Peeling line, BGH Edelstahl (Germany)

With the investment in the peeling machine of the PMH 600 type, BGH Edelstahl from Siegen, Germany, has reacted to the changing market situations as one of the first producers: especially high-quality grades with large diameters are now almost exclusively supplied with machined surfaces and correspondingly high inspection requirements. With a manufacturing diameter of up to 600 millimeters, this machine enters new dimensions.

A special challenge for the production of bright steels is that often difficult cutting materials such as stainless steels and nickel-based alloys are machined. Here, the machines of the PMH series provide higher power reserves than their predecessors. What’s more, the starting material for large bar formats is usually forged. This manufacturing process will, however, mean that the material is significantly more out-of- round than is known from rolled material.

Here, it was previously the case that most of the forged bars exceeding 250 millimeters have been machined to bright steel on turning machines which is inefficient in three ways: on the one hand, a turning operation lasts up to 16 times longer compared to peeling. And on the other hand, higher setup times such as centering, clamping and reclamping are necessary during turning. In addition to that, higher machining allowances are needed during the turning process since the peeling machine can follow slight bar curvatures in comparison to turning operations.

This is also the case for previous peeling machine concepts, insofar as they operate with rigid guide systems at the in- and outlet section. The new PMH series is different: depending on customer requirement, the machine is not only able to operate with rigid guides in accordance with the traditional principle but it adapts to the curvature of the bar if needed and only removes a minimal amount of steel.