A Quick Guide to Cold Press Machine

Posted on Jan 10, 2021

Cold press machines can be dangerous sometimes, therefore safety procedures are important to design and follow. One common way to avoid the accident is the control methods where the operators need to use both hands to control the buttons to operate the cold press, the method is known as the Bi-manual control. Light sensors are also helpful.

What Is Cold Press Machine?

Cold Press machine is one type of cold metalworking machine where the metal sheets are forced and shaped by dies under high pressure. Cold metalworking is commonly referred to as cold working, cold forming, or sometimes cold forging. All kinds of cold working or cold forming processes shape the metal materials at room temperature, which is below the recrystallization temperature of the metals, typically at the ambient temperature. Cold forming, such as cold pressing, cold bending, cold extrusion, cold rolling, is contrasted with hot forming methods like hot rolling, hot forging, welding, and so on.

Cold press machines, also called cold forming press or cold machine press, are used for cold forging and pressing the metal sheet or coiled wires under high pressure to deform the materials. The metal materials will be consistently measured and cut to the commanded length, feed to the tooling area, and then forced against a series of dies. There is a wide range of metal materials that can be deformed, the available coiled wire materials are also varied in diameters and lengths.

Cold press machines can be dangerous sometimes, therefore safety procedures are important to design and follow. One common way to avoid the accident is the control methods where the operators need to use both hands to control the buttons to operate the cold press, the method is known as the Bi-manual control. Light sensors are also helpful. When the operator is at a hazardous distance to the dies, the light sensor can send the signal and stop the pressing machine.
 

Different Types of Cold Press Machine

The design of the cold press machine is directly related to the formed products. Some common styles of cold press machines including but not limited to back-geared style, geared style, straight side type, open back inclinable type and open back stationary type. When classifying the cold press machine depending on the frame that the working components are mounted on, there are hydraulic cold press machines and mechanical cold press machines.

Cold Press machine varies from frame configurations. The two most classic types of cold-pressing machines include the C-frame type, which is also known as gap-frame, and the straight side press. The C-frame cold pressing machine permits simple access to the tooling area on 3 sides (front & left and right sides are open), taking less space on the floor. Open back inclinable style of C-frame cold press can rotate the frame for simpler part discharge; on the other hand, open back stationary style of C-frame cold press can automatically regulate the intervals of air blasts, conveyor speed, assisting the part discharge or scraps. As for the straight side type of cold pressing machines, they have columns vertically mounted on either side of the presses, removing the angular deflection in the cold pressing process. This type of cold press has higher tonnage applications.
 

:: Read More: What Is a Cold Forging Hydraulic Press?
 

Construction of Cold Press Machine

The vital elements in a cold press machine include a bolster plate, a ram, and a controller with an automatic feeder. It is significant for the operator to select the pressing machine and tonnage depending on the type of applications, forming methods, conveyor, progressive, and blanking process. The operator should also be aware of the load capacity and off-center load problems to reduce the premature equipment wears of the cold press.
 

Bolster Plate

A bolster plate is installed on top of the bed of the cold pressing machine. It is a stationary, large metal block where the bottom portion of the dies is mounted with. Those large cold press machines used in automotive manufacturing lines commonly equipped with die cushions with the bolster plate. With the arrangement, the pressing machine can apply counter draw forces, which is necessary for the deep drawing process in a single acting cold press machine. The materials are fed into the dies between the bolster plate and the ram or slide guidance, shaping against both the upper die and the lower die.
 

Ram / Slide Guidance

The ram, or the slide, is the component where the upper portion of the die is installed, guiding the forming die to force the materials. The vertical movement of the ram working in a cold press machine is similar to the hammer to the anvil. The driving force of the guidance varies. Typically, a mechanical pressing machine utilizes eccentric drive to control the ram slide as well as the lengths of the stroke of the ram. As for the hydraulic cold-pressed, the hydraulic cylinders are used to move the ram slides. The characteristics of the drive define the force progression during the travel stroke of the slide. Ram or slide is a vital component in the cold pressing machine which lengthen the die's lifespan.
 

Controller and Feeder

In general, cold presses are incorporated with a programmable electric controller and automatic feeder which feeds the raw materials to travel through the shaping tool. Before the automatic feeder transfer the metals to the dies, the raw materials are unrolled from a coil through various straighteners. To monitor the amount of the applying force during every stroke, a tonnage monitor is helpful.
 

Why Use Cold Pressing?

Without consistently heating and deforming the metals at a high temperature, cold working, including cold pressing, provide a better surface finish, greater dimensional accuracy, and a cleaner process. Cold metalworking also effectively reduces the costs compared to the hot forming processes which require heating elements and consume more energy. In addition, cold pressing can shape the metals without creating any metal chips, unlike the shearing process.

Compared to hot forming, these benefits of cold pressing ensure contaminations can be entirely eliminated or minimized and also reduce the waste of raw materials. The savings of materials benefits the operator particularly in high volume production or when handling expensive metals.
 

IMTS Exhibition

IMTS gathered worldwide Cold Forging manufacturers into this online platform. Browse and search for your next supplier with us.

Should you run into any difficulties, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Quick Link to Suppliers

Related Categories

0Inquiry Item Contact IMTS

International Manufacturing Teletrading Sources (IMTS) is your key to unlock the door to the industry from anywhere around the world, at any time.