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TTM
Innovation & High Technology
TUBE TECH MACHINERY
Magazine
Number six - July 2011 - Bi-annual publication produced by Tube Tech Machinery
Open profiles no longer a problem Specialised in the design and construction of custom machinery and laser equipment for cutting tubes and cutting/welding sheet, TTM, from its foundation, has aimed to develop innovative equipment without equals in the market. This is confirmed by our excellent results in cutting all types of profiles, including open profiles.
SL 2.5-25 is the code of the automatic laser cutting and welding system commissioned by the Indian Railways for the production of entire side and roof bodywork panels for their new passenger wagons.
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arzi Lamiere activities are equally divided between cutting sheets and tubes. Their TTM FL 300 3D lasertube attests to the company's wish to expand their activities into the “structural� tubing sector.
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Open profiles no longer a ur commitment to R&D over the years has been driven by an intense desire to achieve technological excellence” says Fiorenzo Castellini, company owner. “Our systems integrate the most innovative modern equipment, so that our clients can enjoy unbeatable flexibility, productivity and return on investment. We have always believed that 3D heads are critical for the success of our equipment, which have to be flexible by minimising the tooling times to a minimum. For this reason TTM equipment has featured front and rear loading with high performance unloading support. The CAD/CAM system we use has been regularly upgraded for easier, more intuitive operation. This continuous investment in development now enables us to provide laser cutting for any kind of profile, including “open” ones, so that our clients can be sure of full satisfaction and return on investment with the greatly expanded range of applications offered by TTM equipment. As an example, take the fabrication of structures and trusses for the construction sector, in which the unlimited flexibility of 3D laser cutting makes it possible to fabricate completely new types of joints, all to the benefit of the cost and strength of the building's structure”.
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Full satisfaction in part handling The most advanced offering for open profile cutting is the FL300 3D, which boasts a cutting range from 20 mm to 305 mm, with
The CAD/CAM system we use has been regularly upgraded for easier, more intuitive operation.
Our continuous investment in R&D enables us to offer laser cutting solutions for all types of profile, including “open” ones. loading and unloading configurations for lengths from 6,500 to 12,500 mm. The structure houses three independent manipulators which can load both tubes delivered by the bundle loader and tubes and profiles off the chain loader to the mandrel. The chain loading system, in particular, enables loading of even open profiles. It employs chains equipped with V supports, and the conveyor speed can be varied to suit the diameter and weight of the tube. The chains run on wheels to minimise noise and wear. As for the bundle loader picking system, the tubes are lifted by belts with automatic rewinders and a separator with two motors and automatic tube diameter adjustment.
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The most advanced offering for open profile cutting is the FL300 3D, which boasts a cutting range from 20 mm to 305 mm, with loading and unloading configurations for lengths from 6,500 to 12,500 mm.
Its laser head, characterised by the use of a rigid frame with highly dynamic motors and quality transducers, is capable of ramping up to maximum speed with absolute precision.
We also pay special attention to the handling of finished parts, which can be sorted by length, size, quantity and process type. "The “intelligent” offloader boosts the productivity of the system as well as reducing dead time due to stacking,” says Fabio Migliorati, Sales Director. “As for long parts, the system has axes for containing and supporting any type of tube or profile during the process. The new FL300 3D offloads cut parts in an orderly and safe manner with its integrated gantry with double grippers, which loads the parts onto pallets according to the program entered into the CNC by the operator. All our systems exemplify the common philosophy of fully autonomous production without operator supervision. All products boast unbeatable quality, and all are of the latest design to guarantee long term precision and reliability. The mechanical systems feature high reliability components, with guides, bearings, pre-loaded cross roller mounted mandrels, recirculation
worm screws and zero-backlash precision gear reducers”.
Cutting in any direction inside a hemisphere The fixed and moving mandrel of the FL300 3D has a solid frame mounting the four self-aligning, sliding jaws which lock tubes with diameters from 20 to 305 mm without any need for pincer changeover. The feed is controlled by a high precision rack with tempered and ground helical teeth, driven by a brushless motor and zerobacklash reducer gear. The mandrel houses the exhaust duct, connected to a cutting fumes and waste extraction plant to assure a totally clean cutting environment. The laser head, characterised by the use of a rigid frame with highly dynamic motors and quality transducers, is capable of ramping up to maximum speed with absolute precision. The 3D laser cutting head, in particular, can orient the laser beam generated by a 4000 W CO2 resonator in any direction within a
In construction applications, 3D laser cutting makes it
hemisphere. The head is controlled by direct drive torque motors without any mechanical transmission. The exact distance of the nozzle above the cutting surface is controlled by a capacitive sensor which corrects the machine axis positions in real time. Special attention has been given to the optical path, which includes high efficiency mirrors. The system is pressurised, with integral cooling for outstanding precision.
possible to produce completely new types of joints, to the advantage of the cost and strength of the structure.
