Guillotine Machine Guide
What is a guillotine machine?
A guillotine machine is a sheet metal cutting machine, which utilizes the clamp and the blades to complete the cuts on the sheet metals, in order to allow the sheet metals to be applied for other machining works.
The guillotine machines are specialized in cutting long strips of sheet metals, and are capable of accommodating different sizes of materials with the different design of the machines. In addition, these machines can be driven mechanically, hydraulically, or pneumatically, and operated either manually or automatically.
Metal cutting seems to be a normal way in separating the workpieces into parts, while it is actually significant, as whether the metals are cut accurately and precisely depending on the requirements or not determines the success or failure of the following machining works. If the smaller pieces of metals are not presented with consistency, the products that are going to be made would not be consistent as well.
As the metal workpieces may come in different lengths and width, the machines that are suitable for cutting them are different as well. For example, for the thicker metals, which the thickness is beyond what the interval between the clamps and the blades can tolerate, the guillotine machines do not work for them. Therefore, only the relatively thinner sheet metals are the appropriate targets for the guillotine machines.
Although the guillotine machine is a useful device in cutting metal workpieces, it is also dangerous if being used wrongly. Therefore, during the operation of this machine, having proper protections, such as gloves or glasses, is a must, in order to prevent any hazard for the operators or the working environments from occurring.
How does a guillotine machine form?
As the above introduction has mentioned, the guillotine machine can be driven either mechanically, hydraulically, or pneumatically, and operated either manually or automatically.
Depending on the different forms of the machines being applied, the components that are equipped on each of them may be slightly different. No matter what the form of the machine is, the components may include the control panel or lever, the clamps, the blades, the supports, the pedal, and the emergency stop.
● Control panel/ lever
Whether the guillotine machine is equipped with a control panel or a lever is determined by how this machine is operated. In the automatically operated forms, there would be a control panel in combination with a touch screen, which allows the operators to control and supervise the processes of the operation.
As for the lever, it is equipped when the guillotine machine is manually operated. The lever is for the operators to adjust the length or strength of the cuts, which requires more effort from the operators rather than the machine itself.
● Clamps
The clamps are arranged on the above along the lower blade, which are in charge of securing the workpieces after they are properly fed into the machine and reach the back gauge on the inside, in order to make sure the appropriate positioning of the workpieces during the cuts.
● Blades
There are two blades on this machine, including the upper and the lower blades. As the sheet metals are ready to be cut, they would be fed in between the two blades and cut with the upper blade performs the downward movement.
● Supports
The supports on the guillotine machine are for the securing of the sheet metals, including the plates on the table where the sheet metals are placed on and the protruded long strips that are arranged with equal intervals.
● Pedal
The pedal is used for the operator to start or stop the machine by stepping the pedal by foot.
● Emergency stop
When the machine works too fast or any other emergency happens, all the parts that are in operation can be suspended once the emergency stop is stepped and pressed by the operator.
How to use a guillotine machine?
In the automatic operation of the guillotine machine, to use this machine to cut the sheet metals, there are four steps to be followed, including protection, preparing, setting and adjusting, feeding sheet metal, and initiating the machine.
1. Protections preparing
In order to prevent any danger from happening during operation, the protections on the ears, eyes, and hands of the operators should be prepared before the processes begin.
2. Setting and adjusting
Once the protections are prepared, set the required parameters such as the rake angle, shear angle, or length of cuts, and make sure the components include the clamps and blades are set in place.
3. Feeding sheet metal
Next, feed the sheet metal into the machine on the above of the lower blade. Until the workpiece reaches the back gauge of the machine, the clamps would be triggered to fix the workpiece.
4. Initiating the machine
As everything is prepared, initiate the machine either by stepping on the pedal or pressing the switches on the control pedal, then the machine would start to perform the cuts.
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