Under the name EasyFlipper, Teqram has developed a machine for flipping heavy plates or sheet metal parts within 5 seconds. "This is 10-20x faster than conventional methods," said a company spokesperson.
"Rotating parts, meaning getting them upside down, is a common problem for companies in the steel and plate-processing industry," continued the spokesperson. "It costs a significant amount of time and is a safety hazard for the employee involved. To solve this, Teqram has developed and patented the EasyFlipper."
At some metalworking companies, heavy parts are inverted using a crane or various levers such as a crowbar. "This manual operation is time consuming, requires a lot of physical effort from the employee or employees and can lead to dangerous situations. The industry suffers from a shortage of skilled workers. Creating safe working conditions is more important than ever. With the help of automation, employees get more time for valuable tasks. In addition, an automation solution such as EasyFlipper facilitates physical distancing which helps flatten the curve of the corona pandemic," said Frans Tollenaar, Director of Teqram.
The EasyFlipper consists of two tables that are moved by pneumatic cylinders, which require an air pressure of 6 bar. The parts are placed and lifted on one table, after which the other table "catches" the parts during flipping. This works both counterclockwise and clockwise. The entire cycle takes less than 5 seconds, while manual part rotation, depending on size and mass, takes between 60 and 120 seconds. The EasyFlipper is robustly designed and weighs approximately 400 kg. Furthermore, the rubber surface of the EasyFlipper prevents scratches and damage to the workpiece, resulting in less scrap or costly post-processing.
The EasyFlipper can flip workpieces with a mass of up to 500 kg. The system is suitable for workpieces with a maximum size of 1,200 mm x 800 mm x 100 mm (XYZ). For heavier workpieces that exceed these dimensions, it is possible to combine several EasyFlippers.
The EasyFlipper can be loaded using a conventional crane and operated manually. The EasyFlipper can also be integrated with a vision guided robot by Teqram due to its open I/O connectivity. It is therefore possible to make the EasyFlipper part of a complete production cell for even more efficiency.
For more information contact:
Teqram
info@teqram.com
www.teqram.com