Mecolpress hydraulic presses: features and advantages
Mecolpress boasts a wide range of hydraulic presses of different tonnages, ideal for the realization of hot forged parts with complex geometry. The presses are equipped with a Mecolpress proprietary software, “Calipso”, that allows to monitor the entire productive cycle of the hydraulic press according to numerous parameters.
Features of hydraulic presses
Hallmark of every hydraulic press is the programming flexibility. Since the ram and the punches are independently controlled by hydraulic cylinders, this allows to carry out some corrections during the working cycle to remedy some eventual defects by acting on the movement of a single component through software.
Hydraulic presses can hot forge different materials including brass, copper, aluminum, steel and titanium alloys.
Range of Mecolpress hydraulic presses
Mecolpress offers to its customers a wide range of presses with a die closing force that currently goes from 100 to 500 tons and a minimum punch force of 30 tons that can arrive till 350 tons.
Moreover, our hydraulic presses are provided with a loading arm for warm billets and with an unloading arm for the forged part. Based on the customer’s needs concerning the layout for the hot forging production line, the arms can be placed on the same side and working in sync, otherwise placed on the opposite sides and working autonomously. Thanks to “Calipso” software developed by Mecolpress and installed on every hydraulic press, the press can detect which parts are not in compliance with the programmed parameters, and these parts will be automatically separated from the others by the unloading arm, flowing into a box for wastes.
This management allows to optimize the checks and to save time on the productive cycle.
Possible configurations of a hydraulic press
Mecolpress hydraulic presses can be set up in a custom-made way according to production needs expressed by the customer. For example, one or two punches can be placed with an entry angle different from the classic 90°, allowing the realization of particularly complex shapes such as, for example, Y-junctions and filter bodies.
Further possible configurations are:
- the addition of a fifth vertical punchthat operates under the die,
- the loading of one or two billets at the same time till a maximum of four,
- the addition of pyrometers for billet temperature detection,
- the application of extra sensors on the punches for both physical and mechanical data collection that are then sent to the PLC and that allow to better monitor the production cycle.
Indeed, the sensors always check the movement carried out by the punches during the stroke and it is possible to obtain a representation of the different acceleration and deceleration phases. This real time analysis allows to notice eventual problems and to understand if these derive, for example, from the die or if these are of hydraulic or mechanical type.
In this way also the Mecolpress service team can intervene in a more to the point and prompter way, reducing the machine stop costs.
Training courses for hot forging
Starting from an inner necessity, Mecolpress has extended the training courses specific for hot forging machineries as a high-quality service against payment that can be offered to its customer companies.
Thanks to the course, it is possible to optimize the production and to improve machines maintenance.
The training value according to Mecolpress
Training is very important, especially in an even more complex productive context and in an even more competitive market. That’s why Mecolpress has felt the need to avail itself of the experience of a hot forging specialist to organize an inner training course of high level.
Understanding the world our customers operate in and learning the art of forging in the best way has always been our priority: therefore, we addressed to Riccardo Segreto that in this interview shared with us very useful suggestions and advanced technical information.
Una volta conclusa questa esperienza molto positiva all’interno della nostra azienda abbiamo quindi deciso di offrire questo servizio di alta formazione anche ai nostri clienti.
Advantages of training courses against payment
Training courses represents a very important instrument for the companies that deal with hot forging, because they offer to people who operate with mechanical and hydraulic presses very concrete and deepened indications regarding how to use them in the best way and to optimize the production.
Today it is not easy to find forging specialists that are available to teach trade secrets. Riccardo Segreto is an independent and very skilled figure, available to share with the companies useful suggestions in order not to wear the press or the die and to improve therefore the productive capacity.
Therefore, a highly qualified staff will be able to carry out some maintenance operations in complete autonomy on machineries for hot forging without the need of Mecolpress customer care service against payment. A correct use of the machine brings therefore to lesser damages and a reduction of machine stops that have a big effect on the production and then on the costs to support.
