GKN Custom 16 axis Swing Arm Press Retrofit

Microtrol Engineering was awarded a 16 axis swing arm stretch press from GKN in Irvine. This custom press originally had a Demott Replay 7 control system with a CPM computer system. The control system was manufactured in the mid 80s and materials and part were almost impossible to find.

Microtrol removed the original system and installed a new ME1250F Fanuc based press control system with 16 axis control and feedback systems. GKN has substantial exiting part programs for the old control system and Microtrol installed a program conversion system in to the main control software so that the older programs could still be used.

The original elongation scale system was also integrated into the new control to allow the operator to see all of the forming information on the main screen instead of multiple control boxes. The new yield chart system allowed the operator to adjust the stretch form dynamically while forming to maintain the yield on difficult parts.

An issue with the old machine was when a load strap weld failed on a part, the operator would have to manually approximate the last forming position and try to restart the program. The ME1250F system remembers the last successful form step and using that info, the control and re-position itself to the last position to restart the program.