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Articles tagged with "maintenance"
Results: 47
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Boosting band saw blade life: Guidelines to follow on the shop floorBecause intermittent cutting can be hard on blades, you should find ways to increase blade productivity for your environment. Several guidelines, such as selecting the right blade tooth size, breaking in the blades, and choosing the right blade for the job are ways to help improve the productivity of your band saw blade.
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Sawing? Cool it.: Coolants can extend blade life, improve cut finish, and quicken cut ratesNearly every metal sawing operation can become more cost-effective with a properly mixed and maintained sawing coolant. Proper use of sawing coolant improves cutting rates by balancing the combination of cooling and lubrication of the blade. Quality coolant improves the cut finish and can extend blade life by as much as 20 percent.
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8 ways to keep your shear in top shapeImproving uptime and reducing maintenance when using shears for high production could mean following a few key steps.
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Extend conveyor life with maintenance, modification: Avoid line shutdownTo the naked eye, conveyor design doesn't look looks it has progressed much in 40 years. The conveyors of today are engineered with unique design elements and innovations that make them more versatile than ever for today's metal stamping applications. A conveyor with the latest technologies is good only if it is running properly. Simple preventive maintenance techniques can save stampers time, money, and a lot of headaches.
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Choosing a gouging method: Advantages and disadvantages of plasma, air carbon-arc gougingPlasma gouging and air carbon-arc gouging have their advantages and disadvantages. The most distinct differences are in cost, fume production, and necessary postcutting operations.
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Organización del herramental significa optimización del punzonado: Estos consejos mantendran a las punzonadoras de torreta funcionado eficientemente |
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Mill coolant system design: Lubrication is more than meets the eyeWhat kind of coolant system you construct for your tube mill or roll forming operation is just as important as what type of coolant you use.
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A breath of fresh air: ArrayArray
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Assessing cutting and forming machine tool safetyThe expanded breadth of recent standards typically includes the entire life expectancy of machines, the full scope of possible risks, the frequency and severity of risks, and the possibility of harm.
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Staying safe during HF welding: A common sense approach to personnel protectionProper clothing, training, procedures, troubleshooting, preparation, and equipment for HF welding are critical if you want to prevent workplace accidents.
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Respirator selection as a business decision: How to choose the right equipment for your weldersSeveral technical articles have addressed respiratory diseases associated with welding activities and when a respirator should be used to help prevent these diseases. Once an employer concludes that respiratory protection is the appropriate option for a particular application, the next step is selecting the right respirator.
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Control risk with lockout/tagout: How to perform equipment maintenance safelyLock-out/tag-out procedures are critical when you're dealing with equipment or machines powered by electricity, steam, hydraulics, gas, compressed air, or a combination of sources.
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Keep on truckin': Operating and maintaining a forklift truck safelyLack of safe operating procedures and safety rule enforcement, as well as insufficient or inadequate training, lead to tens of thousands of injuries each year. Safe forklift practices through proper use, adequate maintenance, sufficient clearing for travel, and correct load stability are the best way to prevent these injuries.
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A breath of fresh air - Taking a look at in-plant filtration systems: Taking a look at in-plant filtration systemsThe article explains how to carry out a facility and process evaluation and discusses the basics of in-plant air filtration system selection.
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Slash maintenance inventory costs: Five steps for managing MRO partsThe quickest boost for most organizations' bottom line is finding opportunities for decreasing costs without sacrificing quality. An area frequently overlooked is the inventory of parts kept for maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO).
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Successful stamping: It's a 'we' thing |
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Creating a pressroom preventive maintenance program: A step-by-step guideA press maintenance program should be designed to minimize downtime, enhance machinery output, and establish a formal record keeping system for ongoing inspections.
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Inspecting for and correcting coil reel damageWritten in a question-and-answer format, this article offers tips for inspecting and correcting damage to coil reels. Descriptions of several tests are offered, including arbor or reel runout, lost motion, final indicator, and segments straightness tests. Frequently encountered problems such as coilers that break constantly, telescoping coils, and marred material are also addressed.
