Method for producing metal extrusion press products, and extrusion and tube press

Abstract

The invention relates to extrusion and pipe presses (1), comprising a press frame consisting of a cylindrical spar (2) and a counter spar (4) connected thereto, in which a mobile billet container holder (7) supporting a billet container (8), which puts a billet (18) to be pressed, which was introduced by a loading device, into a press position in front of the counter spar (4) with the associated tool (38), and a mobile punch crosshead (6) are provided. In the cylindrical spar (2), a main cylinder, or press cylinder, is arranged, which in the cylinder housing (9) thereof receives a press piston (11), which at the front end thereof that is supported by the punch crosshead (6) is connected to a press punch (19). A compensation tank (15), which delivers hydraulic oil to the press piston (11) by way of a slider plate (28), is assigned to a main cylinder housing (9) connected to a tank line. With an extrusion press such as this, the considerable hydraulic expenditure, and in particular the non-productive time, are to be substantially reduced, while making the structural design more compact and simple at the same time. To accomplish this, the advancing and feed motions of the billet container holder (7) and punch crosshead (6) with press piston (11) are carried out by electromotive force, and both the precompression of the billet (18) loaded into the billet container (8) and the subsequent compression of the billet (18) are done by hydraulic loading of the press piston (11). Electric motors (12, 13) are assigned to the punch crosshead (6) and the billet container holder (7) as adjustment drives. A large-scale filling valve (20) is integrated in the cylinder housing (9) of the main cylinder for loading the press piston (11).

Claims

1. An extrusion press comprising: a press frame having a main housing and a counter housing fixedly spaced therefrom, the counter housing being adapted to carry an extrusion die; guides extending longitudinally between the main housing and the counter housing; a billet support longitudinally shiftable between the main housing and the counter housing; a billet holder on the billet support adapted to hold a billet; a crosshead riding on the guides and displaceable between a starting end position juxtaposed with the main housing and a final end position spaced toward the counter housing from the starting end position, and through an intermediate position therebetween; a piston-and-cylinder unit carried on the crosshead and longitudinally hydraulically extensible between an extended condition and a shortened condition; a punch carried on the piston-and-cylinder unit, a longitudinal spacing between the crosshead and the extrusion die being such that, in the starting position of the crosshead and shortened condition of the piston-and-cylinder unit, the billet can be loaded between the punch and the extrusion die, and in the intermediate position of the crosshead and shortened condition of the piston-and cylinder unit, the loaded billet is longitudinally clamped between the punch and the extrusion die, and movement of the piston-and-cylinder unit from the shortened condition to the elongated condition in the intermediate position of the crosshead pushes the billet through the extrusion die with the punch; electric motors for longitudinally shifting the crosshead from the starting position to the intermediate position for shifting the billet into engagement with the extrusion die; and means for hydraulically pressurizing the piston-and-cylinder unit in the intermediate position for pushing the billet through the extrusion die.

2. The extrusion press defined in claim 1, further comprising: a compensation tank having a rear wall, holding hydraulic fluid, and connected to a main cylinder of the piston-cylinder unit; and a stem that extends in the compensation tank to a drive cylinder mounted on the rear wall of the compensation tank, hydraulically loaded for the purpose of precompressing the billet, and having a filling valve disposed in the transition from the compensation tank to the main cylinder and adjusted to the internal diameter of the main cylinder such that, when the filling valve is open, the filling valve increases an annular flow cross-section to the compensation tank.

3. The extrusion press defined in claim 2, further comprising a stem that connects a press piston to the drive cylinder that has an outer tube that supports on an opposite free end a slide plate and also a drive rod that is connected in the rear on the drive cylinder, and that engages into the outer tube, the engaged end of the drive rod being provided with a clamp that must be temporarily pressed against the outer tube.

4. The extrusion press defined in claim 3, wherein the clamp includes a central cone that presses complementary wedges against the interior wall of the outer tube when the drive cylinder is pressurized.

