Manufacturing Technology

Ingramatic is continuously working on new technology in connection to its I-Thread line, with its R&D department recently launching a new series of RP120 (W1015/TR1) and RP220 (W10/TR2) machines. 

Ingramatic, a SACMA Group company, explains that these machines have been designed with the best technologies available on the market – in order to answer the most exigent users – making the RP120 and RP220 the most competitive thread rolling machines for building, construction, electronic, furniture and appliance fasteners. 

Regarding the main features of the new series, Ingramatic firstly points out the bed frame, which is made of pearlitic spheroidal cast iron that has undergone thermal stabilisation before machining on SACMA’s high precision machine tools. Ingramatic has also used FEM software to develop the design – identifying and countering the stresses caused by thread rolling of heat treated parts and special profiles, such as concrete and self-tapping screws. 

The company also underlines that the drive unit is powered by a high precision planetary gearbox with clutch brake. This type of drive, with epicyclical reduction gear, provides a cascade reduction ratio of the gear and favours higher torque, precision and lower consumption. In the gearbox, the clutch brake guarantees the speedy stop of the machine and the safety of the operator. Regarding the adjustments, the feeding rails and the vibratory feeder have the motorisation of the height positioning to facilitate the set-up according to the length of the parts. The slide is machined from high-quality, high strength aluminum alloy bar – according to Ingramatic specifications. 

The most innovative RP120 and RP220 feature is the starter unit. The control of the introduction system is obtained by a torque motor and the motion of the introducing slide is realised by means of a linear movement on a guide with rollers. The machine has a main encoder that controls the encoder of the torque motor, ensuring the synchronism of the two axes. The introducer stroke can also be adjusted by the operator panel or by means of the electronic handwheel – so the technician doesn’t need to make any manual adjustment with service wrenches, ensuring speed and accuracy of any changes. 

The blanks are separated at the feed point by a stop system that positions the workpiece on three points before it is placed between the dies (stop plate, finger and end rail). Working in parallel with the insertion finger, the screw stop plate also stops the next blank from passing to prevent double insertion up to 600ppm on the RP120.

The machines are also designed with features that ensure rigidity and stability for running self-tapping screws with water base coolant. The engineering office at Ingramatic has designed specific protections to prevent the projection of coolant inside the machine and avoiding any contamination. When running
self-tapping screws, it is necessary to divide the chips from the screws immediately after the threading operation generated by cutting the shank with the dies. For this purpose, there is a dedicated channel just after the threading area, which is installed on the linear vibratory system to convey the parts and the chips to the separator device. This channel is completely covered to avoid the projection of parts and coolant inside the machine. An additional tank equipped with a dedicated pump is installed outside the machine to recycle the excess of coolant from the channel, and the conveyor, to the tank of the machine.

Ingramatic supplies the thread rolling machine with a monobloc soundproof enclosure. The built-in safety enclosure guarantees operator’s safety and noise reduction. The doors and panels also provide easy and quick access to the work and maintenance areas. All the moving parts are protected with special covers designed with ergonomics in mind.  Plus, the enclosure rests directly on the base to ensure that all the liquids circulating in the machine are contained and collected.  A special design has been made for RP120 and RP220 in order to make the machine very compact and to reduce the space requirements and to permit a shorter commissioning time.