Fabrication Shop - PLC Programming, Industrial Controls, Machine And Tool Design

Pacific 750 ton Press

SCOPE: Our customer's Pacific press was not able to maintain the level and accuracy of the ram. The scope of this project was to repair the press so that it would have all of the same capabilities as when it was new. These include the following:

Manual and Automatic Mode

Three Down Speeds.

Rapid Advance

Fast Press

Normal Press

Two Up Speeds.

Slow Retract

Fast Retract

Ram Tilt – 1 inch in 12 feet maximum.

Prior to our customer's purchase of the press, its ram had been bent. Because of this, it was decided to upgrade the tonnage control of the press. They also wanted to make the press as safe as possible. For this reason safety fences in combination with a safety light screen were added around the press.

It was decided to replace the tape style level control and install a linear variable displacement transducer (LVDT) on each individual cylinder. The LVDT gives the position of each cylinder. Thus can determine when the ram is in position to change speeds in addition to the amount of tilt. Pressure transducers were added to the piston side of each cylinder. The pressure transducers allow for individual tonnage control on each cylinder. To control the press a programmable logic controller (PLC grogramming) was installed along with a keypad display (DTAM). The DTAM allows the operator to select a part from the menu. It will then download the recipe for that part to the PLC programming. The PLC programming then controls the press automatically through the cycle of the press.

Pictures of 750 ton Pacific Hydraulic press before installation of new controls and safety light screen.

Pictures of 750 ton Pacific Hydraulic press after installation of new controls and safety light screen.