Our training courses against payment are custom-made developed according to customer’s needs and aimed to the types of presses present in the factory of the company that asked for training. Moreover, they provide an in-depth analysis of the parts to be forged and indications on how to forge them in the best way.
Thanks to our specialist, for example, it is possible to learn how to carry out in the best way the die lubrication and therefore how to prevent its wear and how to adjust the machine stroke. Working correctly with the press has as a result a considerable decrease of costs for our customer companies and that’s why we are firmly convinced that our training courses can represent an added value.
According to companies necessities, the courses can be held at our or customer premises and these have a duration of one or two days, according to the specific program.
Should you need further information regarding training courses, you just have to contact our sales department, sending an e-mail to sales@mecolpress.com.
Courses can be requested both by Mecolpress customer and companies dealing with hot forging that have the necessity to examine in depth some themes.
Mecolpress software for forging control
Created by Mecolpress for forging statistic control, Calipso is a software that allows to control the press activities during the entire production cycle, and it is an useful instrument for analyzing the production and for intervening where it is necessary to optimize it.
A smart software for productive process analysis
Having available all data related to the activity of his own press is certainly an advantage for the forger that can analyze the productive process and, if it is necessary, intervene on time to optimize it beyond. That’s the reason why Mecolpress makes available Calipso software to its customers, internally developed by Mecolpress, and able to collect the forging data also thanks to some transducers and sensors installed on the press.
The software can detect till 18 different parameters during each forging cycle for the entire duration of the working shift.
In this way it is possible to control very important data, such as billets temperature or the developed strength by machine every stroke.
Calipso software is installed as standard equipment on the hydraulic presses, while it is possible to have it on request for the mechanical presses. The customer can already see it working at our premises, and once you bought the machine, all the necessary instructions will be given to the operator during the delivery phase to use it.
A sophisticated technology for managing non-conformity
Once that forging data are collected, these are compared to values set up by the user and each cycle it is possible to check if these parameters remain in a narrow tolerance band established by the operator according to the criticality of the part to be forged or to requirements established by the end user.
Regarding the hydraulic press, in case of a strong discrepancy between the wished value and the effective one related to controlled parameters, the produced part is deviated in a separated unloading area so that to carry out further controls.
Therefore, the operator can plan if and when the machine has to stop the production in automatic cycle, establishing after how many ejected parts it has to stop forging.
Matched with the hydraulic presses, Calipso software offers therefore as advantage a better management of non-conformities, with a consequent reduction of machine stop times and facilitating the control operations on the forged parts not compliant with the set-up parameters.
Graphic reports
Mecolpress software allows to create graphic representations of several parameters inside the same diagram. In this way it is possible to have an overview and to understand, for example, how the input strength of the punches presents a variation connected to billet temperature modification, and it is possible to see the trends of both parameters during the productive cycles.
Calipso advantages
Our Calipso software brings numerous advantages, including the possibility to carry out forging tests and to have all the necessary data for analysis in depth before starting with the production of a new part.
Connecting it to customer company network, it allows to file data related to every forging cycle, to have them available and to share them. Moreover, Mecolpress has remotely access to the data and in this way can reduce the intervention times for assistance.
In the end, thanks to Calipso it is possible to reject automatically not-shaped parts and to have available graphic reports of more parameters on the same diagram.
Optimize the production with Mecolpress training courses
Mecolpress makes available to its customers a training service against payment whose aim is to provide useful information to the staff in charge of the presses in order to use the machines in the best performing way and to optimize the production.
Read this article to discover how training could help a customer of ours to reduce of 50% the maintenance interventions.
The problems of customer Alfa
Time ago a customer of ours, that we will name Alfa, contacted us because of his interest in custom-made training courses for forging machines proposed by Mecolpress. The reasons why he decided to activate the course were several.
First of all, the company employees were not adequately trained and could not use the forging machines in the best way. This implicated a frequent request of assistance from Mecolpress by the customer, and even if our intervention was very prompt, the company had to face up to the interruption of the productive process and to the additional costs connected to the customer care service.
