After three months of testing, from September 2018, the “Extrusion” department of Metallurgica San Marco has equipped itself with the innovative machine for the control of extrusion dies: “Inline Dies Control System (IDCS)”, which aims to monitor the status of wear of the die sets during the billet pressing phase.
Basically, if the extrusion die deviates from the established ideal values, the control machine reports it, giving the operator the opportunity to intervene. In this way, the company obtains higher quality for the output of the semi-finished product, and more consistency on the necessary metal allowance.
The machine is able to perform both dimensional controls (typically for round and hexagonal bar) and shape controls (for special profiles). Each format has parameters and tolerances that are set through the HMI interface, that consists of dedicated pages that facilitate the declaration and configuration of all the values to be monitored during the work cycle.
The operation of the machine is based on two types of special cameras, managed by a dedicated program: the control cycle involves a first phase in which the extrusion die is cleaned, then proceeds to the dimensional control, and finally to the recognition of the type of die. All this happens in a very short time, in order to avoid any slowing of the press cycle.
The extrusion dies control machine is perfectly integrated both with the factory automation and with the ERP system, thus allowing complete data traceability and availability throughout the extrusion process.
