Greenerd recently delivered a forming cell consisting of two 50-ton hydraulic presses at 90 degrees to each other, with a large rotary index table serving both presses.

The operator loads two tubular blanks of the same diameter, into the tooling. Curling and sizing the ends of the tubes is done in 2 stages to form the two blanks into one male part and one female part, for later assembly into exhaust system components.

After the initial forming in Press #1, the parts stay in the lower die for indexing to Press #2 where forming is completed with the parts remaining in the upper die. A final index brings a parts chute under Press #2, which then initiates its knockout to drop the parts onto the chute. Optical sensors in both presses assure parts are properly positioned before indexing.

The cell is guarded by light curtains and electrically interlocked guards. The light curtains have the added feature of PSDI (Presence Sensing Device Initiation) which actuates the next press cycle when the operator’s hands are withdrawn from the light curtain. However, the light curtains remain the final safety and will stop the press if the operator’s hands break the light beam after the press cycle has started.

This cell, with the rotary index table and PSDI, greatly increases throughput with only one operator, and it produces two parts per cycle.

Greenerd was founded in New England in1883, and since 1934 has produced thousands of hydraulic presses designed and built to stand the rigors of 3-shift manufacturing.