In addition, the company hired new young but still not-expert personnel, however definitely open to technologic innovations and able to use the informatic devices of production machineries.
By their side there was also experienced personnel, working in the company for many years, with greater familiarity with forging techniques, but with some difficulties to approach their selves to the new digital techniques. Persuading them to change method was not so easy, because the long experience matured during years with their procedures.
In closing, the Alfa customer has at his disposal a various set of machines including dated presses, trimming presses, mechanical presses and a new hydraulic press, just bought.
For all these reasons, our customer has felt the need to take advantage of a new custom-made training course that can teach to the operators how to use the machines in the most performing way and to obtain the maximum output with minimum effort.
Mecolpress training course
According to the needs expressed by our customers we have planned a custom-made training course that takes account of forging machines in the company and of the type of forged parts.
The course is structured as follows:
- Introduction to hot forging;
- Explanation of drawings and simulation program in support of parts to be forged;
- Parts forging in the factory with an entirely devoted machine;
- Answers to questions of the personnel, detailed studies and explanations on problems regarding the production.
In particular, during the course very relevant matters were debated, such as die and process preliminary analysis, setting of specific parameters, driven setting of the hydraulic presses for parts with flash and without flash and analysis of output with simulations.
Result of the course
Our customer was particularly satisfied with our custom-made training course because of the obtained result.
Indeed, the personnel could acquire an increased competence regarding hot forging, both generally and specific, related to the company production type.
Moreover, the course has contributed to reinforce the team spirit among employees, that is of high importance to create a working environment based on collaboration. Indeed, activities of this kind contribute the personnel to interact more, to better work as a team and also to better face with the daily difficulties.
After our training our customer has decreased drastically the number of service requests against payment. Indeed, the operators in charge of machines can now use better the presses with a lesser wear and they can carry out in autonomy some activities of ordinary maintenance, without the need of Mecolpress technicians.
For further information about Mecolpress training courses, please send an e-mail to: sales@mecolpress.com.
Mecolpress hydraulic presses solve problems
Choosing the hydraulic presses of ME series for brass hot forging not only gives a technical advantage, but it can also represent a competitive advantage for your Company for the responsiveness on the market and for the speed your Company can reacts with to the unexpected necessities of the market.
This is the case of a customer of ours, Italian, based in Brescia, brass forger as subcontractor supplier for many years, with an increasing success thanks to the long experience of both the Company management and of the people in charge of the productive departments, first and foremost the brass hot forging one.
Experience and availability anytime
For years, quietly, without overdoing, but with perseverance and professionalism, our customer could manage optimally the different situations of the group, between forging and mechanical machining. Even if he is always looking for the hardest, most technical and logistic challenging orders, he could gain his position of full respect in the panorama of subcontractors (that are many in our province).
And in order to keep a high level of service and to receive in return a high loyalty of the customers, sometimes it is necessary to be able to take important decisions, in a very short time.
It happened so: in mid-November 2018, 15 days after they ordered us a 450 tons continuous cycle mechanical eccentric press, our customer had a meeting with one of his most important German customers, a very well-known company in the heating sector and civil hydraulic plants, who put on the table a series of new parts, in a brass alloy they invented, for which no one had forging experience.
In short, a challenge for our customer:
“These are the new parts to produce, the sizes go from the small junction to the one that weights various kilos, and if you want the order you must be able to produce the whole range, and be ready to start in very short time”
The customer came to us asking indications on the forging technique for this alloy with high copper content, in order to know which press and which energies are necessaries, but also which furnace and which temperature would be necessary.
Our reaction was making available what we always have in our company, since we are always ready for these eventualities: hot forging presses, induction and gas heating furnaces, and obviously all the collaboration of our staff. We immediately organized some forging tests and realized first samples of the parts: thanks to Calipso system for process data collecting and analysis, our customer could understand which forces and temperatures are needed for forging this special copper alloy.
