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Articles tagged with "process"
Results: 52
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Using plasma arc cutting to clean-cut stainless steel sheet and plate: Variables to considerTo clean-cut stainless steel sheet and plate, fabricators first must choose the right CNC cutting equipment and then set the correct process-related variables. Precise machine motion controls, torch-to-material distance control, and the correct plasma and assist gases all are crucial to producing weld-ready plasma-cut edges on all stainless steel thicknesses.
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Making plasma cutting easier: Using CNC automation technologyFor many people, the world of plasma cutting is a complex and daunting place, with a cryptic set of rules that can be mastered only by highly trained technicians after weeks of training. For every change of material or thickness being cut, a long process ensues of resetting gas mixtures, tweaking pierce heights and pierce delays, and manually calibrating every last parameter to ensure a reliable result.
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Cutting exotic alloys: Circular saw helps shop land aircraft tubing projectCutting tubing with a circular cutoff saw is a common metal fabrication operation. This type of saw can produce a smooth finish that requires little secondary finishing.
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Trailblazing with waterjet: How one manufacturer broke ground with new technologyFor Johnson Enterprises of New Brunswick, Canada, the waterjet cutting system with shuttle table has opened the door to business opportunities more diverse than the materials it can process.
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How one company organized its powder coating process: Tips from a job shopLearn how Gauthier Industries, a stamper and powder coater, organized its powder coating operation into control points to help regulate quality and efficiency as parts move through the finishing process. Areas discussed include pretreatment, the paint booth, inspection, and tips for efficiency.
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The basic elements of tubular hydroformingMany factors come into play when attempting to execute a production hydroforming operation, among them material selection, friction and lubricants, tube bending and preforming, and equipment. Many companies in the automotive sector are experiencing great success with the process, which can reduce weight, overall costs, and the number of parts per vehicle.
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Successful tube hydroforming: Watching parameters, accurately simulating the process yield good resultsA typical tube hydroforming system is shown in Figure 1. Within this system, a host of factors must be taken into account, from starting tube geometry and material properties to the quality of the final part (such as thickness distribution and dimensional accuracy).
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Effective simulation of hydroforming: Current capabilities and requirements for the futureSimulation is used in the hydroforming process to replace the experimental investigation and tests required in a real tryout process.
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Examining the effects of push assist on the formability of aluminum tubesIt is well-known that tube has become an important material for hydroforming hollow components. The increasing complexity of product structures, particularly in the automotive industry, often requires one or more forming operations before a tube actually is hydroformed. Prebending is one of these forming processes used to prepare tubes for the so-called prebent tube hydroforming.
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Tier 1 supplier builds four-stage competitive strategyF & P Manufacturing Inc., a tier-one automotive components supplier, focused on four areas when it developed a hydroforming line for manufacturing Honda Accord engine cradles. These areas were eliminating end scrap, decoupling the bending machines from the manufacturing line, reducing cycle time, and palletizing parts.
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Making the most of hydroforming: Pursuing product potential and possibilitiesHydroforming has become a competitive metal forming method and has succeeded in many applications because of its weight- and cost-saving attributes, elimination of joining operations, and ability to offer part design for confined spaces.
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Eliminating final trim shearing of hydroformed tubeThe most common way to establish tube length after hydroforming is by cutting or shearing the tube to a specified dimension; however, cutting out this step can reduce scrap. A new method designed to eliminate this step combines forming the end of a tube to resemble its final form with using a hydroform die to correct end position variations off the bender. While this approach eliminates the final shear trim operation, it also presents new challenges.
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Tube Hydroforming Design Flexibility—Part IV |
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Interaction of chemicals used in forming and fabricatingKnowing how chemicals tend to react with one another and how each type of lubricant and coolant commonly used during steel processing tends to behave is a boon when you're trying to fabricate products properly.
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Establishing an alloy verification process: SOPs help to prevent material mix-upsProduction or fabrication processes can include dozens of stages to convert raw materials into finished goods. Regardless of the raw material or the finished product, one factor is constant - - most metals look alike.
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Considering thermal processes for dissimilar metals: Joining steel to aluminum in heat-intensive applicationsKnowing how to weld dissimilar metals is becoming more and more important. One reason is that it's often impossible for one material to provide the optimum chemical, physical, and mechanical characteristics needed for an application. For this reason, as well as cost efficiency, technology specialists are experimenting with different joining processes to weld bimetal joints optimally.
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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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Applying the theory of constraints in a structural steel plant: How keeping busy can be a BAD ideaMerely staying busy is not a determinant of success.
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Huge possibilities, tiny tools Nanotechnology--the science of small--could change the metals industry in a very big wayNanotechnology is just beginning to blossom as a practical topic of interest for the manufacturing industry. Just how big an impact will nanomaterials have in our lifetimes? We're sure to find out soon.
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Improving the bottom line in automotive applications: How to reduce the total cost of weld qualityThe automotive industry is under extreme pressure to improve the productivity and quality of its operations. Tier 1 suppliers especially are being squeezed by a combination of very competitive upfront bidding for contracts and yearly price reductions. One area ripe for savings in most automotive companies is the total cost associated with welding quality.
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Inline Process auditing: Moving beyond random samplingImagine this: The line is running smoothly, delivery is tight but on schedule, it is 10 minutes to shift change, and suddenly Art the quality control inspector runs by the office window shouting, "We've got bad parts coming out!" You shut the line down, your production supervisor comes running, Art is grabbing as many parts as he can to start checking, and the operator is thinking, "I should run now and let the second shift deal with it."
