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Custom Levelers

High speed manufacturing, such as stamping, burning, and shearing, depends on flat material in order to increase production and prevent damage to machinery. Consequently, many manufacturers have very strict quality requirements that they pass on to their vendors.

Flattening material is all about the difference between “elastic” and “plastic” deformation. Material in elastic deformation will spring back to its original shape, whereas plastic deformation means the material is permanently bent. A leveling machine’s goal is therefore to plastically bend material and bring it back to a perfectly flat shape.

A custom levelers ability to straighten material is based on the machine’s roll configuration. Specifically, the leveler’s work roll bends material over its radius, which therefore allows the machine to flatten material – as shown in the image below:

leveling_principle

The leveler’s roll diameter, roll centers and depth of roll penetration chiefly determine the capacity of the machine. Depending on the material thickness, width and yield strength to be processed, there are several standard types of levelers that can help. Element can supply any of the following types of levelers to meet your requirements:

stainless_plate_leveler

Call us today with your leveling needs and we can help find a solution that fits your needs, and your budget. With over 40 years of experience in flattening of metal products, we’re happy to help.

Visit our Leveler page to learn more about machines we offer for flattening of metal products. Let’s build something!

September 27, 2018/0 Comments/by ben

Custom Rolling Mills

Finding custom rolling mills that meets your requirements can be a frustrating task. Although many used rolling mills are available around the world, trying to find a mill with the correct separating force and torque capacity can be hard. Usually you will find a used mill significantly oversized for your needs, or a used mill that is way too small for your application. That’s where Element can help!

Element specializes in many different types and styles of rolling mills, such as:

We have built rolling mills to process material all the way down to 0.0005″:

foil-mill

And rolling mills with up to 3,000 ton separating force:

4-high-rolling-mill

Let us know your rolling requirements and we can supply a solution that meets your needs and budget. Custom rolling mills by Element make finding the right machine easy, so call us today.

To learn more about Element’s rolling products, visit our Rolling Mill page. Let’s build something!

September 10, 2018/0 Comments/by ben

Robotics

Robot Implementation Challenges

Installing robots and robotic assembly processes in your facility can be a difficult and also overwhelming project. Here is an informative article outlining typical considerations that you should review before making the jump to incorporate robotic automation:

Control Engineering – Robot Implementation Challenges

Once you have considered these internal challenges, Element can help. Element can provide turnkey integration of the system to meet your quality requirements, and most importantly your budget. There are a broad range of robot manufacturers and controls available, so let’s find the system that works best for you. Robotic arms have a broad range of application, and have been used in industries such as:

Precision Assembly
Laser Burning
Welding
Painting
Packaging
Material Handling
Many other industries!

robotic-assembly-line

Element will also provide engineering and build services to supply the tooling and fixturing needed to make the most of your system. Call us today and let’s begin the conversation to automate your process.

foundry-robot

To learn more about how Element can help with your robotic application, feel free to visit our Robotics page. Let’s build something!

August 31, 2018/0 Comments/by ben

Edging, Metals Processing

Rotary Marking

Branding and quality control are the key to setting your product apart from the rest. Our rotary marking units physically mark formed profiles with desired product or date codes to achieve just that goal. Furthermore, these units are low-profile and easy to install in your roll forming, or tube mill line. Here are some highlights from our standard design:

Robust mechanical frame and bearing design
High quality heat treated and ground tooling
Easy to maintain alpha-numeric characters
Easy to maintain logo-etched characters

Other marking systems, such as ink jet or laser etching, struggle to perform consistently because of coolant or oil in the line. Our rotary stamping units can overcome all of these obstacles, therefore consistently delivering desired marks. Depending on your requirements and budget, our stamping units can be supplied with a broad range of options. Some of our rotary stamper options include:

Driven roll or idler roll styles, to help feed downstream processes if needed
Marking frequency control
Automatic or manually adjustable positioning of the tooling rolls
Automatic or manually adjustable passline height to position tooling at desired position
Spare setup blocks and full complement of character tooling for spares

Here is a simple reference date-code view of what rotary stamping can achieve:

rotary-stamper-marking

The ability to impart stamped marks on formed profiles allow for instant product recognition at any point in the future. Regardless of the environment that the formed product is used in, our marks will stand the test of time. The low profile design also allows for simple retrofit and installation in an existing line. Call Element Machinery today and we can help you set your formed product apart from the rest.

For more information about edge solutions, please visit our edging products page. Let’s build something!

Steel Edger for Tube & Pipe Mills

Edging steel strip for a tube or pipe mill can be critical for your quality and safety needs. Edging is a process that uses an edger (or edge conditioner) to chamfer (or fillet) sharp edges of material before going into a forming line. Upstream slitting and shearing operations form these sharp edges, and they can cause many different quality issues in your process. By edging the material, you may encounter some of the following benefits:

Produce higher quality welds in tube or pipe due to removal of burred corners, and
Allow for safer handling of roll form line due, due to removal of sharp edges

Steel strip come in a variety of different edges that can be difficult to identify, so here are a few standard industrial shapes for reference:

edger-profiles

Our edger unit shown above is an awesome example of one of our latest designs for continuous edging. The low profile design allows for incrementally forming a shape on incoming strip to make welding and forming more consistent.

Element Machinery’s edger units can be supplied in both driven or idle configurations, and can be easily installed in an existing line. Call us today and we can help you focus on building a better and safer manufacturing process.