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Installing and maintaining coil cradles and reelsThe installation procedures that can help to prolong the life of coil cradles and reels are outlined in this article. Specific steps to maintain cradles and reels are also included.
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Finding the best splice for your light-duty conveyor: The mechanical fastener optionOne way to increase your stamping operation's productivity is to get all the uptime you can from the belt conveyors that carry materials, parts, and finished and packaged products throughout your plant. As moving, wearing equipment, conveyors naturally demand a certain amount of downtime for maintenance and parts replacement. However, keeping those events as infrequent and brief as possible is what uptime is all about.
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Exploring upgrades in stamping presses: The top 10 improvements in the past 50 yearsThe years have brought a host of improvements to stamping presses as technology has made presses more efficient, safer, and easier to use.
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Equipping Your Press With the Right Tonnage MonitorThis article explains why it's useful to monitor press tonnage, the types of tonnage monitors available, the choices for mounting load sensors, calibrating a monitor, and options available for tonnage monitors.
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Optimizing spray nozzle performance for lubrication:: The importance of selection, maintenance, and automation |
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How to keep hydraulic presses running: Know thy press: In sickness and in healthSeveral preventive maintenance steps can help extend hydraulic press life. Press operators who stay in tune with their press and establish good, consistent maintenance practices from the beginning will benefit the most.
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Cómo mantener las prensas hidráulicas operando: Aprenda todo lo que pueda sobreLa posicin inicial de la parte plana est hacia el lado equivocado o est al revs de su flujo natural? Usted est trabajando de izquierda a derecha cuando su movimiento natural es de derecha a izquierda? La clave para un doblado exitoso es acomodar la prensa de forma que usted trabaje con su flujo natural.
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8 Things you should know about your hydraulic press: Press checks and maintenance keep it running at peak performanceWhat should you do to keep your hydraulic press running? Know your press--when it is working properly or when it needs attention. You can extend press life and maximize your investment by keeping your eyes and ears tuned and by performing 8 preventative maintenance steps.
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Driven to integrate: Automotive component stamper branches out, adapts to industry changesChanges come often in the steel industry--a business that sticks around long enough might eventually bear little resemblance to the version established at its inception. This is the case for Parkview Metal Products, Lake Zurich, Ill. The company opened in 1950 as a tool and die shop in Chicago, later moving and shifting its focus to automotive, electronic, and grill components. The company believes its culture is changing for the better and plans to continue developing its 5S initiatives, increasing its on-time delivery, and reducing its scrap rate.
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The pressure is on: Prolonging die life with the help of sensor filmThe traditional method of measuring pressure distribution in stamping operations—the die spotting blue technique—reveals the pressure points without actual pressure readings, making it difficult to balance in relation to other die components. A thin, flexible, Mylar-based sensor film that instantly captures and permanently records pressure distribution and magnitude between any two mating or contacting surfaces has emerged as an alternative to traditional pressure testing.
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Preventative maintenance as a way of life: Die shop sparks plantwide process control renaissanceThe author relates his experience as preventive maintenance (PM) coordinator at a Big 3 automaker. The purpose of preventative maintenance is to gain control of the processes. This begins with data collection on die sets, die failure and material handling damage that will identify weak areas in the stamping process. The author's team began with one set of dies and eventually its PM program was so successful that it was implemented throughout the entire plant.
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Taking a look at automated spray control:: What can it do for your company?Spray systems often are regarded as simple on-off valve and regulation systems. In reality, though, spray nozzles are precision components designed to yield very specific performance under specific process conditions. Just because nozzles are spraying doesn't mean that they are spraying precisely, and precision spray performance makes a difference in throughput, quality, and bottom-line profits
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Maintaining and troubleshooting HF welders: A common-sense approach for vacuum tube and solid-state machinesThe basic steps of general preventive maintenance and troubleshooting for both vacuum tube and solid-state high frequency (HF) welders should assist in keeping welders online and producing pipe or tube.
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Tooling, the key for mill productionThis article discusses three main criteria that govern tube mill tooling—design, materials used in their construction, and alignment of tooling on the mill. Discusses advancements in design due to CAD technology; experimental use of ceramic and plastic materials for making tooling; and the use of subplates and interchangeable components to ease tube mill alignment.
