Metal Spinning Technology
LEIFELD – Spinforming Technology
Spinforming
belongs to the oldest shape changing techniques in history.
Already in ancient times parts such as pots and containers were
produced by this method for daily use.
Nowadays,
spinforming technology has developed into an important branch of
trade in the metal forming industry.
The Company
Leifeld was
founded in 1891 in Ahlen, Germany. To begin with, containers for
the farming industry and tooling for the pot industry were
manufactured.
Spinforming
machines have been built for more than 80 years. The development
lead from hand spinning lathes, hydraulic spinning machines,
template controlled machines to today's modern PNC/CNC
controlled heavy-duty spinforming machines.
Besides
custom machines, our current machine program consists of many
standard sized models. From small to large sizes, for every
requirement there is a suitable spinning machine available.
The "Playback" operation mode
of our PNC/CNC control does not require special CNC-knowledge.
This control
is
exclusively built for the Leifeld heavy-duty spinning machines.
The prerequisite for the manufacture of high precision products
is given through our patented software-template. This electronic
template gets made by the operator - before the actual
programming starts
- by sliding the spinning roller over the contour of the mandrel
while the spindle is standing still. Hereby
a special very low spinning roller pressure setting is used, so
that the tool (mandrel) can not be damaged.
After this first contour
is
read in,
the distance between spinning roller and mandrel is set
automatically to 1 mm. This distance can be changed, as needed,
depending on the wall thickness of the part to be produced.
Important is, that even
if the
material to be formed breaks,
the spinning roller will not damage the mandrel.
The first sample part is now "manually" spinformed by the
operator via joystick and potentiometer. Since human beings show
a time delay between optical perception and manual reaction, the
first sample part can be spinformed at relative small feed rate
speeds.
Numerous machine movements, including all necessary additional
functions, such as profiling and cutting, are stored by the
control. If this first sample meets all requirements, the stored
program speed of this part can be increased to the maximum
allowable speed the material is able to handle. Program
optimization can be done either online directly on the machine
or by use of our
offline software.
The
production program is finally stored in the control or onto a
floppy disk, and can be reused at any time in the future.
Besides the above mentioned Playback programming method, the
machines can also be fully programmed
offline and online in CNC mode. Gap and pressure control are
both standard on all our spinning machines.
Our team
consists of
high qualified experts. Our sales, engineering, mechanical
manufacture, machine assembly and service departments work
closely together, in order to accomplish customer demands on
short notice.
Decades of
experience and abundant youthful ideas built a combination,
which guaranteed the worldwide known LEIFELD-QUALITY far
into the future.
In the year 2007 over 5,000 Leifeld machines have been used in more
than 120 countries worldwide. More than 400 patent applications
in the most important countries of distribution have been
registered, demonstrating the sustained high innovative
capability of Leifeld.
Please convince yourself!