For more information about edge solutions, please visit our edging products page. Let’s build something!

Section 179 Small Business Expensing

Making the decision to purchase machinery and control upgrades to improve your manufacturing process can be tough to justify. Fortunately, the process just became easier due to the permanent passing of Section 179 deductions, highlighted in the article below:

NFIB – Small Business Expensing Made Permanent!

The deduction allows for a permanent small business expensing limit of up to $500,000 per year. Material goods that generally qualify for the Section 179 deduction include the following:

Equipment (machines, etc.) purchased for business use – basically any machine purchased from Element
Tangible personal property used in business
Business vehicles with a gross vehicle weight in excess of 6,000 lbs (see deduction details)
Computers
Computer “Off-the-Shelf” Software
Office Furniture
Office Equipment
Property attached to your building that is not a structural component of the building
Partial business use (equipment purchased for business use and personal use – see deduction details)
Certain improvements to existing non-residential buildings (see deduction details)

The above listing, and similarly much more information about the Section 179 deduction, can be found at Section179.org.

Feel free to review our products page and also our services page for a complete listing of things we can help your business with. Element Machinery is an American owned and operated company and has met the equipment needs of our country, and the world, for over 60 years.

made-in-america

Call us today and let’s build something!

December 30, 2015/0 Comments/by ben

Retrofits, Services

Control Retrofit Increases Production

This article gives some great insight into the benefits of a control retrofit on your machine or line:

Control Engineering – Control Retrofit Boosts Production

Trying to rely on machines with obsolete control components can be very hard for maintenance and operations people. It can be hard enough to upkeep a machine mechanically through PM practices, or control the process through operator training, but when an obsolete control item fails everything grinds to a stop. Scrambling to find parts on eBay or second-hand shops might fix the problem, but no guarantees can be given.

By deciding to update the controls on your machine, you can change the design and make the machine comfortable for your maintenance people to service. You can also pick new components that are more standard in your facility. Most importantly, you can have comfort knowing that the parts are readily available when spares are needed. Element has a long history of successful retrofits designed to meet your needs, your standards, and most importantly your budget. Visit our control retrofit page to learn more about our capabilities and experience.

Call us today and let’s identify a control retrofit that will make your life easier. Let’s build something!

modern-controls

October 16, 2015/0 Comments/by ben

Automation

Custom Automation Grows Your Business

This article is good advice for those looking to expand their business with custom automation:

Control Engineering – Deciding to Automate

Making the decision to automate your manufacturing process can be overwhelming. Due to constantly changing and evolving controls and solutions, it can be difficult to know which direction to go. Element Machinery has a long history of designing custom automation processes to fit your needs and, most importantly, your budget. Our experience spans metals, packaging, paper, and even pharmaceutical industries, so we’re not afraid to tackle your requirements. Below are some sample processes which we have automated for customers:

Reduce material in thickness to precise tolerance
Flattening plate and sheet to a desired straightness
Counting and stacking at high speed sheeter on web press
Cutting material to an exact length or weight
Using robots for repetitive manual tasks

Custom automation is a tough product to market because it can adapt to any process or industry, so feel free to visit our high speed automation page for more information. Once you’ve had a chance to review our products, contact us so we can help make your life easier.

factory-automation-robotics

Call today and let’s finally build something!

September 22, 2015/0 Comments/by ben

Leveling, Metals Processing

Steel Leveling Principles

Here is an excellent article on steel leveling:

The Fabricator – Roller Leveling 101

Element Machinery has a number of tools to help operators level material fast. Element can supply any of the following machines to level your material:

Powered and Unpowered Straighteners
Roller Levelers
Plate Levelers
Sheet Levelers, and
Tension Levelers

Even more, many of our levelers include automated roll setting to make both the operator’s job easier. As a result of this feature, your product’s level quality will be more consistent as well. Visit our leveler products page to learn more about the machines we build. Here is a picture of one of the largest plate levelers in the world that we built a few years ago – and we have several in production around the globe:

heavy-plate-leveler-2

Call Element today for help in finding the right leveler for your project. Let’s build something!

August 6, 2015/0 Comments/by ben

Cut-to-Length, Metals Processing

Cut-to-Length Line Designs & Options

A great article highlighting cut-to-length line designs and technologies:

The Fabricator – Cutting Edge of Cut-to-Length Lines

Cut-to-length lines can come in many different styles, shapes and sizes. Element Machinery offers a wide range of cut to length lines that can meet your needs, and most importantly your budget. Feel free to visit our cut-to-length line products page to learn more about systems we can supply. Here are some various styles of CTL lines we’ve supplied in the past:

Standard cut-to-length with stacker section
Flying shear systems for surface-critical materials running up to 200 FPM
Rotary cut off systems for high production
Combination slitting and cut-to-length, and
Traverse slitter-shears for low-profile cutoffs

In addition, there are many standard options that can be integrated in the line to meet your needs, such as:

Weight/count monitoring of stacked sheet
Thickness measurement
Scrap cutting and handling
Many other options

The art of cutting metal to length has been around a long time, and so has our machinery. Here is an archive piece of sales literature highlighting a combination slitting/cut to length line our original company supplied way back in 1975. Innovation and combining processes to meet a budget is what we do!

slit-cut-to-length-1975

Call Element today so we can help design a line that meets your needs and your budget. Let’s build something!

July 15, 2015/0 Comments/by ben