TPT July 2016

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70 JULY 2016
T UBE M I L L S & R OL L FORM I NG L I NE S
Mair Research supplies new finishing line
for automotive tubes in Mexico
MAIR Research has recently supplied an
integrated finishing line for processing
precision tubes for an important
Mexican supplier of automotive tubing.
In this project the tubes are 88.9mm in
diameter and 12m in length.
The line is placed at the direct exit of
the new tube mill and designed to allow
the maximum mill productivity ensuring
continuous processing and collecting of
the finished tubes in strapped bundles
ready for delivery to the end user.
The layout has been custom designed
together with the customer to optimise
the available floospace.
Since all operations are performed
automatically only two operators with
supervisory tasks are sufficient to
conduct the line.
The line consists of the following
equipment:
• Driven rollway interfaced with the
tube mill and equipped with cradle for
the automatic collection of reject tubes.
• Tube sampling station. Tubes that
require sample cut-off are automatically
extracted from the production flow and
positioned to an upper cold saw for
cutting of sample piece (generally max
300mm length). The remaining (nominal
length) tube is automatically reinserted
in the production flow.
• Chamfering machine. Both ends
of round tubes are chamfered (facing,
ID and OD bevel). The machine
is equipped with a quick spindle
replacement allowing the user to reduce
the downtimes upon size changeover.
Upon changing tube length the mobile
part of the equipment (conveyors and
mobile head) will relocate automatically
to the new position.
• Swarf removal station. Suitable
to flushout the loose inner bead of
two tubes at a time in two stages.
Pressurised emulsion jets act in the first
stage and compressed air in the second
stage.
The bead is ejected to a swarf
chopper which, by rotating knives, will
chop the long swarf into short pieces
conveniently collected inside a bin.
• Packaging machine. The tubes are
automatically packed into hexagonal or
square/rectangular bundles and then
strapped. The weighing station will tilt
the bundles to remove any residual
emulsion and weigh the bundles, which
will be ready on the storage chains to be
picked up by an overhead crane.
A printer produces a customised anti-
tear label including the company logo,
bar code, weight and other data as
required.
The line is high-productive and
designed to cope with the mill speed,
and may also handle square and
rectangular tubes, which will be sent
directly to the packaging machine and
packed into final products.
Particular attention is given to tube
handling as all parts that may come in
contact with the tube are plastic coated
in order to avoid denting and scratching.
Mair Research specialises in the
design, manufacture and supply of
finishing lines in general (automotive,
OCTG, drawn, other) having delivered
to important world producers in the field
of ERW and seamless tubes.
All Mair Research equipment is fully
designed, manufactured and assembled
at the company’s facilities in Italy.
It undergoes strict pre-shipment tests
usually conducted in the presence of the
customer.
Pre-shipment tests have proven to
be beneficial, allowing the equipment to
be optimised in-house, reducing on-site
start-up and commissioning works.
Mair Research SpA – Italy
Fax: +39 0445 634 409
Email:
Website: