DESCRIPTION

The object of the present finding is some innovations applicable to a compact modular profiling machine. Such innovations consist of a profiling roller integrated in the shaft and a cutting die integrated with the straightening group. Profiling is one of the cold deformation processes of sheet metal that consists of passing sheets of sheet metal through suitably shaped rollers with the purpose of making the sheet metal itself take up the desired shape or section. In the current state of the art there are various examples of such profiling machines. For example, international patent No.

WO0243886 has as its object a roller-profiling machine

° composed in line of a device for unwinding the lamina from a reel, a forming station of the piece and a cutting station downstream of the line. The profiling and cutting station of the piece is arranged at the centre of the line and it consists of cutting members arranged longitudinally on two parallel mobile rows. Said cutting members can be adjusted simultaneously so as to vary their angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the profiling station, in order to make the foreseen shape of the profile. As can be seen from the state of the art, in such profiling machines and largely in conventional ones, it is necessary to perform an adjustment operation to compensate for the variation in thickness of the sheet metal, since very often they must machine sheet metal of variable thicknesses.

There is same requirement of adjustment, in addition to in the profiling operation, downstream of the line where the cutting station with the relative dies is located. The problem to be solved in these situations is to cut down the machine down times, i.e. the time necessary for the adjustment operations of the machine and for its adaptation to new machining parameters.

The purpose of the present finding, therefore, is to substantially cut down the machining times through the use of suitable provisions fitted to a compact modular roller-profiling machine. Such provisions essentially concern the presence of a profiling roller integrated in the shaft and, as such, without a roller- carrying shaft, as well as a cutting die downstream of the profiling machine with integrated straightening group. These and other innovative characteristics shall become clear from the following detailed description which shall refer to the following attached tables 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 where:

• fig. 1 is a plan view of the profiling machine as a whole;

• fig. 2 is a front view of the machine; • fig. 3 shows a view of the transmission for passing from one series of rollers to the other;

• fig. 4 shows a detail of the straightening group;

• fig. 5 shows a detail of the cutting station

• fig. 6 shows a series of profiles for rollers. As can be seen from fig. 1 the profiling machine 1 essentially consists of a loading station 2, a plurality of profiling groups 3 independent from one another, a series of rollers 4, a final cutting station 5 in turn integrated with the straightening group 6. Said profiling machine is a machine with fixed distance between centres (non-adjustable), the use of which is particularly, but not for limiting purposes, aimed at the craft of steel frame-fitters, who usually work with variable sheet metal thicknesses from a minimum of 0.6 mm to a maximum of 1.2 mm with quite low production volumes. In this context, it is of fundamental importance to reduce to the minimum the machine down time, due for example to work needed to adapt the machine to different working parameters. In the case under examination such a requirement could come from the need to adjust the machine for a new profile to be produced. Conventional machines, indeed, have a certain number of series mounted on each shaft with the need to adjust or regulate the profiling whenever it is wished to change the profile to be produced. The finding in object, on the other hand, overcomes such a drawback, since it is provided with a series of profiling groups (and therefore of rollers) that are independent from one another, coupled with a transmission 7 that allows passage from one profile to the other and thus from one series of rollers to the other, without performing the adjustments necessary in conventional machines. In this way, in the profile changing operations, it is possible to leave the sheet metal inside the profiling group without having to carry out the disassembly and reassembly of the supply coils. It should be emphasised that the absence of adjustment is a particularly greatly needed requirement by steel frame-fitters, for whom said compact profiling machine is particularly intended. As already stated, steel frame-fitters operating with quite small individual production volumes, but with a substantially heterogeneous overall production of profiles, find that they have to continually make adjustments - on average taking between twenty and sixty minutes - to the conventional machinery, which substantially lengthens the time between the moment of receiving the orders their execution. The optimisation of the profile of the rollers 8, as can be seen from fig. 6, has been obtained with design and simulation of the results on a computer, with an experimental test of the results, a re-examination by computer of the modifications made at the experimental stage and, finally, the conclusive definition of the actual profile of the rollers. In the compact profiling machine object of such an invention, each series of rollers — it is possible to mount up to six different ones - can be considered like an independent machine (that is just what it is for the transmission of motion), which keeps the bulk smaller than a conventional machine. Downstream of the profiling station 3 said profiling machine foresees the use of a cutting die 5 integrated with the straightening group 6, also characterised in that it does not need any kind of adjustment or regulation upon the change of production. Similarly to the advantages discussed earlier for the profiling station, also in this case the solution, apparently of little significance, of combining the straightening and cutting operations in single "unicum" offers substantial advantages. Straightening, indeed, foresees passing the sheet metal in the appropriate section 6 (fig. 4) through a series of rollers with parallel axes arranged so that the sheet metal itself, to pass between them, follows a clearly determined path. For this reason, such an operation is comparable to triple calendering, where there are multiple critical parameters: the diameter of the rollers, their number, the distance between centres between the rollers, the relative position between the last pair of profiling rollers, the straightener (comparable to a calender), the cutting die. Precisely thanks to the fact that the straightening head is integrated with the cutting die in the profiling machine object of the invention, it is possible to only act upon three adjustment members to obtain the desired result, further reducing the time needed for machining by about twenty minutes on average compared to conventional machines. In conventional machines, indeed, there are one or more units for straightening and stretching at the yield strength of the profile each containing a cutting die to be suitably housed after having adjusted the straighteners each time.