TRANSFER PRESSES FOR LARGE SHEET-METAL PANELS.

Although transfer presses have been in production for many years for the manufacture of smaller pressings, the concept for a tri-axis large-panel transfer press involved a number of new conditions for consideration. One of the most important conditions is that the press should be capable of producing relatively small batches economically so as to reduce stock-holding and tied-up capital. In other words, the user wanted a flexible press system, with high output and short resetting times. When batches between 3000 and 10,000 parts are produced, the tri-axis transfer presses are generally loaded with 10 to 20 different tool sets. However, high system productivity assumes - rather more than when producing on press lines - work-pieces of similar shape, size and press-technological difficulty. Typical examples are the outer and inner panels of a car body, all belonging to a family of large-area work-pieces for which a press with approx. 2m transfer step (pitch) would be ideal.