Last minute solution of Mecolpress
All this process has also led to understand that the new press just ordered by our customer would not be suitable for these products, that in order to be efficiently forged, need an accurate check of the material flow in the die.
The solution? Turning the order of an eccentric press at continuous cycle into a hydraulic press of ME series, that thanks to its construction technology and to a sophisticated software, permits a total programming of the forging process.
Moreover, at Mecolpress the hydraulic presses are available with very short delivery time, even starting from 4 weeks for some models. This happens because, with the market experience we have accumulated in years and after many sold presses, we are able to anticipate the customer’s needs and to have quite ready the presses we will sell in the future.
Then, our customer could go back to his German customer and confirm him that just in 3 months from the date of their first meeting, he would be able to satisfy him, with a new forging line, at high technology, dedicated to his product and able to grant the quality of the forged parts.
A won challenge for our customer, and a satisfaction for us for having helped him and to reinforce his imagine of supplier of very high reliability among his customers.
Are you also in such a similar situation and do you have to face new requests presenting some criticalities?
Hot forging of the brass without flash, a success case
Brass hot forging and its application sectors
The hot forged brass pieces are used in many sectors, including, for example, clothing and constructions industry. The belt buckles, the zippers and door handles are all examples of parts produced with this material and obtained through hot forging presses.
Among the different application sectors, however, the one that sticks out mainly is the fluids control and hose fittings sector.
- Taps and fittings pieces,
- Valves for LPG tank and high-pressure gas,
- Ball valves for water, gas and oil,
- Watermeter bodies,
- Junctions for both the normal and floor heating, these are all brass pieces.
This type of product is currently affected on the market by a very strong competition of the Countries in which the manpower is cheaper and where probably in some cases a brass alloy is used that responds mainly to the local necessity and to the temporary availability, rather than to satisfy the international quality standard. To produce this kind of pieces in Europe, saving competitivity on the market represents therefore a challenge for many companies.
Hot forging without flash four brass parts at the same time
Speaking with a customer of ours who has the productive headquarter in Europe and who produces brass pieces, we could experience his real difficulty to remain on the market. From here comes the idea to find a solution that could allow him to increase the productivity and to reduce considerably the wasting material for sparing on the costs.
Our staff in collaboration with the technical office of the customer has identified then two different dies: one for the production of a hose junction connection and another for a curve of 90°. These new dies have been developed to take advantage of the potentiality of our hydraulic presses of ME serie of forging without flash and the result was to forge 4 parts at the same time.
In order to obtain this result, it is necessary to provide one of our standard hydraulic presses, such as the ME250/4G100, with some optional accessories (including also the billets loading system), that are conceptually simple but extremely well-performing.
This system is different due to its strongly innovative characteristic, since at the moment just the Mecolpress presses can provide this result (forging 4 pieces at the same time without flash) that surely brought great advantages also to our customer in terms of marginality on the product cost.
Through this specific press for the brass forging, it is possible to produce 4.500 parts at hour on average without flash.
This case study shows how it is possible to find solutions in the concrete and proactive collaboration with the customer that satisfy in the best way the specific productive necessities of that company and for its own specific interest.
Metals hot forging process
Metals forging: hot or cold forging?
The forging by means of presses of metals commonly used for the industrial production, such as aluminum and brass, can happen in two ways.
- The first one is the cold coining, carried out, for example, on a piece that already has its own shape and that is forged through the press in such a way to calibrate it and to compact it. The cold coining is suitable, above all, for small size parts and for great production batches, such as screws. The most suitable machines for this type of process are our screw presses.
- The metals hot forging is different from the cold one because it allows to obtain high quality pieces by means of an important deformation of the starting material. With the deformation of brass, copper, aluminum by means of hot forging presses it is possible, indeed, to produce particular shapes, having very complicated structures as well. In order to achieve this forging, Mecolpress proposes, beyond the already mentioned screw presses, also the mechanical and hydraulic presses according to the different production necessities expressed by the customer.
