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Does Granco Clark's new Spinning Log Welder increase your yield 1% - 2%? Or does it reduce your scrap rate 1% - 2%? Or can it reduce your scrap 25% - 50%? The answer is yes, yes, and it could—to each of the above. It’s all a matter of how you do the math.
Before we do the math, here's a brief background on Spinning Log Welder technology and how it will change the way you process two-piece billets.
If you use two-piece billets, you understand the inefficiencies they can pose—the difficulty of transferring two-piece billets to press, misalignment of two-piece billets entering the press, the presence of oxides at log ends that become trapped, and the presence of voids at the joint. These problems all contribute to increased scrap, defective profiles, and operational inefficiencies. While friction stir welding can produce a moderate bond in an attempt to join billets before entering the furnace, it does nothing to reduce oxide at the joint or help reduce voids in profiles. Spot welded logs also have a greater propensity to break at the joint. When weld points do break and misaligned billets enter the press, it defeats the purpose and makes it hard to justify the process, not to mention the potential for damaging your furnace.
The Spinning Log Welder, integrated with the Granco Clark Hot Saw, introduces a new process for joining two-piece billets. This not simply a process improvement, it is indeed a revolutionary process change in the way two-piece billets are joined. As logs emerge from the furnace, the Hot Saw creates a precision cut while logs are at extrusion temperature, exposing fresh surfaces on the ends of the pieces to be joined. Then, in a process that takes less than ten seconds—which reduces oxidation at the joint—the Spinning Log Welder joins them under pressure and controlled rotation. The result is stronger, more complete bond as two-piece billets are joined to form a new, single, uniform billet.
For the sake of simplicity, lets assume you presently achieve a conversion rate of 96% of your raw material with the remaining 4% scrap. If the Spinning Log Welder improves your yield from raw material by 1% to a 97% conversion rate and your scrap rate decreases by 1% to just 3%, it indeed represents a 1% increase in your yield and a 1% reduction in your scrap rate—the key operative word here, "rate". Now consider only your scrap. That 4% of raw material lost to scrap in fact, represents 100% of your scrap. A 1% reduction in the scrap rate from 4% to 3% is actually one-fourth of your scrap, representing a 25% reduction in scrap. So yes, in this scenario, scrap reduction is 25%. What's important here is that no matter how you do the math, you can realize your return on investment in a matter of months by increasing your yield 1% to 2% and reducing your scrap in the process with new Spinning Log Welder technology.
The first Spinning Log Welder was installed at G. James's Sydney, Australia plant. Granco Clark engineers are working with G. James—evaluating speeds, pressure, degrees of rotation and other parameters to further enhance performance and process optimization for a wide range of billet sizes and alloys. You can click on this link to see a video demonstration of the Spinning Log Welder. Watch for product updates in upcoming issues of the Profiles e-newsletter in your inbox as well as posts to News section of our website.
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Profiles: Serving the information needs of the international aluminum extrusion community