5. The extrusion press defined in claim 2, wherein the filling valve has a fill-valve body mounted on the outer tube via a collar-like slide bushing, a ring cylinder that encloses the slide bushing in the press direction behind the valve body, and a ring piston that brings the slide bushing, and thereby the valve body, depending on the piston side to which the hydraulic fluid load is applied, into a closed position or into an open position.

6. The extrusion press defined in claim 1, wherein the electric motors are each provided on a respective longitudinal side of the billet support and engaged with a respective rack of the punch crosshead.

7. The extrusion press defined in claim 1, wherein the electric motors are servo motors.

8. The extrusion press defined in claim 3, wherein the drive cylinder is configured such that, when the clamp is activated, it generates the force for compressing the billet with the drive rod.

9. The extrusion press defined in claim 1, wherein the billet support has on each longitudinal side at least one support rod that passes longitudinally through the piston-and cylinder unit in a freely mobile fashion and, over a partial length between the piston-and-cylinder unit and the billet support, the support rods are enclosed by a combined ring cylinder housing and clamp.

Description

(1) Further details and characteristics of the present invention can be derived from the claims and the subsequent embodiments as shown in the context of the drawings. Shown are as follows:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a detail of an extrusion/tube and/or metal extrusion press, including a press frame with a punch crosshead and billet support therein;

(3) FIG. 2 is a partly sectional top view of the rear part of the press from FIG. 1 showing the cylinder of the main and/or press cylinder/s and the punch crosshead with electric motors and gear racks;

(4) FIG. 3 is a top view like FIG. 2 shown during compression of the billet with the clamp engaged;

(5) FIG. 4 is a view like FIG. 2 with the filling valve closed for press action;

(6) FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a detail from FIGS. 2 to 4 of the filling valve integrated in the cylinder and operable by a ring cylinder;

(7) FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a detail from FIGS. 2 to 4 of an embodiment of a clamp in the disengaged position;

(8) FIG. 7 is a view of the clamp from FIG. 6 in the engaged position;

(9) FIGS. 8a and 8b are a schematic side view (FIG. 8a) and a top view (FIG. 8b) of the press from FIG. 1 in the billet-loading position;

(10) FIGS. 9a and 9b are a schematic side view (FIG. 9a) and a top view (FIG. 9b) of the press in the operating position for clamping a loaded billet to be pressed;

(11) FIGS. 10a and 10b are a schematic side view (FIG. 10a) and a top view (FIG. 10b) of the press in the operating position with the billet support engaged around the billet to be pressed;

(12) FIGS. 11a and 11b are a schematic side view (FIG. 11a) and a top view (FIG. 11b) of the press in the operating position for precompressing or compressing the billet;

(13) FIGS. 12a and 12b are a schematic side view (FIG. 12a) and a top view (FIG. 12b) of the operating position when pressing the billet until reaching a residual extrusion butt length;

(14) FIGS. 13a and 13b are a schematic side view (FIG. 13a) and a top view (FIG. 13b) of the operating position after exposing the extrusion butt; and

(15) FIGS. 14a and 14b are a schematic side view (FIG. 14a) and a top view (FIG. 14b) of the press retracted into the billet-loading position.

(16) FIG. 1 essentially shows the basic frame of a metal extrusion/tube press 1. This structure has a cylinder housing 2 and a counter housing 4, not shown here, that is braced thereagainst and held in place by tension beams (see, for example FIG. 8a). Compression beams 5 further contribute to creating a closed force connection of these housings and surround the tension beams 3 between the cylinder housing 2 and the counter housing 4. The compression beams 5 further act as guides for a punch crosshead 6 and a billet support 7 that are movable in the basic frame. The billet support 7 includes a billet holder 8 and is moved with the punch crosshead 6 that supports a press piston 11 whose leading end is guided in the counter housing 4 [cylinder housing 2] inside a cylinder 9 in a hydrostatic bearing 10 (see FIGS. 2 to 4) by electric motors 12 and/or 13, particularly servo motors. The electric motors 12 and 13 are provided on each longitudinal side of the billet support 7 and the punch crosshead 6, respectively. Sprockets of the electric motors 12 and/or 13 mesh with racks 14 to transmit force and/or initiate movement. A compensation tank 15 is screwed to the rear end of the cylinder 9 of the cylinder housing 2, and a drive cylinder 17 is screwed to the rear end 16 of the compensation tank 15. The press piston 11 has a press punch 19 for compressing and pressing a billet 18 that has been loaded into the billet holder 8.

