Classified by common die and shut heights, individual stripping assemblies, compact design, and easily interchangeable punches and dies, unitized tooling not only presents cost benefits to the user, but it brings a certain flexibility and versatility to the business of metal punching.

While traditional die sets certainly have their own importance and place in manufacturing, they simply can not compete with the versatility or the inexpensive cost of unitized tooling which often makes unitized tooling an attractive option in the eyes of the manufacturing engineer.

The traditional method of powering unitized tooling is the punch press, either mechanical or hydraulic. However as unitized tools are compact, inexpensive, and flexible their traditional power sources are often big, expensive, unsafe, and notably inflexible. What does this mean? While a press may provide a serviceable option to drive the unitized tooling, they also limit the advantages it offers. The Multicyl air over oil cylinder offers an alternative to using unitized tooling.

Among the most common applications for unitized tooling is a single hole punching operation in sheet metal, tubing or metal stampings.  For a shop that either doesn’t have the press time available or doesn’t want to tie up an expensive press for a small hole punching operation or a batch run of parts, a Multicyl air oil press is an ideal option.

Brent Hasely, sales manager from Unittool Tooling notes that for applications which the customer does not want to tie up his press that “Multicyl air over oil press systems are the preferred power source.” and that their customer base has found the combination of Unittool and Multicyl to be “a very reliable and versatile choice” for light gauge hole punching applications.

Multicyl President and founder  Jim Brennan recalls that the impetus for the launch of the product line was an affordable press for use with unitized tooling.  He notes that while Multicyl has branched out into many areas of machine building that a single punch station with unitized tooling remains a core application. “The addition of a single station Multicyl press to the shop floor saves money. Successful manufacturing engineers incorporate our products into localized workcells to improve work flow. This style of dedicated tooling eliminates set up time has been proven to reduce workloads on the more expensive capital equipment.”

While the single punching station may be a staple use of unitized tooling, its evolution into the work cell environment has been the tool engineer’s choice of power source when creating a lean environment. However, a press can be an impediment to an efficient work flow and ergonomic environment.  Air over oil presses allow the manufacturing engineer to be innovative and flexible in his work cell and work flow designs.  
Stephen Kocis is the vice president of Toolset Inc. which produces a line of unitized tooling. He notes that, “Toolset unitized tooling has always been recognized as being a versatile tool in a lean shop environment. When used in a Multicyl air over oil system, that versatility is enhanced as Multicyl presses have enabled Toolset to place our tooling outside of the traditional press brake setup and allows our customers to integrate our Unitized Tooling into their work cell environments.”

Safety is an issue that cannot be overlooked in any manufacturing process. Again there is a dichotomy between the benefits offered by unitized tooling and the impediments presented by traditional presses.  OSHA’s Mechanical Power Press Safety Regulations Section 190.217(c)(1)(I) states that: It shall be the responsibility of the employer to provide and insure the usage of “point of operation guards” or properly applied and adjusted point of operation devices on every operation performed on a mechanical power press.
At the same time, 1910.217(c)(1)(ii) states that: the requirement of paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section shall not apply when the point of operation opening is one-fourth in. or less.

In many sheet metal punching applications unitized tooling does not need to have a pinch point; the only moving part is the punch and the gap between the punch die needs only be large enough to allow the sheet metal through, which renders the tooling safe. The same can often not be said for a traditional press, which can often require expensive additions to be made to comply with these safety regulations. The mechanical press is becoming impractical to use from a safety versus cost perspective.  Guarding, safety control interface, or light curtains are add-ons which are often necessary which can be expensive up front and to maintain.
To be OSHA compliant the unitized tooling is easily made safe by narrowing the feed clearance below 1/4”,  a feature easily accommodated by the self adjusting stroke of the Multicyl but impractical for the mechanical press.

Fileco, Concord, ON manufactures filing cabinets, the back panels of which need to be notched on all four corners. Up until recently the method they used to perform this operation was with a press and hard tooling. The operator would punch one end of the part, index the panel 180°, take a second hit and then stack the parts to be taken to the brake for forming. These are a family of different sized similar parts, so the dies also had to be set up for each part size. 

Fileco needed an economical solution that would reduce the set up time, part handling time and the production flow.  Gligor Crisan, the Fileco engineer in charge of the project, contacted Multicyl to work on a concept using Unipunch unitized tooling and Multicyl air over oil cylinders.  Unipunch was a natural fit for the Multicyl machine as Crisan wanted the practical advantages of the unitized tooling. The result was a machine that would use four Multicyl stations each powering a single Unipunch unit to notch all four corners in a single hit.

The stations were mounted on linear bearings and would move in both the X and Y axis so that they could be relocated in minutes by the operator depending on which batch of parts was to be run. 

Once positioned the units were locked in place with air cylinders.  Because of the compact and pinch point free design of the stations, the machine was able to remain open on all sides-a key feature as this allowed the operator to feed the material right through the machine in an ergonomic manner without the assistance of expensive safety fail-safe mechanisms.

The machine has been in use at Fileco now for over a year, and Crisan is impressed with the results. “Production rates are up 100% as compared to the previous method of making the parts (punching and indexing on a traditional press) as now only one cycle is required.” 

Adds Crisan, “The ergonomic and flexible design of the Multicyl machine allowed for  it to be integrated into the production line to allow  the material to flow seamlessly through in-line to the next operation (forming).”

 Additional cost savings have been achieved by Fileco due to reduced set-up time and down time; Crisan notes that the machine is dedicated to the single operation and that  “non-technical staff including our operators are able to perform the machine set-up for various parts and it is easy for any operator in the plant to use.” 

A final cost savings can be found in the energy consumption of the machine.  The machine runs entirely on shop air with all four Multicyls using a combined total of less than a cubic foot of air per stroke.  Crisan estimates that this translates into an approximate 50% savings on his energy cost for the operation.   The operators are also pleased with the improvements to their environment as the workspace is now cleaner, quieter and more ergonomic in design. 

In the wake of the success of this machine Fileco’s sister company, Toronto based Profile Industries recently installed a 6 station Multicyl machine in a sister plant again using unitized tooling for a similar application.



This article was supplied by Multicyl Inc., Bolton, ON (multicyl.com).