Self Contained, Automated End Forming Cell

When a company in the Oil & Gas industry came to us looking for an option to update their outdated equipment and cold-forming process, we got to work developing a custom solution. The customer needed to produce sections of gas meter lines in varying part sizes, with minimal tooling changeover, to maximize product output. After deciding that using an induction heater to hot-form the parts would create a better form, we designed a custom end forming cell using multiple operations to ensure the desired end product.

To begin, a customizable hopper system was filled with unformed tube. Each tube was individually presented to a robot for transfer to an induction heating station. The end of the tube was inserted into the heating element where it reached a temperature of nearly 1100 degrees. Once heated, the robot transferred the tube to a five-hit ram end forming machine to create the desired form. Most of the parts needed in this process only required one hit, but the rotary indexing head allowed one station to be used as a positive stop, and for the possibility of expansion to multiple-hit parts in the future. Finally, the robot transferred the formed part to a cooling conveyor. For obvious safety reasons, the finished part needed to cool before it could be held and inspected per print requirements.

By providing this custom solution for manufacturing multiple parts, productivity for our customer improved by as much as 20%. The final result was 7 unique part numbers in black pipe, ranging from 3.5” to 24” in length and 0.75” to 1.25” in diameter, with additional machine flexibility for future growth.