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TSL 2.5-25 is the code of the automatic laser cutting and welding system commissioned by the Indian Railways for the productions of entire side and roof bodywork panels for their new passenger wagons.
Laser cutting and welding
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nternationally, they are known by their English name, Indian Railways, which is one of the biggest companies in the world, with a rail network of more than 60,000 km and over 18 million passengers and 2 million tons of freight traffic per day. On its rail network of 63,327 km, Indian Railways runs more than 200,000 wagons and 50,000 carriages pulled by more than 8,000 engines; it also runs 6,909 stations and has over 1,400,000 employees, which makes it the third biggest employer in the world after Walmart and the State Grid Corporation of China.
Fully finished side and roof panels Indian Railways is another prestigious name in TTM's client portfolio, from whom it recently commissioned an innovative TSL 2.5-25 automatic laser cutting and welding system for the production of side walls and roofs for its passenger wagons. This is an avant-garde system designed and customised by TTM to the client's specifications. TSL stands for "Taglia Salda Lamiere" (sheet cut and weld), 2.5 indicates the maximum weld length, equal to the maximum sheet width for the application (2,500 mm), while 25 indicates the maximum length in metres of the parts the system can handle. The system outputs completed semi-finished parts, since it not only produces a sheet size which is almost impossible to find in
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the market (2,500 x 25,000 mm) but also processes them to produce finished wagon side walls and roofs, including the openings for doors and windows.
Perfectly orthogonal edges and zero burrs This project certifies TTM as a provider of genuinely customised, dedicated systems, characterised by exceptional reliability and ease of use. The XL format of the side walls and roofs, depending on what has to be produced, is obtained by trimming and welding together multiple 2500 mm wide
sheets of variable lengths, to produce the final product (roof or side wall). The operating cycle is very simple: once loaded, the first sheet is centred and moved into the welding area to wait for the second sheet which is loaded, aligned and moved into the same area. The two sheets are then trimmed by laser to ensure that the edges are perfectly orthogonal. Once this has been done, the two sheets are moved to the zero gap position, which can only be done if there are absolutely no burrs (which would compromise the weld) since the weld fuses the two
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train side walls edges together. This ensures uniform mechanical characteristics of the material since no filler is used, and makes a geometrically invisible weld, since the joint does not affect the thickness of the material, which remains constant even across the weld. Note that all welding procedures have obtained certification by Indian Railways, who have subjected our samples to stringent testing. These include traction, folding, hardness and fatigue tests, micrography, mechanical abrasion and corrosion tests. Once the first two sheets are welded together, the
resulting sheet is moved forwards until the trailing edge reaches the welding area where it is joined with the third sheet, which has been loaded and aligned in the meantime. A third weld is now made and the cycle repeats the number of times required to fabricate the final format. This means that to fabricate a 24 m side wall, 12 2500 x 2000 mm sheets must be welded together, requiring 11 laser trimming and welding cycles. The special characteristic of the TSL 2.5-25 is that, every 6/8 m of welded product, the joining cycle is interrupted by a phase in which the sheet is shaped and the door and window openings are cut. The gantry mounting the capacitive head moves into a cutting area adjacent to the welding area and shapes the entire side wall or roof. Once this phase is over, the gantry returns to the welding po-
sition and adds a further 6/8 m of sheet before running a new shaping cycle. This cycle is repeated as many times as required to obtain the finished part. Before the new welding cycle, a second gantry running on the same rails as the first, equipped with suction grippers, collects the larger offcuts resulting from the cutting cycles and stacks them on pallets. Smaller offcuts are cut into smaller pieces during the cutting cycle itself, and then offloaded and scrapped by a conveyor located under the system's bed. Note that the operating cycle of the TSL 2.5-25 is fully automatic as the cutting and welding settings are also controlled by the machine's PLC unit. The operator is thus only responsible for loading the raw sheets, starting the cycle and supervising the system's operation. The Indian Railways TSL 2.5-25 is equipped with a 3500 W CO2 laser, but the system can be equipped with any type of source, including fibre optic lasers, given the minimal thickness of the parts being processed. In this particular case, the sheets are 2/3 mm thick in stainless steel.
