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Sheetmetal
Corner Notching Tool - power by Enerpac Hydraulics
 The portable (3.5kg)
notching, trimming and corner-rounding tool operates more quickly
and more neatly than hacksawing, grinding or filing, and can notch
mild steel up to 4mm.
One of the
hazards of producing sheetmetal products is the sharp corners and
potentially hazardous protrusions formed during cutting. Not only
can these be dangerous in their sharp and jagged forms, but also
they are often time consuming and laborious to remove.
In
response to the problem Melbourne metal engineering company John
A.L. Mills and Associates offers a lightweight but powerful
hydraulic tool that enhances safety by precisely and neatly
removing the unwanted edges from cabinets, doors, signs and other
sheetmetal products.
Engineer
Mr John Mills developed the portable (3.5kg) notching, trimming and
corner-rounding tool cost-efficiently incorporating hydraulics
components available off-the-shelf from high-force tool specialist
Enerpac. Mr Mills says the purpose-built tool operates more quickly
and more neatly than hacksawing, grinding or filing, and can notch
mild steel up to 4mm.
 A
major feature of the notching tool in finishing applications is its
portability, he says. “The tool can be taken to the work, rather
than the work being taken to it. The tool is not a factory fixture,
which has to be positioned in a certain place consistent with its
turn in the production line. You can fix it to a convenient bench,
either in your production plant or when you want to use it in the
field, even at building sites.”
When fixed
to a bench, the new tool can incorporate a pair of fences to locate
the work positively. The treadle operation of the unit’s hydraulic
pump further increases handling flexibility - “Because the treadle
operation leaves both hands to manipulate the work, it can be
rapidly indexed,” said Mr Mills. “Users find indexing of the
workpiece can produce the radii on all four corners most
efficiently, and cycle time is about 3 seconds.”
One model
of Mr Mills’ precision tool gets its working power from a
foot-controlled Enerpac air/hydraulic PAT1102 Turbo Pump, which
recycles its own exhaust gases to increase its operational
capabilities. Another version uses an Enerpac PA133, which is a
self-contained air operated hydraulic pump. The pumps (which can be
detached from the cropping tool to power a wide range of other
hydraulic tools) weigh, respectively, 6.4 and 5.2kg. Without the
pump and hose, the tool weighs only 3.5kg.
Mr Mills
said the basic, inexpensive, design of the tool lends itself to
variants suitable for a wide spectrum of metal processing tasks.
“Also, because the Enerpac pumps are part of a widely used and very
versatile range, they offer a lot of options that enhance the
tool’s versatility.” Enerpac products – detailed announced in their
latest E325a catalogue - have been proved throughout Australasia
and internationally for more than 50 years, with the organisation
supplying Australasia’s biggest selection of (700bar) cylinders in
hundreds of models with capacities from 5t to 1000t for compact
high-pressure power in lifting, pushing, pulling, bending and
holding applications.
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