Mechanical and hydraulic presses for the hot forging
The mechanical press can hot forge even complicated pieces. At the end of the process, the forged parts can often have some remaining flash that can be eliminated by means of a trimming machine, machinery that is part of the products range that we offer. The eccentric mechanical press with continuous cycle is recommended for the customers who have high production necessities, while the hydraulic press is more advisable for parts having very complicated shapes and that would require, otherwise, the usage of a lot of material. This type of press permits, indeed, a saving of the input material, so offering to the forger a good margin on the product cost. Moreover, by forging the parts by means of hydraulic hot forging presses, at the end of the productive cycle the parts range that can be produced without flash is much wider, thanks to a progressive and programmable application of the forces. Another characteristic of this type of presses is the flexibility, given by the wide number of available functions.
Hot forging line
For the metals forging a furnace that can be electric (induction) or gas furnace and a press are needed. This is the base productive line for the aluminum, brass, titanium and steel processing; line that can be upstream completed with a sawing machine that cuts the metal bar in billets and with a graphitizing machine, where the billets are treated with the graphite before these are inserted in the furnace, so that these absorb better the heat and that are kept lubricated. The graphitizing, that offers remarkable advantages from a productive point of view, such as a minor gas consumption in the furnace and a superior durability of the dies, is just fitting for some specific production typologies. It is not recommended, for example, for the production of parts that once forged, must be chrome plated or exposed to further particular treatments. Our sales department is at the disposal of our customers for suggesting the best forging line composition according to the product and to application field.
Hot forged metals
The customer’s choice for a specific press for his own productive cycle is based on the material typology used by the forger and on the shapes to achieve.
For the brass forging the hydraulic press is more fitting than the screw press, that is better for the forging of titanium and steel. The eccentric mechanical presses are used for all the metals, even for the copper hot forging. Our sales department is at disposal of our customers for offering the best technical solution for every specific productive situation.
For further information about hot forging machineries, please write us at sales@mecolpress.com
Hot forging presses: Mecolpress technology
Application sectors of the hot forging
Mecolpress offers a wide range of hot forging presses, able to satisfy the necessities of the individual customers and that allow to forge parts for different industrial sectors. Our presses can be used for the production of:
- Thermohydraulic pieces;
- Mechanical parts in aluminum, copper and brass, used in the railway and automotive sector;
- Clothing parts such as buckles and zippers;
- Stainless, titanium and steel screws for applications in any sectors, from the aeronautics to the railway.
The bio-medical one represents a very particular sector, indeed, with our presses it is possible to forge parts for titanium prothesis. The pieces produced by Mecolpress machines address also to the sector of the production and distribution of high-pressure gas, for the medical, automotive and industrial sector.
Not only mechanical presses, here the Mecolpress proposals
A functional commitment that all these sectors have in common undoubtedly is the precision during the material forging, but also from a design point of view Mecolpress reaches through the research for the perfect shapes a remarkable significance. This is exactly why we propose different typologies of presses, including hydraulic presses, mechanical presses, clutch and electrical servomotor screw press, knuckle joint press and trimming machine, that are able to hot forge several materials, including brass, steel, aluminum, titanium and copper.
The support of our Research & Development department
Our range of presses, so differentiated, is due to the work of our Research and Development department, a team that has revealed itself as very precious, not only for Mecolpress Company but also for our customers, because it allows them to achieve several goals. First of all, our staff helps the forger to identify the systems to optimize the production through hot forging of parts in such a way that the further machining will not be needed. Moreover, our specialists can evaluate what could be the productive implications in the usage of different metals alloys and help to identify them. The Research & Development department offers support also for adapting the complete hot forging line composition according to the customer’s needs, to his industrial sector and to the habits of the specific Country.
So, our company is at disposal of the customers in such a way to define with them the hot forging processes, in order to achieve the best result in the production also of high tech parts.