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A recently installed TTM FL 300 3D lasertube attests to the company's wish to expand their activities into the structural tubing sector.
From automotive to structural tubes
Sarzi Lamiere activities are equally divided between cutting sheets and tubes. In particular, over the last ten years, the company, based in Sabbioneta (Mantua), has been working in the automotive industry as a tubular parts and semi-finished
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components supplier for exhaust pipes and heavy vehicle exhaust systems.
espite its name Sarzi Lamiere (Sarzi "Sheeting") today works as a third party supplier of both sheet and tubular parts. Over the last ten years, the company, in response to orders from important German automotive suppliers, has rounded out its service offering with semi-finished parts made directly from tubular blanks. "We make products for Northern European companies, who in turn design and supply standard equipment for Daimler-Mercedes, Scania, Man and Liebherr, among others," says Fabio Anelli, Pipe Production Manager of Sarzi Lamiere. “This is why we have added tube processing to our existing sheet processing services. In particular, the lasertube has been essential to guaranteeing the precision required in cutting parts which, in most cases, we also assemble together. We are thus equipped to supply assembled semi-finished parts, and this can be seen from the range of machinery we have installed for tube processing, including the 6 laser tubes, 5 robotic welding cells, pipe benders and numerous radial presses for forming parts”.
Project optimisation by the fabricator Sarzi is a pure third party supplier and as such implements designs provided by its clients. “Given their source, these are projects which have mostly been signed off at a higher level, so we can suggest simple
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practical improvements and thus help to optimise the project in terms of its real feasibility. We also propose alternative processes to simplify and speed up production, but without compromising the geometry, function or reliability of the component. This is project optimisation, done by the people who have to actually fabricate the parts”. Sarzi has now accumulated enough expertise with lasertubes to make small, simple modifications which enable them to get considerable time savings and greatly increased precision of the individual parts and their assembly for welding. The automotive industr y has ver y strict tolerance requirements. For this reason, they work with control templates and equipment, including a recently acquired control laser used by the quality control department to measure parts. “We make batches of thousands of parts, over which we implement systematic and methodical controls to ensure the high precision our clients specify” says Anelli. “We have a well-equipped quality laboratory, but we also run controls at each station, especially in tube for ming processes where we use custom templates and gauges made to the specified precision, so that we can run 100% controls of our production”.
3D processing of tubes and profiles up to 305 mm diameter Including tube processing in their service offering has been of strategic importance to Sarzi Lamiere who has been able, in advance of its competitors, to investigate the full potential of the tubular components market, and reap the benefits. Now their objective is to expand into structural tubing for important markets like the construction industry. Indeed, they purchased their most recent lasertube system as a step in this direction, since it is TTM FL 300 3D system, a heavy duty system and intended to handle diameters and formats previously out of their range. “In the past, when we got inquiries about large gauge and size tubes we always turned them down because we weren't equipped to handle them,” says Anelli. “But seeing as how these inquiries kept coming, we decided to explore this new market”. The new FL 300 3D system does 3D cutting of
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The TTM FL300 3D system at Sarzi Lamiere.
tubes and profiles in a range of diameters from 15 to 305 mm and maximum length of 12,500 mm. All components (high quality motors and transducers, pressurised system, optical path with high efficiency mirrors) are designed and rated to process heavy duty tube and bars, for maximum process efficiency and return on investment. The part is held by the four sliding and self-aligning jaws of the mobile mandrel, designed to operate without pincer changeovers. The fixed mandrel, composed of a solid frame housing the four self-aligning idle rollers, also has no need for equipment changeovers. The mandrel houses the exhaust duct, connected to a cutting fumes and waste extraction plant to assure a totally clean and safe working environment. All TTM systems pay special attention to environmental issues. The tubes are loaded by a belt picking system, while the open profiles are loaded by a chain conveyor: three independent manipulators then
load both tubes delivered by the bundle loader and tubes and profiles off the chain loader to the mandrel. Special attention has been paid to the creation of an automatic cartesian offloader which loads the cut tubes, in lengths up to 8 m, onto pallets. The intelligent offloader boosts the productivity of the system as well as reducing dead time due to stacking. As for long parts, the system has axes for containing and supporting any type of tube or profile during the process. The mechanical systems also feature high reliability components, with guides, bearings, preloaded cross roller mounted mandrels, recirculation worm screws and zero-backlash precision gear reducers.
