jobs. The jobs listed below, and hundreds of others, are being done on hydraulic presses today.
- Electric motor manufacturers assemble motor shafts to rotors, compress laminations, and press cores into housing.
- Automotive manufacturers press tiny shafts into water pumps, assemble shock absorbers, blank and form diaphragms, and stake disc brakes together.
- Jewelers coin Boy Scout pins.
- Frozen fish blocks are shaped for more efficient processing.
- Aircraft companies form tough titanium housings.
- Tuba bells and cymbals are shaped in huge forming presses.
- Hardened road grader blades and machine ways are straightened.
- Hollowware manufacturers blank and draw brass bowls automatically from coiled stock.
- Computer disc shafts are pressed into precision bearings.
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