Reduced industrial waste by using modern control technology on existing sheet metal fabrication equipment

Modern control equipment to upgrade existing Amada sheet metal fab­ri­ca­tion equipment

In the world of fab­ri­ca­tion the press brake is king. And the AMADA press brake is the king of kings.

Wilson & Gilkes acquired a 1997 HFB-100, which even in its current state still ranks highly for its reliable, re­peat­able accuracy. But with original parts now being so difficult to source this lucky AMADA has been booked in for a bit of a makeover. The me­chan­i­cal hardware and hy­draulics will remain, but the nu­mer­i­cal­ly con­trolled aspects — the elec­tron­ics — will be replaced. This will be carried out over 2-3 weeks, onsite, by JMA with one of its iCON retrofit kits.

The old LCD screen and in­te­grat­ed push-button nav­i­ga­tion will be replaced by a more intuitive touch­screen interface with visual guidance and parts-sim­u­la­tion that’ll display the projected fold for faster pro­gram­ming.

This increase in per­for­mance from a tolerance-accuracy per­spec­tive, and the GUI’s direct nav­i­ga­tion between pro­gram­ming and pro­duc­tion will mean it’ll no longer require such a spe­cialised skillset to operate, making it a more intrinsic part of the shop. On top of that, there’ll also be increased safety, with updated measures such as laser light-guards being installed.

The combined cost of the machine’s purchase and upgrade is a fraction of what a current model AMADA sells for. Andrew Goldfinch, Wilson & Gilkes’ Op­er­a­tions Manager states that, “AMADA is still one of the best brands you can buy. For that reason it’s worth spending the money to bring it back to new.” Compared to the scrapping of old machinery to replace with new, this extra effort is a more sensible option both fi­nan­cial­ly and en­vi­ron­men­tal­ly. Wilson & Gilkes designs and man­u­fac­tures 100% in Australia. No supply chain risk.

Email sales@gilkon.com.au or call 02 9914 0900 for a fast free quote.