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Beckwood Press to Build Huge Machine for Wabash National

The 3,500 ton hydraulic bulge forming press will be used to form stainless steel and aluminum tank heads with diameters up to 156 in for tanks and silos.

Posted: June 4, 2019

The custom 3,500 ton, 285 in x 216 in hydraulic bulge forming press for Wabash National will weigh approximately 650,000 lb when fully assembled and will be installed in a 6 ft deep pit. The 160 in x 160 in bolsters will contain machined T-slots for use with a Quick Die Change system, and a fully adjustable 8-point square gib-guidance system will ensure bed-to-ram parallelism throughout the stroke.

Beckwood Press Company (St. Louis, MO) has been awarded a contract by Wabash National Corporation (Lafayette, IN) to engineer and build a custom 3,500 ton hydraulic bulge forming press. Scheduled for delivery in October 2019, this machine will be used to form stainless steel and aluminum tank heads with diameters up to 156 in for Wabash National’s tank and silo business. The 3,500 ton, 285 in x 216 in press will weigh approximately 650,000 lb when fully assembled and will be installed in a 6 ft deep pit. The 160 in x 160 in bolsters will contain machined T-slots for use with a Quick Die Change system, and a fully adjustable 8-point square gib-guidance system will ensure bed-to-ram parallelism throughout the stroke.

To accommodate Wabash National’s existing tooling, the press will be able to bulge form using either air (pneumatic) or water (hydro). Beckwood will design a specialized closed loop pneumatic control system for the bulge forming operation, allowing Wabash National to form parts to specific dome heights while utilizing up to 750 psi of air pressure. To facilitate fast die changeover, an automated quick die change system with chain driven die clamps and a bed trolley will be included. The trolley will be capable of transporting dies up to 30,000 lb across a 30 ft track via a push-button controls station.

For added safety, polycarbonate guarding will be provided around the working area, hydraulically-actuated die safety blocks will secure the ram during die changeover, and a collision detection system will be installed on each end of the trolley. “This press is one of the largest and heaviest machines we’ve ever built,” said Jeffrey Debus, the president of Beckwood. “Since moving into our new facility last year, we have seen an increase in requests for presses of this magnitude. Our extended ceiling heights and heavy crane capabilities allow us to assemble, program, and test these machines in-house, which greatly expedites delivery to our customers.”

beckwoodpress.com