No Budget for New Capital Equipment? Consider A Control Retrofit or Rebuild - Fenn Torin

For over 120 years, FENN has been the premier global supplier of state-of-the-art metal forming machinery including Spring Coilers, Rolling Mills, Swagers, and Wire Shaping Equipment. While FENN’s latest innovations appeal to many, not all businesses can consider new capital equipment purchases. Whether it’s an older mechanical machine or a dated CNC, FENN offers a variety of options to modernize any machine. Retrofitted or rebuilt equipment from FENN can offer additional features, improved accuracy, production, and safety at a fraction of the price of new machinery.

FENN’s Process

FENN begins every Rebuild, Retrofit, and Upgrade with a comprehensive and thorough electrical and mechanical evaluation. Our experts then create a plan with recommendations based off the current state of machine, age and intended application. Upon customer agreement, FENN will begin the rebuild process and outfit the machine with reliable OEM features. Once the machine is upgraded or rebuilt, the mechanics and electrics are reevaluated and tested to ensure precise functionality. The outcome is a machine with improved efficiency and quality, greater output and increased safety.

Swager Rebuild

For decades, FENN has been producing high quality swaging equipment for a variety of industries. The swaging process involves metal forming without cutting chips, and the practice is used for reducing wire, tube or rod. FENN frequently provides upgrade and rebuild services for aged Swagers to prolong their usable life and provide a greater return on investment.

Machine users find that upgraded equipment helps to ensure reliable tolerances and part consistency that allows manufacturers to avoid material rework and lost production time. New and existing FENN Swager owners alike are encouraged to consider adding feeder systems, sound enclosures, and automation for safety and maximized productivity. Feeders improve workplace safety by isolating the operator from the material. The efficiency created with the use of a feeding system enables for a routine production schedule and saves time by reducing the need for material re-work. FENN offers a wide variety of swager feeding options, including manual feeds, door-mounted and hydraulic table feeds, as well as custom solutions. Sound enclosures reduce the noise of a swaging operation to below OSHA’s permissible exposure limit for hearing protection. Access ports can be included in a sound enclosure for optional features such as exhaust fans, wiring in & out, through swaging, and feeder tables.

FENN’s experienced team of engineers can design and fully integrate automated solutions into swaging processes to maximize efficiencies and ultimately reduce swager operating costs. Lastly, FENN’s in-house die design experts can create customized dies and hammers to suit the unique requirements of each customer to ensure they get the most of out their machine.

Torin Spring Coiler Upgrade

A customer recently approached FENN with the hopes of increasing efficiency and output of their 20 year old CNC Torin spring coiler, while eliminating the need for hydraulics. After 20 years of use, there were several concerns to be addressed: Older worn parts on the coiler were causing mechanical issues in the aging machine that resulted in poor quality springs. The age of the machine also meant there were obsolete electrical components that made it difficult to support. And finally, the older technology meant the machine was producing springs far slower than Torin’s current technology is capable. To address these issues, FENN first completed a full electrical and mechanical inspection of the machine to understand the scope of work, and determine a customized upgrade plan for this particular machine.

The end result? The customer received a fully supportable spring coiler, both electrically and mechanically.

• FENN replaced the hydraulics on the original CNC coiler with a servo-motor driven cut.
• The dated control system was replaced with a new 19-inch touch screen display that included the latest Torin software, which combines new high-tech features with classic CNC style programming, making training easy for current Torin operators.
• Compression springs are being produced at least 4x faster than the coiler was capable of before the upgrade.
• The customer gained access to new features of the FZ Series, as part of the upgrade process, including remote access for equipment and software support.
• The customer received the 2-year warranty that comes standard on all new components, providing peace of mind to the customer.

Rolling Mill Rebuild

A company came to FENN looking for a solution to test a variety of metallurgical samples and properties. The company purchased a used FENN Rolling Mill and decided to upgrade it with various features for their specific testing needs. The customer required a rolling mill with both hot and cold rolling capabilities, within a range of sizes, and in various alloys.

FENN made upgrades to the existing 051-Model 2HI Rolling Mill that gave it the capacity to roll various ferrous, non-ferrous and exotic metals based on research needs. The finished product included a variety of features, such as:

• Rolls capable of heating up to 200 degrees Celsius for hot rolling requirements.
• Load cells were incorporated into both the front and rear housings-monitoring the separating force at both sides of the mill.
• Motorized screw down (dual motor) with absolute encoders for position control was added.
• A sliding carriage roll removal rig is built in to the mill for ease of removal and changing from inside the housings.
• Other features that were added include driveshaft supports, adjustable table height, updated guarding, updated drive and controls, and a data acquisition system.

Applications and production requirements do change for businesses over time, and machines may sometimes no longer prove useful in their original configuration. In addition to Swagers, Spring Coilers and Rolling Mills; upgrades/rebuilds are available on all other FENN & MACBEE product lines. FENN invites those interested in upgrade or rebuild services to contact us at sales@fenn-torin.com or visit our website at www.fenn-torin.com for more information.