HQ:301 Tube End Former Features

The HQ system uses four cylinders at right angles to each other to close segmented dies to form the tube end to your specifications. The integration of segmented fingers is similar to that on the A/B Series – use of a tapered arbor. In this case, the cylinder is mounted vertically underneath the tabletop on which the die cylinders are mounted.

With the use of Aristo designed modular tooling (use of inserts that mount to a base set of tooling, be they dies or fingers), this machine is ideally suited for a wide range of tube sizes that can be fed vertically into the forming area. The system can expand, reduce, bead like the A/B series I/O sizers. The table can be designed to rotate to a vertical plane, enabling horizontal feeding of longer tubes for forming.

In addition, the HQ:301 is suited for flaring, star crimping, and many other of end forms. With custom Aristo tooling, the tube can be clamped effectively for these types of operations.

The machine will be comprised of four (4) compact (80mm) hydraulic cylinders (with 50mm stroke), all driven by a 15 gpm / 15 hp motor with a 30 gallon hydraulic oil tank. Allen-Bradley Micrologix 500 controls will be used to coordinate the simultaneous operation of these cylinders to form the tube.

The forming operation for ‘star crimp’ application is:

The tube is inserted vertically from above – ‘dropped’ into tool opening where it is held. On each cylinder rod is mounted the contoured die that will each form one quarter of the crimp. It is actually in the die design that we would seek to incorporate the ‘two-step’ forming process. Actually the tube would be repositioned (raised & turned forty-five degrees) so that the same dies could then be used as ‘reduction dies’ to achieve the overall diameter.

For the ‘open’ crimp, a 4” cylinder with 5” stroke would be mounted underneath the table of the machine (on which these four cylinders are laid out). It would insert / retract the plug during the forming process to achieve the opening to specification.