HYDROFORMING COMPLEX TUBE GEOMETRY

Since the early 1990s, hydroform technology has seen commercial success in industries with high production volume, such as automotive and appliance manufacturing. Until recently, the investment for a hydroform die has been fairly high, such that higher production volumes of at least 40,000 parts were needed to offset the high investment costs of the hydroform die. Advances in die technology to reduce investment costs now make lower volume production of hydroform parts attractive ? allowing designers more freedom of design for complex geometries of tubes and hollow forms.

In order to economically justify hydroform technology on applications with lower part volumes, engineers from Schuler Inc. (Canton, MI) have been looking to reduce the costs of their hydroform dies. As a technological and global market leader in metal forming, this manufacturer supplies equipment, turn-key production lines, dies, process consulting and services to the entire metal forming industry, with clients such as car manufacturers and their suppliers, as well as companies in the household equipment, forging, aerospace, defense, energy and electrical industries. The company employs 5,500 people and operates facilities and sales offices in 40 countries around the world. The company acquired Müller Weingarten in April 2007.

The core approach of the engineers to reduce tooling cost was to standardize their tools and give them more flexibility. The proprietary result of their efforts to reduce tooling cost is a complete new die concept which makes hydroform production volumes as low as 1,000 parts per year affordable. The company currently runs hydroform part production for low and high volumes from their facility in Canton. With the new die concept, the company is now offering part production for completely new industries.

?Suddenly we are getting inquiries for complete new applications,? says general manager Klaus Hertell. With the new die concept, the company has already turned projects into reality, such as a hydroformed exhaust for the heavy truck industry. ?This industry has never used hydroforming before. The truck engineers are extremely pleased with the features and tolerances that hydroforming offers,? adds Hertell. Other industries that have also benefitted from the new low cost approach to hydroform tools are furniture, ATV?s, motorcycle and aircraft.

Schuler, headquartered in Canton, represents the Schuler Group in North America. The company offers sales management and project coordination for state-of-the-art metal forming system solutions. Its after-sales service, spare parts, PM programs, and retrofit and rebuild programs are able to support new and existing metal forming systems. The company also offers a full spectrum of hydroforming services, including part design, FEA analysis, consultation, prototyping and commercial production for both large and small quantities.

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www.schulerinc.com, email Kellie Treppa, kellie.treppa@schulerinc.com