Custom Dual-Station Pierce Machine

For years, a customer in the agriculture industry had been purchasing pre-pierced tubing for the main support rod of their string weed trimmers. In an effort to bring the entire process in-house and eliminate the need to purchase pre-formed tubing, they sought our expertise in designing and building a custom dual-station pierce machine that would join their existing product assembly line.

In this new step, unpierced tubing is elevated through a part-presenting hopper for ease of loading. Through an automation process developed by the customer, tube is taken from the hopper and placed in our forming machine. Automatic part sensing grippers secure the tube in place while hydraulic powered arbors insert into each of the two ends. Four holes are pierced in one end of the tube and a single hole is pierced in the opposite end. As the completed part is removed from the machine, automatic ejectors discarded slugs from the pierced holes allowing the process to begin again with a new unformed tube.

By investing in a new machine to streamline the manufacturing process of their product, our customer no longer has to depend on outside vendors to produce their required part. This new internal process has provided additional capacity and flexibility so they can produce their parts on their own terms.