Flow Forming... anyone doing it?

[Josh T™]

Hey Guys!

We are getting a WF Machinenbau Verticle Flow Form Machine and I'd like to get some info about it. There is little info on their website and no word from customer service as of yet.

 

Linky

 

We are getting this for low volume runs. This is the smartest move my company has made since I've been here! I've been appointed the "Programmer" role for this so I'm trying to dig up as much as I can.

 

People have been forming wheels, pulleys, splines, etc. on these machines since the early 80s so there has to be a modern way to program it... I just haven't found it! There's got to be an offline CAM system for these things somewhere! Any help/direction would be greatly appreciated!

 

BTW: for those of you who don't have a clue what I'm talking about...

 

 

Enjoy!

[taperlength]

Take a look at this site:

 

http://www.mjcengineering.com/spincad/documents/DEMOCD.pdf

[chris m]

That is some pretty cool technology; one of my former employers did some sheetmetal spinning, but I have never seen that process employed on thicker materials like that cast aluminum wheel video...pretty slick!

 

As far as your actual question goes...no help

[Josh T™]

Thanks Taper! I'll chase that rabbit today! Looks interesting. I could probably fudge something out in MC Lathe but the "Blend" feature in the SpinCAD demo would be hard to duplicate and every flow form program I've seen running uses that type of path as a staple.

 

Thanks again!