Reimagined Article: A Convertible Joint for Bending Machine Dies
This article introduces a convertible joint that allows dies to be used interchangeably on different bending machines. This solves the problem of incompatible die interfaces, which makes production scheduling easier and significantly reduces production costs and waste. Companies can now avoid purchasing separate dies for each machine.
The Current Situation and Existing Problems
Our company currently has two main types of bending machines: a 3000t bending machine from URSVIKEN, Sweden, and a 2000t bending machine from the former Hubei Huangshi Forging Machine Tool Co., Ltd. Their different interfaces prevent us from using the upper dies interchangeably. Even if we use the same process for the same product, we have to design and buy dedicated upper dies for each machine.
The main problems are:
High Mold Investment Costs: Our upper dies are not universal. This means that even if the dies are the same size, we must create a separate set for each of our two bending machines. This results in huge mold investment costs. For example, a single 12.5m long R125mm upper die for the 2000t bending machine costs 82,800 yuan.
Limited Production Scheduling: We have significant limitations when scheduling production. Only our 3000t bending machine has an R55mm upper die, so we can only process AVIC Dingheng’s ship plates on that machine. This creates major restrictions on our production schedule.
Cost Gap Between Domestic and Imported Equipment: Our processing costs for a single piece are much higher when we use imported equipment compared to domestic equipment. This is a business obstacle, and it prevents us from further reducing our product production costs.
The Mold Conversion Device
To overcome the disadvantage of non-universal upper dies, the author designed a clever device. This device combines the two different interfaces into a single unit. It successfully converts upper dies for use with different interfaces.
Actual Effect
Figure 4 shows how the device transfers an upper die from the 3000t bending machine to the 2000t bending machine.
Short-Term Effects: This adapter lets our 2000t bending machine use the 3000t’s R55mm die. This makes it easier to schedule the production of ship plates. We can also use our domestic 2000t bending machine, which has lower processing fees. We no longer need to buy additional molds, so our product costs have dropped significantly.
Long-Term Effects: A set of 24 conversion joints for our 12.5m-long 2000t bending machine costs 21,600 yuan. In the future, if we need a new upper die, we will only need one set of 3000t upper dies. We can then use these interchangeably on both the 3000t and 2000t bending machines. This will greatly reduce our future mold investment costs.
Conclusion
We designed this mold solution to meet our company’s actual production needs. It is very targeted and practical. Since we started using it, we can now use the same bending upper die on machines with different interfaces. This has greatly improved our efficiency and lowered the cost of mold design and production. It has also laid a good foundation for improving our company’s economic benefits and is a great reference for other companies.