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Achieving faster, more efficient tube mill changeoversTube mill changeovers involve more than just tooling. Several variables
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Innovative die setup and maintenance methods for tube mill cutoff |
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The regrind process for tube mill tooling: ArrayAlthough most tube and pipe producers don't get too involved in the regrind process, it is crucial—reconditioning roll tooling can extend its useful life by 15 or 20 times. The regrind process reduces the producer's overall out-of-pocket tooling expenses, while helping to ensure the tooling continues to produce a consistent-quality product at the required speeds. A better understanding of the process, especially familiarity with the types of flaws that reconditioning can and cannot resolve, can go a long way toward a better working relationship between a tube and pipe producer and its regrind contractor.
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Is your cold pilger mill maintenance on schedule?: Analyzing the need for routine inspections and alignmentsGlen Stapleton relies on his experience in troubleshooting for more than 30 years to discuss the most pressing pilger mill maintenance issues—causes, cures, and tips to prevent breakdowns and get the machines up and running again when they do fail.
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Buy it by the pound, sell it by the foot: Process optimization can help tube, pipe producers cut costs one foot at a timeIf you're a tube or pipe producer, you're probably under constant pressure to cut costs. And you probably know that you can reduce your raw material costs by reducing the coil width, within reason, and the change will have little noticeable impact on the final product's quality. However, this doesn't give you license to make wholesale significant width reductions. In fact, you'd probably be better off developing a comprehensive process optimization program and striving for higher efficiency instead of merely cutting costs.
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The regrind process for tube mill tooling - Part II: Machining, inspection, and shippingAlthough most tube and pipe producers don't get too involved in the regrind process, it is crucial—reconditioning roll tooling can extend its useful life by 15 or 20 times. The regrind process reduces the producer's overall out-of-pocket tooling expenses, while helping to ensure the tooling continues to produce a consistent-quality product at the required speeds. A better understanding of the process, especially familiarity with the types of flaws that reconditioning can and cannot resolve, can go a long way toward a better working relationship between a tube and pipe producer and its regrind contractor.
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Setting realistic goals for robotic welding projectsExpecting a robot to solve all of your production problems can inflict the cruel irony of ceating more. If you want your robots to speed up your operation, know what they can and can't do from the start.
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Gas-shielded cored wires find their niche: Suitable applications for flux-cored and metal-cored electrodesGas-shielded flux-cored and metal-cored wires are growing in popularity because the wires are fabricated and can be applied to many applications.
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Material separation anxiety: Preventive maintenance tips for band saw blade careMaterial separation with a band saw machine is the beginning of most fabrication and many manufacturing operations, but it doesn't have to cause headaches with the proper preventive maintenance.
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Keys to success in laser welding: What every laser user needs to knowAlthough a firm grasp of laser physics, metallurgy, tooling and fixturing, weld process parameters, and part strength testing is necessary to implement laser technology in any manufacturing facility, it's also critical to think of other issues that will impact the success of your laser use. Some keys to a successful laser project include involving production personnel early in the process, choosing a laser technology advocate, considering your shop's ambient environment, using trained operators and maintenance personnel, and planning for spare parts and maintenance.
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Fatigue FailuresFatigue causes the majority of mechanical element failures in structures and machinery. It is important to understand the causes of the failure and how to prevent or repair it.
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The Brakes: Press Brakes and You -- Whose business is safety? Everybody'sWhat sort of safety measures needed in your shop depends somewhat on your equipment, but making your press brake a safe piece of equipment is largely a matter of old-fashioned common sense.
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A breath of fresh air: ArrayArray
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3 steps to better laser maintenance: Pay attention to the environment, the equipment, and the ever-necessary consumablesLaser machine users know it, but often ignore it. Laser manufacturers swear by it, but often don't push it. It's maintenance, and it should be the watchword of anyone who owns and operates a laser.
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3 ways to get the most from your laser operation: Machine choice, automation, and preventive maintenance |
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