Your product and processes are unique to your organization. Which means the machines you depend on to produce your product at the level of quality your customers expect need to be unique as well. At Press Room Equipment, our team understands this and is dedicated to building you custom industrial processing equipment that fits your organization’s own needs.
We do that by speaking with potential customers and getting to know their organization, products and processes. Then, with the following information in hand, our engineering and sales team can propose a solution to help improve processes while still creating high-quality products.
Read on to see what information our team is looking for to design your custom industrial processing solution.
Custom Industrial Processing Solutions
Material
Because we offer everything from upenders to payout reels to feeders to straighteners to cut-to-length machines, we can, and likely have, worked with most materials that processors can receive in a coil.
So, one of the first questions we’ll ask is what material comprises your product. Do you use mild, galvanized or stainless steel? Copper? Aluminum? Rubber? Sandpaper? Again, if it comes from a coil, we can likely craft a solution to fit it.
Material matters because it gives our team a good idea of what to expect, along with what questions to ask going forward. With decades of experience under our belts, we have had the opportunity to work with a variety of materials, and therefore have a great idea of how each reacts as it comes off an uncoiler, into a straightener and so on. For some applications, such as our cut-to-length machines, the type of material changes how the machine actually works.
Material Specs
Material type matters a lot but even more important is the material’s specifications.
One of the most important specs our team will request is hardness, which can affect the machines from the coil to the press. For example, harder metals may require larger-diameter straightener rolls to really work out the coil set while avoiding deflection. Or, the feeder may require more horsepower to ensure it’s pulling the material and feeding it forward correctly. In regard to uncoilers, we have to take hardness into consideration because hard materials tend to have more memory, so we have to contain the coil correctly to keep it from springing out when the bands are cut.
We don’t assume any particular metal is soft or hard, either. While aluminum is typically considered a soft material, it is very structurally dense and can be extremely hard and springy, depending on the application.
Another key spec is thickness. In regard to straighteners and feeders, this information is exceptionally essential because it determines what size rollers we need to use (thicker materials generally require larger-diameter rollers). Thicker materials tend to be heavier as well, and therefore might require more gripping power to move forward. In that case, we would look at coating the rollers with matte chrome or urethane (a rubber-like material).
And of course, material width matters to ensure the machines are large enough to handle the material.
Coil Specs
In addition to specs on the actual material, we’ll request specs on the coil. How much does it weigh? How wide is it? What are the inside and outside diameters?
If we’re designing an entire line solution, these specs are absolutely necessary to ensure we size the machines, especially the payout reel, correctly.
Surface Sensitivity
Surface sensitivity refers to how easy it is to mar the surface of the material.
If the material is sensitive, we will take precautions to ensure our machines don’t mar it. For straighteners, this will mean avoiding aggressive coatings like matte chrome. Instead, simple hardened steel rollers or urethane-coated rollers would work better.
If we’re looking at urethane, we’ll ask for more information about the manufacturing environment, too. Because urethane is a rubber-type material, if a piece of metal or something similar is pulled into the machine, it can become embedded in the urethane and mar the material with each revolution of the roller(s).
Examples of surface-sensitive materials include painted materials, coated materials or soft materials that are easily scratched.
Product & Process
What are you trying to accomplish? How fast does your line move?
The answers to both questions are extremely important because they dictate exactly how our machines will work. They will determine the size and power of each machine to ensure it meets the needs of the customer in regard to feeding the press and more.
The more detailed and specific the information is, the better! Depending on the application and material, our team might also request a sample coil, especially if it’s a material we have little or no experience with. This will provide us even more insight into how the material will react in our machines and help us customize them to your processes.
Ready to start building your custom industrial processing line? The Press Room Equipment team is waiting to hear from you! Call our sales specialists at 417.864.3636 or request a quote online.
