Factors to consider when buying a turret punch press machineA Turret Punch Press is a sophisticated machine.It, therefore, requires that if you have initial plans of investing in it for your machine shop, you weigh in some factors.From the material thickness to their handling capabilities, and sizes, etc., it's vital that you devote your time to knowing your needs and then making a wise decision for a sound investment.
It's however unfortunate that the market is awash with a lot of cheap pricing, and promotions that choosing a bad machine from a good one can be so complicated.
Should you stop investing in Punch presses now?No way!
By reading this short guide, you're going to know how to choose between Punch presses, a machine that will help you reach your investment goals.
Sizes and thicknesses of your metal sheets
Now, the material size and thickness should help you get a clue on a table size you should buy to process the metal sheets.
To identify the metal sheet sizes, you will use either the single part processing or full-sheet nesting.For this application, it's recommended that you use a four-by-four feet punch press.
For the full-sheet nesting, you will need parts to form a big nest then remove the whole sheet consisting of the punched pieces.For this application, you will need varying machine table sizes like five-by-ten feet or four-by-eight feet After you have identified an ideal table size, be sure to also check for the tonnage.
Usually, Punch presses are available in 20- to 30- ton settings.
This has however been impacted by the introduction of the laser cutting machines for thicker blades which have rendered the 30-ton punching presses somewhat irrelevant.This is mainly because most punching press configurations today only range about 20-tons.
Should you fully automate or not?
Depending on the volume of work in front of you, you'd need to choose between investing in a fully automated punch press over the ones which require manual labor.The regular automation will only work on minor operations which would include sheet loading, and offloading and removing skeletons, etc.
On the contrary, complete automation will help you get more clean sheets which would require very little attention to be channeled into the next operations. The fully automated machines are mainly important if your employee base is slimmer.
This' because it will do most configurations, and handle more demanding tasks so your employees can major on the other vital areas.To help you make a wiser decision here, weigh between metal sheets bag processed without compensations so you can increase your ROI.
Your metal sheets production, and turret capacity
It is worth noting that the complexity of the material parts would determine your turret capacity as well as the tool stations in your punch press.If you only manufacture single sheets though, you're just going to require a little number of turret stations.
Either way, if your operations involve large complex designs, you're going to require extra stations.Note that each station has specific tools designed for individual changes from computer controls.If you deal with geometrically sophisticated designs, you will have to install extra turret stations.
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