Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»­

Plate rolling machines by design are robust pieces of equipment and as such last a long time with regular maintenance. In fact, it is not uncommon for shops to have machines dating back to 1984 still working on a daily basis. When those shops are ready to breathe new life into those older machines and get another 15 to 20 years more service from them, they have the option to rebuild/retrofit them with newer components that upgrade a plate rolling machine to today's standards with the latest technological advancements.

While most would think that a worn plate rolling machine drives the need for a rebuild or retrofit, the most common reason is the obsolescence and unavailability of replacement parts. Unlike automobiles, the aftermarket replacement parts inventory for plate rolling machines is not as extensive and often exhausted, especially when it comes to electrical components and electronics that are over 10 years old.

With plate rolling machines, that obsolescence rarely involves the mechanical components as much as it does the machine user interfaces/computer screens and PLCs. Because of the astronomical growth rate of technology, as soon as new advancements make their way to the field, they are essentially already years behind the latest developments, much like how automobile models vary from year to year in terms of their technology levels.

Plate rolling machine OEMs offer solutions to counteract this obsolescence and extend the life of machines. For instance, a CN upgrade service from Davi replaces all the electrical components on the machine, from the wires to all related components, adding brand new electrical cabinets and consoles. The company will remove every wire and electrical component and replace them with a modern version. This includes the machine computer, I/O card, transducers, valve plugs and all relay switches.

With a control update, shops often gain increased capabilities, such as converting a fully manual machine into one with full CNC controls. With that, they can add the versatility of creating, saving and recalling part programs. They can switch from manual control to a teach-in and playback control mode.

Most beneficial, however, is that a shop can take advantage of state-of-the-art new control technologies and functions that are challenging, if not impossible, to incorporate into older controls. Davi can easily install and seamlessly integrate, for instance, its iRoll eXtreme or iRoll Performance CNCs for its machine owners.

Those CNCs improve ease of use through Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) that provide seamless, smartphone-like navigation between different control environments and allow for customizing with high-definition widgets. Additionally, self-adjusting artificial intelligence (AI) within the controls generates fine-tuned programs based on historical parameters collected during the fabrication of similar parts, making overall machine programming easier.

The controls also house material databases to further speed the plate rolling process. Once a material is selected, the control already knows the job characteristics involved. Plus, shops can easily edit the material libraries to further fine-tune the rolling process for their particular material types. This is especially helpful when material tensile and yield strength varies from batch to batch or from one supplier to the next.

Advanced control technology lets shops take advantage of other plate rolling innovations, such as Davi's iRadius system for real-time in-process radius measuring. During the rolling process, the system displays the measurement in a digital readout for operators to make the necessary adjustments, eliminating the need for them to walk to the front of the machine and manually measure a radius using templates. The iRadius unit is retrofittable to existing machines and is especially useful for those shops rolling extremely large parts that would otherwise require the operator to crawl inside the parts to take measurements.

iVision uses a "laser blade" as opposed to a single laser beam point for measuring. The laser blade scans a wider rounded area, taking thousands of points along the curved surface of the radius at one time. When systems use only one laser beam point, there is a risk that material surface mill scale and other shop environmental conditions, such as light reflections that could negatively affect the measurements. The iVision eliminates these risks.

Another advantage of the system is that its laser head moves up and down in the vertical axis as well as tilts. Such capability helps ensure that the laser blade is always in the ideal position for measuring the radius regardless of its size.

In addition to full electrical/control rolling machine retrofits, shops will often opt for just hydraulic upgrades. For those, Davi replaces all hydraulic components, including swapping out old pumps with newer more energy efficient ones.

Occasionally, both electrical and hydraulic components/systems will require replacement, such as new fittings, hoses, hard lines, check valves, solenoid operated valves, tanks and pumps. These upgrades bring an old machine up to new machine standards and boost its efficiency, especially in the case of today's pumps that move fluid faster with smaller horsepower motors that consume less energy.

There are many older plate rolling machines in the field, and OEMs like Davi do about 10 to 15 retrofits/rebuilds per year on average. For those services, a company technician performs the upgrades at a shop's facility in about a week's time, then conducts testing and gets the machine back into production.

When it comes to plate rolling machine repair, the most common involves transducers and joysticks because consoles take a lot of abuse having the most human interaction. Like other components, replacement joysticks are hard to come by because of spare part obsolescence, but replacing them with a brand new one is relatively easy.

Davi Inc. currently has 12 service engineers in the field, and the company cannot stress more the importance of routine maintenance so that machines provide the longest working life possible before rebuilding and retrofitting becomes a consideration. Plus, there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to rebuilding and/or retrofitting a machine that has not been properly maintained. In these instances, acquiring a new machine is often the most cost-effective and productive choice.

For more information contact:

Davi Inc.

888-282-3284

davi-inc.@davi.com