Hot forging in the fashion sector
Hot forging presses are also used in the fashion industry manufacturing.
The worldwide fashion sector is characterized by extremely significant business volumes: around 3 thousand billion euros and it employs 50 million people.
Italy is one of main districts for the fashion industry with historic brands and production chains deeply rooted in the territory.
The sector is affected by global uncertainties linked to inflation, geopolitical tensions, post-Covid recovery but double-digit growth is estimated in the coming years. The increase in business volume is possible thanks to a high dynamism full of creativity and style which canalizes an important flow of news and innovations every season.
The digitalization of sales channels and operational departments and the near-shoring approach have created the need to make the manufacturing process increasingly productive and efficient.
Metals hot forging is a key operation to characterize fashion products and accessories. The logos of the major brands applied on bags, shoes, clothes and belts are made through hot forging and then finished with other downstream processes.
Mecolpress has been the protagonist of this continuous growth process, offering technologically advanced forging solutions with the aim of:
- Increasing production capacity up to 1500 pieces per hour;
- Reducing machine downtimes due to maintenance and tool changes (availability >95%);
- Reducing the consumption of materials, energy and CO2 emissions by 50% (GREEN TECHNOLOGY Industry 5.0);
- Allowing the digital communication between production line and company system and remote diagnostic access (Industry 4.0);
- Flexibility in forging products of different sizes and materials (steel/brass/aluminium);
- Increasing the safety of the production line by reducing human intervention (industry 5.0).
TDS Electrical Torque-Driven Screw presses
TDS Electrical Torque-Driven Screw presses result to be particularly suitable for the hot forging of parts destined to fashion sector.
Here below the 4 strong points that make many customers to prefer these hot forging screw presses:
- Cycle time does not dependent on forging energy => always optimized productivity
- Reduction of friction parts => less maintenance and less energy consumption
- Flexibility in energy settings => production flexibility for product size and type of material (brass, steel, aluminium) and reduction in dies wear
- Energy recovery of braking energy => reduction in energy consumption
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Complete forging lines integration
Even in the fashion sector, the frequent request is to have complete forging lines.
We can supply the line following the customer need, so in addition to the hot forging press, we integrate the cutting, heating, forging and deburring of the forged pieces.
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The presses for forging of parts destined to fashion sector have to optimize the process phases:
Automation of machine loading and unloading
We underlined the importance of automating the loading and unloading phases of pieces. The presses must include certain solutions to guarantee maximum performance:
- High-speed Cartesian systems for heated material loading.
- Flexible anthropomorphic robots for heated material loading.
- Unloading of the forged product via air blow to avoid sliding and contact defects.
- Folding of the material to be forged to have a shape as close as possible to the forged parts and to reduce material consumption.
- Possibility of different shapes of the starting material from the traditional round billet to customized shapes (letters, symbols, …).
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Productive process data control system
An important solution to take into consideration to start a successful hot forging project for parts in the fashion sector is certainly to equip yourself with a control system of the productive process.
Mecolpress Calipso Software allows to monitor and to adjust the data connected to forging process, and it presents numerous advantages, among which:
- Based on HMI architecture complete with touch screen display
- Functioning parameters of the press and of the auxiliaries that can be inserted from the display.
- For each forging cycle, the main parameters are saved for collection and analysis.
- Integrable with company MES/MRP systems.
- Remote access for diagnostics and problems solving
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Dies lubrication
The proper dies lubrication makes the difference for a successful hot forging process.
A correct lubrication does not mean a lot of lubrication, but it must be properly dosed, the most suitable lubricants must be chosen based on the metal to be forged and the required piece.
We propose:
- Automatic air-oil lubrication unit managed by the control panel.
- Up to 30 lubrication points.
- Automated lubrication arm synchronized with the forging cycle.
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Dies changing system
To allow a quick unlocking, the die holder has been optimized, and the auxiliary arm becomes essential for bringing the dies out of the working area of the press.
