What is industrial tooling? Technological equipment and tooling

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The quality of a product is largely determined by the means of its manufacture. In the engineering industry, the technical characteristics of machine tools and related equipment, which are directly involved in the processing, assembly and assembly of products, are of particular importance. But also a significant role, in terms of ensuring the quality of the result, is played by technological equipment, which is a whole range of additional devices for the main production units.

General information about industrial equipment

The category of technological equipment includes both independent equipment and built-in components, the function of which is reflected in the quality of the production process. As for individual units, they can also contribute to the performance of the line indirectly, without being directly related to its capacities. Now it is worth considering what functions the technological equipment and tooling performs as part of the production complex. Its main tasks are to maintain the standard quality of manufactured products, increase production volumes, minimize andfacilitating the work of maintenance personnel, etc. These goals are achieved through more efficient performance of preparatory operations using tooling elements, expanding the technological capabilities of machines, reducing the time for processing workpieces and due to other improvements in the production process.

Types of equipment

Basic separation of technological equipment is carried out according to the purpose. In particular, there are control, assembly, machine, fastening and moving elements of equipment equipment. Control equipment serves as an auxiliary component at the stage of auditing the manufactured product for compliance with standards. Assembly fixtures increase the efficiency of assembling finished elements into a single structure, device or complex. The most common machine tool equipment, the presence of which affects the improvement of certain characteristics of the manufactured product - for example, strength, wear resistance or durability of the bearing. Additional fixtures, in turn, improve the technique of fixing the same workpieces during processing or moving within the production site. Accordingly, the moving equipment is an element of the logistics infrastructure and is responsible for the stability and clarity of the movement of products along the same conveyor line.

Automation Tooling

Before, tooling functions were mainly assigned totechnical means intended for manual handling. Then more efficient and productive mechanized counterparts appeared. At the present stage of development of technological processes, equipment is increasingly endowed with automation functions. It is important to note that the driving source of automation is the main equipment, which, according to the same principle, controls its main nodes. At the same time, the technological equipment can work both according to the combined model and in semi-automatic mode. In such cases, a partially implemented principle of mechanized control is also provided. For this, hydraulic or pneumatic drives are used. One way or another, but almost all modern enterprises are actively moving or have already switched to the use of the concept of automated control.

Technological tooling design

The process of developing a technical design solution for the manufacture of a particular type of equipment includes several stages. At the first stage, the purpose and range of functions of the element are determined, after which its characteristics are calculated from the point of view of integration into a specific production process. It should be noted here that there are also standards according to which one or another component is produced, but the variety of producing equipment often necessitates the development of devices that are unique in their qualities. At the main stage, the design of technological equipment implies the creation of a scheme for the manufacture and assembly of an element in accordance with the nature of the target processing operation. Together with thatspecialists form a set of requirements for materials that can be used in the manufacture of fixtures. In this case, the designer should be guided by the operating conditions of the tooling and the specifics of its immediate tasks.

Production of technological equipment

Usually, the technological process of manufacturing tooling elements is based on the use of special strains and molds, which allow serial production of products. Again, to work with non-standard fixtures, the form itself can be developed separately with specific parameters defined in the project. Of course, the production of technological equipment does not end with shaping. Further stages of milling, turning and heat treatment can follow, allowing to bring the workpiece to the required operational state.

In Russia, many enterprises are engaged in the manufacture of this kind of equipment. For example, the manufacturing tooling plant in Yaroslavl (YaZTO) is engaged in the production of combined, shaping and separating dies, on which it also manufactures large-sized products. The Moscow company "Elton", the Belgorod enterprise "Ritm" and many other plants, one way or another connected with metalworking, are also working in this direction.

Conclusion

Often, work on the introduction of equipment into the production facilities cost serious amounts. And the quality itselftechnological equipment with automation elements can be almost half of the cost of all equipment in the enterprise. But practice shows that the competent use of auxiliary means is fully justified. In addition, in factories with outdated equipment, the use of modern fixtures is the only way to improve the quality of products.