St. Louis, MO – Beckwood Press Company, a leading manufacturer of hydraulic and servo-electric presses, automation systems, and the Triform line of specialty forming equipment, has been chosen by Branch Manufacturing Company to retrofit an existing 750-ton straight-side draw press, originally manufactured by Pacific Press in 1979. Features of this press include a 60-in. x 120-in. bed size, 24-in. of stroke and 48-in. of daylight.
The scope of this project includes completely re-designing and replacing all hydraulic and electrical components, adding two cylinders with 25-in. stroke to achieve speed requirements, reinforcing the press’ structure to accommodate the new cylinders, and developing a custom HMI with recipe handling and data acquisition.
Beckwood service technicians will perform all work on-site at Branch Manufacturing’s 66,000 sq. ft. headquarters in North Branch, MN. The project is expected to take five months from start to finish. Once complete, the re-built press will reach speeds up to 410 IPM—a vast improvement from the original 198 IPM and include an intuitive operator controls station.
“Branch Manufacturing Co. is really excited to work with Beckwood Press Company on this project,” said Tim Fairbanks, President of Branch Mfg. Co. “We currently are using an aging 750-ton hydraulic press which was in need of repair or replacement. After researching our options on the press, we found Beckwood and requested a quote on some different options. They developed a plan that will allow us to replace our current pumps, valves and operating system instead of buying new. We are still using the existing press during the build period instead of constructing a new press footprint. The down time during the retrofit will be minimal and with a great cost savings to Branch Mfg. Co.”
About Branch Manufacturing
The Branch Manufacturing Company is an ISO 9001 certified job shop based in North Branch, MN. Since 1952, they have been specializing in building of both large and small draw operations, stage tooling and progressive dies. With the capabilities of up 750 ton hydraulic presses and 600 ton mechanical presses, laser cutting technology, 8-axis press brakes and a complete die shop with full design and build capabilities. Our quality department also has CMM and Faro arm laser scanning. They have the resources to provide accurate and dependable results.