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Just what does Covisint mean, anyway?: How the auto industry's B2B supersite will transform its supply chainCovisint aims to be a lot of things to a lot of people in the automotive industry, starting with the industry's largest suppliers and working down through the supply chain.
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Changing the way they do business: Bridge, structural fabricators have to think about process choicesDealing with work loads, delivery schedules, and many other responsibilities doesn't leave managers with much time to consider factors that justify equipment improvements.
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Taking a look at performance appraisalsIf you make continuous feedback part of your managerial style, the annual performance appraisal becomes an affirmation of a positive working relationship.
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Protecting surface-sensitive materials in coil processing: ArrayArray
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Getting it Straight: Understanding coil straightening in stamping operationsBefore coiled material can pass through a die to produce an acceptable part, it must be straightened. Coil straightening is accomplished by bending a strip of material around sets of rollers that alternately stretch and compress the upper and lower surfaces so that the material's yield point is exceeded.
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Protecting surface-sensitive materials in coil processing - Three potential danger areasAs manufacturers worldwide strive to reduce costs and streamline their production processes, the market for surface-sensitive materials continues to expand. Surface-sensitive materials include all prepainted steel products and nonferrous decorative materials, such as copper, brass, and stainless steel.
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Troubleshooting your stamping operationA common thread runs through all effective troubleshooting approaches: the skill of observation. Learn to use it to your advantage.
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Truckin' along through a stamping plant: Redesigned truck cab leads to new plant, processesInternational Truck and Engine Corporation's Springfield, Ohio, plant recently undertook the challenge of building a high-performance truck with the dimensional tolerances that meet today's quality standards within a cost structure that would allow it to remain competitive. This new product launch was the first of its kind for the company in more than 20 years.
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Hydraulic forming takes a front seat: How an automotive supplier improved quality characteristics on seat adjuster channelsFor about 50 years roll forming was the process of choice for making seat track channels at Dura Automotive Seat Systems, Stockton, Ill. While the process was high-speed, low-maintenance, and flexible, it also caused channel end flare, twist, and bow.
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Resisting cracking, deformation, and premature wear: Powder metallurgical steels provide an alternative to conventional tool steelsWant to know how powder metallurgical tool steels are produced and how their properties provide the material's toughness and wear resistance? Read on.
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Rising expectations spark new approach to draw die development: Reconciling demands for increased quality at lower costsA recently formulated approach to draw die development incorporates simultaneous engineering to identify and address potential problems before dies are built.
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Magnetic pulse welding for tubular applications: Discovering new technology for welding conductive materialsA review of how magnetic pulse welding works, in what applications it can be used, and what considerations users must take to perform it properly.
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Getting a handle on work-related hand injuriesThe hand is one of the most complex parts of your body. It enables you to execute simple or complex jobs that cannot be performed by any other part of the body. Without your hands, it would be extremely difficult to do even those routine tasks that we take for granted every day.
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Producing quality ASTM A249 and ASME SA 249 pressure tubesDetails are everything when you're manufacturing stainless steel pipe to exacting specifications.
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Making seamless tubing with a floating mandrel mill |
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Skelp edge preparation for manufacturing ERW pipePreparing the edge of a metal strip properly before it enters an electric resistance welding tube mill makes a huge difference in the quality of the final product. Make sure your prep methods match your quality requirements.
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Laser welding of stainless pressure tubesNot all laser welded tubes are created equal. Know what to look for in the final product to ensure that you're buying quality and not just an imposter.
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Minimizing wall thickness variation in seamless tubingAll mechanical steel tubing has some amount of wall thickness variation. Wall variation in welded tubing results from the strip manufacturing and tube welding processes. Seamless tube, which is created from a hot billet of solid steel, has wall variation that results from tooling wear, bearing and shaft variation, and normal hot-process variation. The wall thickness in seamless tubing varies in the cross section and along the tube's length.
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Considering the benefits of pulse spray transfer GMAW |
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Welding Miniature Devices: Decisions to make when choosing a joining process |
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Using the tandem welding process to your advantageTandem welding power source technology now is able to meet the demands of many applicants for which welders many not expect it to be useful.
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How to Kill a Robotic Project in Five Easy StepsHow would you like to fail utterly in your quest to modernize your shop with robotic weldingequipment? Look no further—we've got all the bad advice you need right here.
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Selecting equipment for a robotic welding workcellSo you've decided to automate your welding process. Now it's time to select the equipment that performs the robotic welding. It's critical to take care choosing the appropriate equipment and an integration partner.
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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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Welders turn to induction heating for preheating, stress relievingThis article discusses using induction heating for preheating and (postheating) stress relief of welds. It focuses on what this technology is, how it works, and how it can be used in an industrial setting. This article also gives several real-life examples of how the technology has been used in actual applications.
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Supporting the defense: Manufacturer uses direct diode laser to weld missile canisters |
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What you don't know about spot welding: Some lesser-known uses of resistance welding equipmentResistance welding equipment has many uses that many people often don't think about. Everyday items that some may not associate with resistance welding owe their very existence to this versatile process.
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Examining electric resistance weld nuggets in tube and pipe: Using the microscope to study weld characteristicsAn in-depth examination of electric resistance welding nuggets as a quality control step in the manufacturing of high-strength tube and pipe used for pressure applications
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Leaping the hurdles to press brake automationUnderstanding the obstacles to automating press brakes requires an analysis of the bending process.
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The challenges of laser cutting: Overcoming some common obstaclesLasers can be used to process expensive alloys as well as traditional materials such as stainless steel. However, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of laser processing is the key to determining whether or not a laser is the right choice for cutting.
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Predicting the outcomes of laser thermal forming: How process simulation brought this technology to industry |
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