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Burns Harbor, IN – J&F Steel
Corporation, a multi-facility carbon steel coil distributor and
coil processor has installed a new state-of-the-art Braner/Loopco
Cassette Leveler Servo-Feed Precision Multi-Blanking Line in its
newly expanded flagship facility in Burns Harbor, IN. The new
Multi-Blanking Line has the ability to convert 60,000# bare and
critical surface coated cold rolled steel coil in gauges from
.015" through .135" into 72" wide x 12’ long pattern sheets or
precision multi-blanks as small as 5" wide x 12" long. In
addition to the new Multi-Blanking Line, the J&F facility
contains four (4) Braner/Loopco Turret Headä slitting lines
(72", 60", 52", & 24"), and three (3) Braner/Loopco "Turret
Stacker" Automatic Packaging Lines.
Hydraulic "Cassette" Leveler: The
new Multi-Blanking Line is equipped with Braner/Loopco’s
precision "Cassette" Leveler that employs advanced
electro-hydraulic motion-control technology to position 9
adjustable back-up flights and 17 work rolls to produce
panel-flat sheets and blanks. Hydraulic cylinders with
linear electronic transducers (rather than mechanical
jack-screws and sliding wedges) position the Leveler back-up
flights and work rolls to correct strip shape defects such as
coil-set, wavy-edge, and center-buckle. Computer controls are
employed to independently position the 18 back-up cylinders.
Independent control of the entry and exit ends of the back-up
flights allows the entry work rolls to be positioned and
contoured for aggressive shape correction at the entry end while
maintaining parallel exit end work rolls. This feature allows
precise shape correction without overworking the strip.
Independent positioning of the back-up flights across the work
roll face allows the work rolls to be "tilted" from side-to-side
to correct asymmetrical shape defects.
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The Leveler controls feature full automatic Leveler set-up based
upon gauge and yield strength inputs, a computer memory that
recalls previous Leveler set-up parameters (saving set-up
time when running partial coil orders), and a calibration
mode that automatically calibrates the Leveler after roll
grinding or periodic maintenance
The J&F Leveler is equipped with two (2)
interchangeable "Cassettes": a 1.250" x 6-Hi Cassette, and a
1.750" x 5-Hi Cassette. The smaller Cassette is utilized to
process a gauge range from .015" to .060", while the larger
Cassette is utilized for leveling .030" through .135" materials.
In addition to providing an extended leveling range, the
Cassette Leveler design simplifies Leveler maintenance by
allowing work roll and back-up maintenance to be accomplished
outside the Leveler frame rather than inside the frame where
many parts are inaccessible. The Leveler Cassettes are installed
and removed from the Leveler frame via an "Indexing Cassette
Injector Car". The Injector Car allows one Cassette to be
ejected and another installed in about one-minute. A Powered
"Cassette Opener" attached to the Injector Car simplifies
maintenance by opening an off-line Cassette like a "book",
exposing the work rolls and back-ups.
Precision Multi-Blank
Slitter: The J&F Multi-Blanking Line employs a
quick-change two-head "Turret Head"ä
slitter located immediately after the Cassette Leveler
(before the looping pit) to slit the leveled material into
multiple strips.
 The Turret Head slitter is an accurate,
reliable, and maintenance-free slitter that with its precision
shimless tooling consistently produces strips to ±0.002" width
tolerance. While most multi-blank slitters require that the line
be shut down during the preparation of a slitter set-up, the
Turret slitter allows J&F to prepare the next multi-blank
slitter set-up while the line is running. The ability to
prepare the next set-up while the line is running significantly
improves multi-blanking line productivity by virtually
eliminating down time related to slitter set-ups. Once the
off-line slitter set-up is completed, production down time
related to changing slitter heads is one-minute.
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