Visit the ExxonMobil Lubricants and Specialties Europe web site

Tapes improve productivity for flying shears

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Sep 4, 2003

Automation and Motion Technology has used stainless-steel drive tapes to make dramatic productivity improvements in its machines for cutting cold-rolled metal sections.

Automation and Motion Technology (AMT) provides turnkey solutions to the cold-rolled metal cutting industry through the provision of purpose-built high-speed flying shear lines.

The company provides high-speed performance not achievable from any other similar types of machine.

This is a direct result of the incorporation of stainless-steel drive tapes supplied by Belt Technologies Europe into the design.

They have replaced AMT's original rack-and-pinion-based systems to make dramatic productivity improvements in the cutting to length of cold-rolled metal section for use within building and manufacturing industries.

When AMT originally looked at ways of improving the productivity of its machines, it recognised that the key was to improve the design of the flying shear in order to speed up the shearing platform.

Yet the machine still had to be able to cope with high payloads.

The company examined various solutions, including linear motors and other flexible drive systems, but came up against the same problem each time.

These solutions added too much weight to the design, impairing speed and acceleration performances and creating too much inertia.

To overcome this problem AMT worked closely with Belt Technologies and developed a solution based on the incorporation of stainless-steel drive tapes.

The combination of light weight and low inertia allowed a dramatic improvement in speed and acceleration of the load - a 350kg load was accelerated to over 90m/min in less than 150ms with a 50.8mm-wide, 0.3mm-thick tape.

The additional benefits of the drive tapes are also critical to the application - their high strength to weight ratio, nonstretchability, accuracy and repeatability are critical to the performance of the flying shears.

AMT's latest flying shear development combines pre and post metal piercing and shearing operations into one action.

This allows even higher levels of productivity.

The carriage weighs 0.75t but will still achieve speeds of 85m/min and a remarkable acceleration of less than 200ms to top speed.

The productivity improvements come from the overall reduction in cycle times.

Belt Technologies and AMT have worked in partnership for around eight years and AMT's Managing Director Gary Orgles recognises the benefits of the stainless steel drive tape solution.

"Our customers wanted more productivity from flying shears and the ability to cope with higher weights.

The introduction of Belt drive tapes has allowed us to provide this".

AMT continues to monitor the performance of the belt drive tapes and to assess alternatives.

To date, no viable alternative has been found - other materials, such as Kevlar-reinforced rubber belts, do not have the necessary stiffness in composition to cope with higher load capacities.

Linear motors meanwhile have only proven suitable for low-payload applications.

The low maintenance requirements, including no need for lubrication, and the extended life of Belt's drive tapes is important.

Machine operators demand minimum downtime and the drive tapes are good for around one million operations with AMT machines often performing 20,000 cycles per day in some operating environments.

In addition to flying shears, AMT has worked with Belt Technologies in applying drive tape technology into other areas.

Indeed AMT is now using drive tapes as a process conveyor for applying an anodised coating to capacitors where the whole conveyor is immersed in an acid solution.

It has also used tapes for directly driven conveyor in the food industry.