Challenge

Hydrapress were called out to fix a 2750-ton Fielding & Platt Magnesium Extrusion Press. The use of stragetic hydraulic and control upgrades resulted in increased flexibility and efficiency of the extrusion press.

To provide the hydraulic and control upgrades necessary to add a selectable low tonnage function to the press for extruding 6” magnesium billets. It must fully integrate, and function seamlessly, with the existing high tonnage, low speed extrusion facility and hardware.

Solution

• Replace the existing system safety relief valve with a Parker proportional assembly
• Addition of a new Oilgear PVV-250 variable delivery pump with electronic VM control for low speed extrusion
• Upgrade of the amplifiers controlling the three existing Oilgear DV15030W pumps
• Installation of a new cooling system for the press hydraulics
• Modification of the press hydraulics and controls to allow ‘main ram only’ extrusion
• Modification of the press hydraulics and controls to allow the main pumps to automatically switch off during low speed extrusion, then to switch back on for the dead cycle movements.

Benefits

The work completed meant that now the machine has the ability to extrude 6”, 8” and 12” magnesium billets on a 2750-ton press. There is improved surface finish and less scrap as well as better low speed extrusion and accuracy. There is improved hydraulic system cooling and efficiency and a reduction in energy consumption.

As you can see from the analysis, the machine is performing accurately, with accuracy between the set and actual ram speeds during low speed extrusion.