A system designed specifically for cutting large formats Compared to the other lasertubes in the workshop, the TTM FL 300 3D is designed to handle heavy gauge tubing. TTM has made it easy to cut square and rectangular tubes, which the company was able to cut previously, but with problems due to the weight of the parts. "The FL 300 has given us a certain ease of mind about the process, even for 12 m bars, since it is designed specifically for handling such parts,” Anelli continues. “The special thing about the FL 300 3D is precisely that it can handle up to 12 m tubes and bars; this significantly reduces
offcuts as well as the number of raw bars to be loaded, and hence has optimised our process and made it more efficient”. “The first order we completed with the TTM system allowed us to test its potential straight off: we were cutting 324 mm aluminium tubing, which is over the rated capacity of the system, with a final length of 11.60 m, practically equal to the loading capacity of the system, but nonetheless well over the FL 300 3D's 8 m automatic offloading limit. This meant we had to modify the offloading section, in collaboration with TTM technicians. TTM modified the stroke of mandrel number 3, which is the one responsible for offloading, so that rather than gripping it as the start of the section, slid along it to grip it further down. We, on the other hand, mounted a pneumatic roller extractor external to the laser system which extracts the tube, loads it onto the unloading supports and places it on an accumulator and pallet loading table. In practice, it's as if the extractor pulls the tube out of the third mandrel which opens after cutting to allow it to slide inside it”.
The FL300 3D has made it easy to cut square and rectangular tubes, which the company was able to cut previously, but with problems due to the weight of the parts.
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] foundation called TEZE will be established in memory of Giuseppe Castellini, the founder of Castellini Officine Meccaniche SpA. Teze is the name given to the new concept factory, designed so that dimensions, spaces and organisation all promote the new production system. The philosophy of Teze is based on the valorisation of human intelligence and creativity, which have been the driving forces of the group over the years. Teze will also be a place where dialogue with other businesses is possible, to promote, among other things, strategic alliances and industrial synergies.
EVENTS
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EMO Hannover 19-24 September
TEZE … Ideas in action Teknomotive Brescia 20-22 October
The promotion of culture in the factory will have a variety of objectives, to bring young people closer to the world of work, to motivate and promote employees sense of belonging to the company, and to create relations with authorities and develop social projects and initiatives. The foundation will also provide study grants and initiatives for deserving young people who may one day become valuable employees of the group's companies. Teze aims to promote the business philosophy launched sixty years ago by Giuseppe Castellini as a heritage for the future of our young people.
EXPOlaser Piacenza 17-19 November
The new factory Work on the new TEZE factory will start in September. The site, 60,000 m² in Cazzago San Martino, will house industrial buildings for a total area of 22,000 m², divided as follows: 8000 m² for TTM, 8000 m² for Castellini Officine Meccaniche, and 3000 m² office space. 3000 m² will be dedicated to research and development. TTM has made innovation a cornerstone of its business and has always invested heavily in this area. This has enabled us to grow technologically in an exponential manner and place ever more high performance and innovative solutions on the market. The new factory has been designed with special attention to its architectonics, with large green areas. The office building will house a garden, and the outer perimeter will be surrounded by a moat. All structures, both factory and office buildings, will be built of steel. The Castellini group is firmly convinced that the new plant will enable it to grow its business, by eliminating the inconveniences of the current locations of its two factories at Cazzago S. Martino and Rodengo Saiano. This large investment in greater, more adequate space, will increase pro-
Ideas in action
Tube Tech Machinery S.r.l. Via Bonfadina, 33 25046 Cazzago San Martino (BS) Italy Tel. +39 030 7256311 Fax +39 030 7256333 info@tubetechmachinery.com www.tubetechmachinery.com
ductivity as well as making it possible to take on around 20 new employees. The industrial buildings will be completed by summer 2012 and the company will move into its new premises by the end of that year. Part of the machine tools will also be renewed, with the purchase of a new large boring machine.
Associate member of UCIMU - Systems for production