The new Hydraulic Press 4.0 technology Intelligent Manufacturing
Discover the Benefits of Intelligent Manufacturing with Mecolpress Hydraulic Presses - Technology 4.0
Returning from the EMO Fair in Hanover, our new hydraulic press ME 100.
Mecolpress has always been part of this event, and this edition has also been an important event for us, where we met many visitors from all over the world.
The digitization of industrial production has been the leitmotif across all Emo 2017 booths.
Industry 4.0 is a major process of global interest and also Mecolpress has presented its new ME100 hydraulic press, offering solutions for Industry 4.0 and integrated production.
La nostra nuova proposta è una pressa idraulica compatta SuperVeloce per la forgiatura di pezzi complessi a basso peso che assicura un altissimo livello di produttività, possibilità di stampare parti con forature multiple, forgiatura in singola o doppia figura, in verticale, in orizzontale e con ogni angolo billetta.
Our new proposal is a super-fast compact hydraulic press for the forging of low-weight complex parts that ensures a high level of productivity, the ability to forging multi-punched parts, forged single or double shape, vertically, horizontally and with each billet angle.
Mecolpress has developed this innovative machine, which will become part of the well-known series of presses ME, will have the code ME100-4L-30. This machine responds fully to our customers’ Industry 4.0 requirements and the general market for a press that features high precision features along with flexibility, ease of configuration and control of the production process.
Another important news was The brass bars heating+shearing furnace GBH5000, which allow great precision and modularity, in fact to connect both to new and existing presses, hydraulic, mechanical and screw.
Like all our ME series hot-press hydraulic presses, the new ME100 also allows you to control the speed, sequence, stroke and strength of each punch, enabling some of the most complicated forms to be forged flash-less.
The production phases are programmed and monitored to get the best shape.
Read more about the 4.0 requirements of our machines..
Mecolpress also puts you at your disposal a powerful production analysis software tool that allows you to perform statistical analysis of the forging process. This greatly reduces the waste of time and resources due to the production of non-conforming productions.
Read more about our software Calipso Statistical Process Control.
We are very pleased with the success of the news we have presented, but we are already committed to new extensions of our range of presses and also accessories for special applications. Follow us to stay up to date.
We thank all the visitors and the staff who took part in the event. We remind you of the next appointment:
CO-ENGINEERING TO DEVELOP MECHANICAL PRESSES
Co-Engineering makes it possible to create customized Mechanical Forging Presses and Hydraulic Presses
Mecolpress manufactures mechanical presses, hydraulic presses, used mechanical presses and used hydraulic presses, carefully revised, developing projects and new ideas from a close and constant collaboration with their customers and carefully selected partners.
This allows you to make great initiatives based on the professionalism, seriousness and trust of those who collaborate, sharing the best of the technological skills and design capabilities of everyone.
Mecolpress designs and constructs totally a complete range of hot forging machines such as: mechanical presses, hydraulic presses, friction and electric screw presses, trimming presses and knuckle joint press.
Through a co-engineering activity he also succeeded in offering complete forging systems that could include:
- Anthropomorphic robots
- Design of pneumatic and electronic arms based on customer requirements
- Transfer systems for forging
- Integrated or press-independent dies lubrication and cooling systems
- Forged pieces cooling systems
Mecolpress is responsible for the direction and coordination of the works.
As CEO, we are able to ensure continuity, support, and timely advice.
What enables Mecolpress to be at the forefront of Co-engineering activities designed to produce hot forging machines?
- the high number of projects completed,
- our experience in hot forging started in 1969,
- our constant presence on international markets.
All this has allowed us to gain considerable experience in the industry and to offer reliable service.
Getting a perfect forging solution becomes possible with Mecolpress:
- We reach an objectives set with the customer,
- We continually seek innovative solutions to achieve the perfect shape forming technology,
- Our R & D team is constantly committed to meeting the different needs of the customer.
These have always been the cornerstones of our mission.