(17) As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a central filling valve 20 integrated in the cylinder 9 of the main and/or press cylinder has a large-surface valve body 21 and a ring cylinder 22 for actuating the filling valve. The filling valve 20, which is shown in closer detail in FIG. 5, is on an outer tube 23 mounted on the rear end of the press piston 11 with a collar-like slide bushing 24 therebetween and on which the ring cylinder 22 is carried as well. When a ring piston 25 of the ring cylinder 22, which is shown on the rear end in FIG. 5, is acted on by hydraulic fluid, the slide bushing 24 and the fill-valve body 21 are moved from their closed position indicated by solid lines to the open position indicated by a dashed line and in which the fill-valve body 21 seats in a complementary recess 26 of the press piston 11. In the open position, a large flow cross-section and/or an annular gap is formed through which the hydraulic fluid is able to flow freely from the compensation tank 15 into the pressure chamber of the cylinder 9 behind the press piston 11and vice versawithout encountering any significant resistance. To retract the fill-valve body 21 into the closed position, the ring cylinder 22 is reverse actuated in that hydraulic fluid passing via pressure lines now reaches the area in front of the ring piston 25, whereupon the slide bushing 24 and the fill-valve body 21 are retracted.

(18) The outer tube 23 that supports the ring cylinder 22 with the fill-valve body 21 is here a component of a stem 27 that extends into the compensation tank 15 and is provided at its end with a slide plate 28 that pushes the hydraulic fluid when the press piston 11 is urged in the press direction of arrow 29 by the opened filling valve cover 28as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 in the open positioninto the pressure chamber behind of the press piston 11 or, when the fill-valve body 21 is closed for the pressing step, as shown in FIG. 4, into a reservoir that is provided laterally of the press as indicated by the downward pointing arrow. The stem 27 further comprises a drive rod 31 that extends through the outer tube 23 and is connected with the drive cylinder 17 that is flange-mounted to the rear end and/or the end plate 16 of the compensation tank 15. The free end of the drive rod 31 is provided with a clamp 32 via which the drive rod 31 can press, if necessary, from the inside against the outer tube 23 to lock itself thereto for the purpose of compressing the billet, as shown in FIG. 3. The clamp 32 is engaged by the combined drive cylinder 17 in that the ring piston 33 thereof is correspondingly loaded.

(19) In a configuration of the clamp 32 as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the clamp includes a central cone 34 that is screwed to the drive rod 31, and complementary wedges 35a and 35b. When the clamp 32 is not engaged (see FIG. 6), the central cone 34 is pushed forward to the front, in the drawing on the left. When the clamp 32 is then engaged via the drive cylinder 17 (see FIG. 7), the drive cylinder 17 pulls the spline 34 as seen in the drawing to the right such that the complementary wedges 35a and 35b are pressed against the inside wall of the outer tube 23.

(20) The mode of operation of the extrusion/tube press 1 that operates by a combination of electrical and hydraulic means will be described in further detail below with reference to FIGS. 8a and 8b to FIGS. 14a and 14b. FIGS. 8a and 8b show the billet-loading position in which the billet 18 that is to be pressed has been moved by a standard billet loader into the center of the extrusion/tube press 1. As can be seen in further clear detail therein, aside from the already described parts, the extrusion/tube press 1 has support rods 36 flanking the billet support 7, preferably on each side and at the top as well as the bottom, and extending with their free ends with freedom of movement through the cylinder housing 2 (see also FIG. 1). A combined ring cylinder and clamps 37 are provided for the support rods 36 on the cylinder housing 2. When in the billet-loading position, all moving parts are in the retracted starting position remote from the counter housing 4.

