TPT March 2018

16-20 April 2018

Universal forming line from Adda Fer Meccanica

6D01

with 11 stands before the welding head, two or three sizing stands – depending on the range of thicknesses required – and two turks heads. The first five stands are used to form the lips from the flat strip. Four passes complete most of the forming using the internal rolls. Two fin-pass stands then complete the forming, creating the V-channel with the correct shape to weld the tube perfectly. After the welding, scarfing and quenching, two or three sizing stands calibrate the sides of the tube to the correct tolerance and two turks heads straighten the tube before the cut-off. All the 11 stands and welding stands are driven with a dedicated motor for each. Only the turks heads are idle.

DURING the past few years requests for higher production flexibility have forced engineers to find new solutions that help users to spend less time in size change, and with fewer types of tooling needed to cover all of their production requirements. Seeking to answer this request from its customers, in addition to making progress in electronic controls, Adda Fer has added advanced tube mills to its portfolio that are able to produce square and rectangular tubes with a universal set of rolls and with an automatic adjustment system controlled by the PLC. These advances decrease the time required to change size and also permit the user to produce all the sizes needed without delivery time lost for roll manufacturing. In addition, the direct forming of the 90° edges of these tubes, without passing from the round mother

tube, permits raw materials to be saved. This particular deformation of the metal strip affects a smaller area than traditional forming, and the thickness on the edges decreases instead of increases as in traditional forming when the round tube is squared. For this reason the starting width of the coil can be from 4 per cent to 8 per cent narrower, saving several tons of steel each year on the total production. The standard configuration of the mill is

Adda Fer Meccanica – Italy Website: www.addafer.it

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MARCH 2018