WCA March 2007

Technology News

Accuracy is the name of the game

said C Martin Schuster, president of Laser Design. “Window rail component manufacturing is a good example of where this system can replace the time-consuming, off-line periodic sampling process that stops the production line with uninterrupted non-contact profile monitoring using our laser scanners. “Productivity is greatly increased and accuracy is continuously monitored by the PM-300 system.” When profiles are monitored on a non- stop basis, any deviations from spec are caught immediately and corrected, before the production line makes hundreds of faulty products. “This technology is perfect for monitoring extrusions of aluminium, wood, vinyl, vinyl-clad, and rolled steel shapes,” Schuster added. “The PM-300 system’s successful implementation in the window manufacturing industry is just one example of the many industries that could benefit from the technology.” ultra thin for plating wire through a strongly adherent hard coat for spring wire and similar products. One of the system’s new applications consists of direct drawing of mechanically descaled H/C rod, without pre-coating chemicals, with water soluble sodium lubricants in all drafts, enabling in-line wire cleaning for wire plating, galvanising, brass coating, etc. features ‘zero’ energy consumption, ‘zero’ consumables cost and is easy to operate (fully automatic) and very simple to install in-line with any wire drawing machine. There are no hot liquid tanks for rod pre-coating, no hot air blowers to dry wet rod and, therefore, the process operates at virtually ‘zero’ maintenance cost. The DCCD process Laser Design Inc – USA Fax : +1 952 884 9653 Email : sales@laserdesign.com Website : www.laserdesign.com

A laser scanning system with an accuracy of ±0.1mm has been developed by American company, Laser Design Inc. Profile Monitoring System, monitors extrusion profiles in real-time. Already installed at a major US window manufacturing company, the system automated their manual measuring process that previously stopped production lines, costing them millions in lost revenue. The PM-300 system’s three laser probes monitor the two-dimensional cross-sectional profile of moulded vinyl and wooden products used in window frame construction. The PM-300 is the first low-cost complex profile monitoring system with exceptional ±0.01mm accuracy. It checks multiple complex feature measurements at the rate of 12 times per second on inline extrusion production lines. The continuous monitoring happens in real-time during the manufacturing The PM-300 Extrusion Dry cleaning – Decalub style! Decalub, France, has introduced its new dry cleaning, coating and drawing (DCCD) process, greatly improving the present state of rod preparation, wire lubrication, and in-line wire cleaning. The process allows immediate substantial cost savings in drawing applications, including spring wire, high-tensile rope wire, bead wire, PC strand wire, galvanised H/C or L/C wire, AL cladded wire, plating wire, CO 2 welding wire, colleted nail wire and cold heading wire. All those products are drawn directly from mechanically descaled bare rod containing up to 0.88-0.90%C, at the highest drawing speeds, without traditional wet pre-coating chemicals, in a completely dry, one- step operation. The DCCD process incorporates high-performance rod acid-free

The new PM-300 laser scanning system

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process, so every extruded portion is verified. Corrections can be made right away whenever the ongoing measurements indicate a problem. When thousands of parts come off the line per day, the cost and time savings potential is enormous. Laser Design markets the PM-300 system worldwide. “Our Extrusion Profile Monitoring System is affordable for all types of extrusion scanning applications, both large and small,” preparation and dry coating/ lubrication technology, enabling ‘frictionless’ drawing with the full lubricant film at wire-die interface (physical separation of metal-to-metal contact), thanks to an automatically controlled fusion of the standard lubrication compounds.

Acid-free rod cleaning and wire drawing

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Such a liquefied substance, with controlled viscosity, performs an exceptionally consistent residual coat, adjustable in weight at all speeds, eliminating the need for phosphate and borax pre-coating chemicals and their wet substitutes. Full film coatings are achieved automatically in a wide variety, from

Decalub – France Fax : +33 1 60 20 20 21 Email : info@decalub.com Website : www.decalub.com

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Wire & Cable ASIA – March/April 2007