TOX Pressotechnik is specialized in special solutions for the sectors of sheet metal joining, drives and presses. Besides the automotive industry as the largest customer segment, household appliance manufacturers and their suppliers form the next largest customer group for TOX Pressotechnik products. Christian Forster, Master Mechanical Fabricator at TOX Pressotechnik, explains: “We are a custom machine manufacturer and we machine all types of steel. The depth of production is very high.”
Among the important core competence parts manufactured in-house are the brackets for the machine frames. These brackets are the holder for a press drive, which can be operated either as pneumohydraulic as TOX-Kraftpaket or as electromechanical as TOX-ElectricDrive. The hydraulic-pneumatic cylinder TOX-Kraftpaket is screwed to the bracket. Later, the finished machine finds its application e.g. in pressing or in the so-called TOX-Round-Point-Process, a clinching process developed by TOX Pressotechnik, which is also known as clinching. In this process, sheets are joined together without the use of a filler material, which enables extremely reliable and at the same time cost-effective production.
The machine frame bracket is manufactured at TOX Pressotechnik on a DMC 100 U Duoblock. The machining of a single bracket on the milling machine takes about six to eight hours. Approximately 20 such blanks are produced at TOX Pressotechnik per week, which results in a total quantity of about 1000 pieces per year.
The shape of the individual brackets varies greatly. “We produce a maximum of ten to twenty identical brackets per year”, says Christian Forster. "Many of our products are custom-made."
While the drill holes used to be produced on the brackets for the C-frames with a milling angle head without three-point support, TOX Pressotechnik is using an angle head from BENZ Tooling with a three-point support as well as the BENZ Solidfix® modular quick-change system.
The solution of a BENZ milling angle head with BENZ Solidfix® saves 1.5 hours of machining time per bracket. The freed up production capacity has allowed TOX to increase the production volume of brackets by 3-5 per week, depending on the type.
Benz angle heads are suitable for all hard-to-reach places -typically for components with a C-shape that need to be machined internally. In combination with BENZ Solidfix® there are enormous advantages for the user, not only in series production.
Even during long machining phases in single-part production, the tool can be exchanged and replaced on the angle head still in the machine. The tool change takes place purely by exchanging the Solidfix adapter including the preset tool.
This allows the customer to save on the purchase of several different angle heads. "In total, we have 20 modular holders with a wide range of tools distributed over two angle heads in use on the DMC 100 U Duoblock", explains Christian Forster.
The Benz Solidfix® modular quick-change system can be clamped without special tools and operated with one hand. By simply turning the clamping screw by 180 degrees, the tool adapter respectively a tool is fixed. This means that tools can be changed in less than 20 seconds.
When the clamping is released, the tool is secured with the tool adapter thanks to a bayonet lock and can only be removed from the spindle holder by an additional rotary movement. Especially with vertically arranged spindles, this prevents the tool from falling out in an uncontrolled manner during tool changes.
Christian Forster is also interested in the precise tool changes: “The high precision of the angle heads is very important. The bore in the bracket, into which the TOX power pack later is to be inserted, is a fitting bore. The power pack must be in alignment with the opposite fitting bores, onto which a plate or a mounting is later screwed. This must fit exactly. For this, we measure the angle head once and then we achieve a very high fitting accuracy.”
TOX Pressotechnik became aware of the modular quick-change system from BENZ through the business cooperation that has existed for more than ten years.
"Our former production process was not optimal. Therefore, we were looking for a way to reduce the parts machining time in particular. Benz's technical sales staff provided us with optimal support in this regard. And the economic advantages that we have been able to realize in the meantime confirm the correctness of our decision day after day", Christian Forster is pleased to report.
Sometimes even exchange units from BENZ are shipped abroad with machines from TOX. Stefanie Reich, who is responsible for knowledge management at TOX Pressotechnik, explains: “We often run in machines at our plant in Weingarten. After a certain period of excellent operation, they are sent to our production sites in India or China, where they are generally overhauled and continue to run. In this way, the products from BENZ then also come to Asia with the machines.”
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BENZ Tooling is one of the world's leading manufacturers and suppliers of components and systems for tool and machine tooling technology. The company employs about 300 people and is represented in over 30 countries worldwide. BENZ is part of the measuring and process systems division of Schenck and belongs to the Dürr Group.