(21) With regard to clamping of the billet 18 loaded between the press punch 19 and the tool and/or tool set 38 of the counter housing 4, as shown in FIGS. 9a and 9b, the billet support 7 and the punch crosshead 6 are advanced along with the press piston 11 and the press punch 19 by the respective electric motors 12 and 13 in the press direction 29, while the filling valve 20 (see. FIG. 2) is open and a first quantity of hydraulic fluid is pulled out of the compensation tank 15 and into the pressure chamber behind the press piston 11. The now clamped billet 18 is moved into the billet holder 8 by advance of the billet support 7 via the electric motors 13, as shown in FIGS. 10a and 10b and the support rods 36 are pulled along when the ring-cylinder clamp 37 is not engaged. To lock the billet holder 8 to the tool set 37, the ring-cylinder clamps 37 are now engaged, and the billet support 7 and the billet holder 8 are moved against the tool 37 [38].

(22) The subsequent compression and/or precompression action of the billet 18 is shown in FIGS. 11a and 11b. To this end, the electric motors 12 and 13 are disengaged, the drive cylinder 17 is pressurized and the clamp 32 engaged so that the drive rod 31 is locked to the outer tube 23. The drive cylinder 17 then pushes via the rigid stem 27 comprised of the drive rod 31 and the outer tube 23 against the press piston 11 such that a second quantity of hydraulic fluid pulled through the open filling valve in this compression position (see FIG. 3) into the pressure chamber behind of the press piston 11. The subsequent pressing action of the billet, save for a remaining extrusion butt 39 that is left behind, is shown in FIGS. 12a and 12b. The clamp 32 is disengaged for the pressing operation, and the valve body 21 of the integrated filling valve 20 is retracted by the ring cylinder 22 into the sealing closed position in the cylinder 9, as shown in FIG. 4. The pressing force is generated by feeding hydraulic fluid from the reservoir 30, as indicated by the upward arrow in FIG. 4, into the pressure chamber behind of the press piston 11. Since the filling valve 20 is closed and the clamp 32 is disengaged the press piston 11 will move in the press direction 29, the slide plate 28 of the outer tube 23 will pull a third quantity of hydraulic fluid out of the compensation tank 15, and this third quantity of hydraulic fluid will flow into the reservoir 30 (see FIG. 4).

(23) The ring-cylinder clamps 37 are released to expose the extrusion butt 39, such that it can be sheared off by the billet holder 8. The billet support 7 is retracted by the clamped support rods 36 through a distance equal to the length of the extrusion butt 39. This stripping end position of the extrusion butt 39 is shown in FIGS. 13a and 13b.

(24) To prepare a new loading and pressing process, the billet support 7 and the punch crosshead 6 are retracted by the electric motors 12 and 13 with the filling valve 20 open such that hydraulic fluid can flow from the chamber behind the press piston into the compensation tank 15, the clamp 32 is disengaged, and the ring cylinder and clamps 37 are disengaged as well, as shown in FIGS. 14a and 14b, whereupon the extrusion/tube press 1 is available for a new work cycle.

(25) TABLE-US-00001 List of reference numbers: 1 Extrusion/tube press/metal extrusion press 2 Cylinder housing 3 Tension beam 4 Counter housing 5 Compression beam 6 Punch crosshead 7 Billet support 8 Billet holder/recipient 9 Main cylinder/main cylinder 10 Hydrostatic support 11 Press piston 12 Electric motor/servo motor 13 Electric motor/servo motor 14 Gear rack 15 Compensation tank 16 End wall/rear wall 17 Drive cylinder 18 Billet 19 Press punch 20 Filling valve 21 Fill-valve body/valve cover 22 Ring cylinder 23 Outer tube 24 Slide bushing 25 Ring piston 26 Recess 27 Stem 28 Slide plate 29 Press direction/arrow 30 Reservoir 31 Drive rod 32 Clamp 33 Ring piston 34 Spline 35a and 35b Complementary wedge 36 Support rod 37 Combined ring cylinder/clamp 38 Tool/tool set 39 Extrusion butt 40