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Dies pre-heating
This is an important phase of the hot forging productive process that foresees the use of modern induction technologies avoiding open flames or CO2 emissions.
In the fashion sector, therefore, hot forging presses and related devices are widely used.
It is always important to develop an accurate and successful forging project to maximize profits and reduce waste.
The dies lubrication determines your forging success!
Knowing to take advantage of the correct dies lubrication is crucial in a hot forging system of brass, steel, aluminum, titanium or copper parts.
We have already highlighted many times in our previous articles how the lubrication can make the difference and solve many of the common problems that the forgers observe during the production of their forged parts. Our research of the perfect lubrication has evolved, becoming more and more precise and customizable, exactly like we are constantly required by the market.
A correct lubrication doesn’t mean that it must be of large quantity, but that it must be correctly dosed and the most appropriate lubricants must be chosen according to the metal types and required part to be forged.
The dies lubrication system of hydraulic presses of ME series and of eccentric press at continuous cycle of HEAVY series
With the hydraulic presses of ME series and the mechanical eccentric at continuous cycle presses of HEAVY series we have revolutionized the dies lubrication system:
- We drag the outgoing oil+graphite mixture on the lubrication point.
- We let the lubrication liquid and the compressed air flow in two concentric tubes of the control valves of the single points up to the usage point.
- For each of the points the pilot is independent and therefore for each of them we give the possibility to the user to choose from the operator panel how, when and how often to intervene.
But we were not satisfied yet!
Which are the requests the forgers most frequently address to us?
We have verified that some of the questions you ask our service department are regarding the lubrication system:
“My die has broken, what can I do to guarantee it a long-lasting life?”
“The dies lubrication system I am using is not satisfying.”
“Is it possible to reduce the waste of lubricants, in view of an even more ecological choice?”
“How can I obtain a successful forging system?”
Our Research and Development team has therefore perfected and developed a new lubrication system.
What’s new in the lubrication system of the HEAVY series
Heavy series is our new proposal of a mechanical eccentric at continuous cycle press. It is a very revolutionary machine, the result of 50 years of experience in the hot forging presses production, and of the continuous search for innovation and technology perfection.
As a result, we have completely reviewed even the automation and the dies lubrication.
First of all, the dies lubrication system allows for each single point the independent and programmable management.
It is possible to start the lubrication cycle in different ways: during the ascent or descent of the ram, during the loading or unloading cycle, with appropriate delay and duration times.
Each point can be used for the nebulization of the lubricant or for the cooling and cleaning of the dies.
The system can be implemented with 2 or more high capacity air blowing points.
It is possible to program the schedules: the pumping circuit, the automatic mixer and the heating resistance placed in the tank allow to prepare the liquid and the entire circuit for the starting time at optimal conditions.
The nebulization of the lubricant, thanks to the particular pipe system, is obtained only in proximity of the usage area: in this way the dosage, repeatability and the sensibility to the dosage variation are guaranteed.
40 lubrication/cooling points are foreseen, of which 16 are placed in the lower dies-holder and 16 in the upper dies-holder. The disposition of the lubrication/cooling points throughout the dies allows to reach efficaciously the critical points to be lubricated/cooled, in addition to drastically reduce the times of production change.
Reactive, smart system for creating your recipes
The responsiveness to the settings variations is immediate, unlike the traditional system that requires several minutes of production before it stabilizes.
In addition to this, we can have a strong blowing without the help of compressors (that are contributing to increase the consumptions and the general maintenances of the plant).
A smart software system helps moreover the operator to adapt automatically the dosage of the lubricant in the startup phase of the production, till to reach the correct forging conditions.
Our system can be adapted even to the use of lubricant/water-base release agent, e.g. used in the aluminum sector, that are different from the classic graphitized oil.
All the parameters, activation of the used points, start modalities, timers and counters, once they have been optimized, are saved in the recipe devoted to the type of the part to be produced, in order that for the following batches of the same article there is a fast production start without useless waste of time.