TPT September 2022

AR T I C L E

ISTech

Shandong Province Sifang Technical Development Group

to consider the example of the system realised for a major railway wagon manufacturer. The company required an automatic system for cutting the axles of trains; these must be cut from forged metal bars that are usually not perfectly cylindrical, tending to taper at the ends. The bars therefore have differences that can make each of them more suitable for turning into a particular type of axle (there are several hundred types). For each bar, once the type of axle best suited to be made from it has been identified, the optimum cutting point can be determined, thus maximising productivity. Recognising the type of bar is therefore essential to proceed with machining in the most efficient way. Bar selection has historically been done manually, based on the experience of the operators, who would then manually transport the part to a sawing machine to cut one end of it; this operation would be followed by cutting the other end. ISTech’s solution has made this process faster and more efficient: a laser system scans the profile of the bar along its entire length (which is usually about 4m), recognises which type of axle it is best suited to and identifies the optimum cutting points. At this point two cutting heads work simultaneously, one at each end of the bar, to speed up time and reduce material handling. The finished axle is then transported by an automated shuttle to the correct position in the storage area. Compared to the manual option the scrap reduction and time savings are clearly considerable. A complete service The customer was very satisfied with the equipment provided by ISTech, which allowed his productivity to increase considerably. It was also able to appreciate the excellent level of service, with well-trained and helpful staff able to resolve any doubts with practical advice in a very short time. ISTech thus confirmed that the ideal sawing machine for every company’s needs exists, and if it is not yet available, it can be designed and manufactured with excellent results.

vibrations and guarantee a more precise cut. Regarding blades, they are able to make the difference in terms of the quality of the semi-finished or finished product: this is why it is important to be able to choose from a wide range of blades. There are many types of blades on the market, but two main categories can be distinguished: bimetallic blades, which are the most common, and blades with carbide tipped teeth, which allow the most difficult materials to be cut at high speed. In order to preserve the service life of saw blades with inserted teeth, ISTech sawing machines have a mechanism that pushes the material away as it rises after the cut, greatly reducing the risk of the teeth becoming damaged at this stage. Another fundamental element to bear in mind when designing the ideal sawing machine is the operator interface. The solutions created by ISTech for its sawing machines allow the parameters of the cutting operations to be programmed, executed and memorised for future use, thus achieving, after a rapid learning curve, perfect and repeatable results. In this respect, ISTech has been a pioneer in realising systems compatible with the principles of Industry 4.0, starting well before this production model became widespread: logging of cutting parameters for the company’s automatic sawing machines has been offered for a long time. The automatic logs are able to retrieve the history of the cuts made, indicating the type of blade used, the processing time and the number of square metres cut up to that moment, in order to assess the efficiency of the machinery and intervene in good time when the blade needs to be replaced or other maintenance operations need to be carried out. ISTech sawing machines can be seamlessly integrated with company management systems, so that very extensive databases can be accessed and machining processes can be optimised. The interface of the ISTech automatic sawing machines also allows many operations to be carried out remotely, such as the change of cutting programs, and also to carry out maintenance operations: this allows the machinery to operate without the continuous presence of the operator. A concrete example In order to clarify how the combination of the different design variables leads to an optimal design, it may be interesting

ISTech info@istech-segatrici.com www.istech-segatrici.com

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SEPTEMBER 2022