Atro Engineered Systems, located in Sullivan, MO, is a leader in polyurethane suspension parts for heavy-duty trucks, trailers, buses and military vehicles and equipment. One of their most popular products is a torque rod for trucks. This part has a center tube that requires weld prep beveling on both ends. The forged eyes are then pressed and welded onto both ends of the center steel tube.
Atro Engineered Systems was beveling the ends of the 1.5" O.D./1.0" I.D. steel tube for weld prep using a large manually operated lathe. This process took many steps and wasted a lot of production time. "There was a lot of loading and unloading, tightening chucks, flipping parts, and other wasted effort." states Steve Blakely, Atro Engineered Systems Process Engineer.
Atro decided to look for alternatives with goals of reducing cycle time for the tube beveling operation as well as reducing the equipment footprint in order to save precious manufacturing space. Atro chose the MSI C3A ChamferMate beveling machine as the preferred solution.
"The C3A ChamferMate pipe and tube beveling machine is about three times smaller than the lathe we were using. The ChamferMate also reduced our cycle time for beveling both ends of the tube from over 90 seconds to under 20 seconds. The ChamferMate is also safer in that we do not need to perform so many manual operations or have the metal chips flying around. The initial and routine setups are also very easy for the operators to perform. We gave the operators the manuals and they were using the machines properly to bevel tube within 30 minutes." says Mr. Blakely.
The manufacturing sequence starts with a cold saw that cuts the tube to length, then the ChamferMate bevels both ends, and finally a custom press adds the forged eyes to the tube. "This compact layout saves a lot of unnecessary part movement and storage. We could not be more happy with the ChamferMate pipe and tube beveling machine and the support we get from MSI. This machine has made a big difference for our production. One of the key deciding factors was to have the same or quicker cycle times as our cutting operation. Now all three of the processes are within a few seconds of the others." says Mr. Blakely.
ChamferMate® high production chamfering machines and pipe and tube beveling machines are designed for easy setup and operation. Heavy duty construction and quality components are utilized to provide our customers with years of dependable service. Models available for a wide range of diameters and applications such as chamfering, beveling, and deburring.
The ChamferMate® Model C3A pipe and tube beveling machine has a 3” inch OD capacity and is ideally used for chamfering pipe, deburring or beveling pipe and chamfering tubing up to 3/8” wall thickness.
MSI is located in Beaumont, TX and builds chamfering and pipe beveling machines, marking equipment, hydraulic bar shears, nut assembly tables, cylindrical parts feeders, bolt cross drills, and bolt shortening tools and services an international customer base in a variety of industries.
