TPT July 2008

F ocus on T ube & P ipe M ills and R ollforming L ines

I n a mature industry, year-to-year advances are often gauged by the number and sophistication of simultaneous inline fabrication processes that can be comfortably accommodated. Advances are measured by the extent to which the finest automated machinery enhances the contribution of these operations to the finished product. This is even truer in the area of tube mills and rollforming lines, where Swiss army knife versatility is an increasingly important factor. Cut-to-length is the aspect of tube manufacture that may be taken for granted. But pre-notching, pre-punching, and post-punching are true ancillary processes that expand the concept of rollforming even as they add new lustre to the term ‘value- added’. These are not add-ons in any sense. They are precision procedures in their own right, minutely

calibrated with the main event:

Both sets of machinery carry out an exquisitely orchestrated collaboration

❱

production of the roll formed sections. The roll dies bend the metal into shape. The pre-punch dies and pre-notch dies, between the entry side of the roll former and the coil

reel directing the feedstock, perform their own separate but equal functions. As the finished sections exit the line, the post-punch dies complete the fabrication cycle.

❱

Like rollforming lines, welded and seamless tube mills are magnificent workhorses that are primed for optimum production. Both sets of machinery carry out an exquisitely orchestrated collaboration that is, of course, continuous and accomplished at top speed. Anything else would be unthinkable – not to say ruinous to productivity and, by extension, the plant’s bottom line.

98 ›

J uly 2008

www.read-tpt.com