February 2010 - What does it take to air bend a 24-ft.-wide steel plate that’s 1 in. thick? A lot of tonnage.

But it took a lot more than just tonnage for McNeilus Steel Inc., Dodge Center, Minn.--it took a number of customers to push the steel service center into offering secondary fabrication operations, ones the fabricators didn’t want to or couldn’t perform themselves.

The types of fabricated parts McNeilus offers usually involve ones that are fabricated from steel plate and need cutting and bending. However, even though McNeilus sells metals to these companies, it isn’t in competition with them, says David Stork, fabricating manager for McNeilus.

"As a job shop, we have to be flexible and serve our customers with the proper equipment," he says. "With this in mind, we targeted the larger types of fabrications using thicker materials and tougher-to-bend components. Therefore, we don’t compete with our customers that buy steel from us."

McNeilus started in 1948, when Harry McNeilus purchased a scrap yard and a single truck that he sold metal from.

Things have changed a lot for the company over the years. Today, more than 1 million lbs. of steel are delivered daily with a fleet of more than 50 trucks, and the founder’s son, Pat, is moving the company into the future.

"Our fabrication building has 154,000 sq. ft.," says Stork. "This doesn’t include the steel service center either. But we’re on the same site, sharing the same address. We’re capable of working with 20-gauge-thick steel sheet all the way up to 8-in.-thick steel plate that we can cut with our oxy-fuel system. With our three lasers, we can cut up to 1.125-in.-thick plate. Anything over this, we either plasma or oxy-fuel cut. Currently, we’re just cutting and bending for our customers, so we need good equipment to give us flexibility. We’re finding that customers today would rather get a finished product from us instead of buying plate or sheet."

McNeilus primarily does fabrications in mild steel, stainless steel and aluminum, but its biggest niche has been A36, grade 50 or AR200 types of carbon steel.

For cutting, the company has two 6-kW CO2 laser systems, a 4-kW CO2 laser and a plasma cutter. For really thick steel, McNeilus uses an oxy-fuel system.

"We bought the 6-kW lasers because we do cut some pretty thick materials," says Stork. "All of our laser tables are about 45 ft. long. Therefore, we can put two 20-ft.-steel plates on them."

A typical fabrication for McNeilus varies tremendously, according to Stork. The company can handle a fair amount of 20-ft. and 40-ft. plates for cutting out various parts.

"The job shops we service aren’t all small," says Stork. "For instance, we manufacture large truck components that include body parts and chassis rails."

For bending, McNeilus wanted to focus on sizable heavy components. One of its larger customers, a truck manufacturer, has a 12-ft., 230-ton press brake, but this wasn’t large enough for some of its components. Truck parts, such as chassis rails, were farmed out to another fabricating company in Chicago, which also bought the steel locally to produce the bent parts.

"In order for us to get the steel sales, the truck company pushed us into getting a large press brake," says Stork. "But the company also wanted us to get into fabrication in general. They were looking for someone close by who could do this work and save the five- to six-hour shipment from Chicago. The truck company was sending out this work because they didn’t have the space inside to add the equipment needed to do it, and these large components could disrupt the flow of other parts they manufactured. Their buildings weren’t really designed to handle heavy, 20-ft.-long components. For them to expand their facility would’ve been difficult, too, because they don’t have the property."

Finding the right press brake
With orders in hand, Stork says McNeilus looked at the truck company’s largest part and figured out what tonnage it would take to bend it 90 degrees.

McNeilus found that a press brake with a 24-ft. bed would handle it, but the company increased the tonnage by about 20 percent because it didn’t want to constantly max it out.

After looking at different manufacturers, McNeilus decided to go with an Optima 1,100-ton press brake from Ursviken Inc., Elgin, Ill.

"We felt it was the best machine overall as far as quality and service," says Stork. "It had all the bells and whistles that we were looking for, such as independent back gauges, that give us a great deal of flexibility."

He also says moving heavy plate into and out of the brake is a challenge, so McNeilus has three overhead cranes to service it.

"There are several parts that we produce that are probably well over 1,000 lbs., which would be difficult for any press brake operator to move around without the aid of a crane or a forklift," says Stork.

Being part of a steel service company, McNeilus has access to stretcher-leveled steel that’s flatter for better laser cutting and bending, according to Stork.

With this equipment and its own decoiling line, "We can also service companies that need parts that are 180 in. long. We’ll decoil the steel for them at, say, 182 in., so there’s little waste. Then we’ll cut it and form the part. We’ve recently bought an adjustable bottom die for the press brake. This allows us to bend a 24-ft.-long, 1-in.-thick steel part at 90 degrees."

Unique options
The software McNeilus bought for the Ursviken press brake will show the operator through its controller what bends to make and in what particular sequence, which increases productivity. Operators also do their own programming right at the machine.

"What’s nice with this press brake’s software is that when we quote a job, and we’re not sure what our bend allowances are for the material after it’s bent, we’ll take the drawing to the operator," says Stork. "He’ll input the part in the press brake controller, and it will give us the final size needed for the material for the needed bends. This really speeds up the quoting process and eliminates waste. It’s a helpful tool."

The Optima also has multi-axis back gauges. Accordingly, they can move in different axes and independently of one another. This allows the press brake to produce irregularly shaped parts.

"This press is so large that we can’t use the snap-in-style hydraulic tooling," says Stork. "We slide the tooling in from the side. We use an overhead crane to move it in and out of the press brake because it usually comes in 12-ft. sections. Most of what we do is air bending.

"Although the brake doesn’t have spring-back compensation, it has automatic crowning," he continues. "Its repeatability is unbelievable. It’s definitely within thousandths of an inch."

  McNeilus ordered Ursviken’s Optima 1,100-ton press brake with a nine-axis, 2-D and 3-D graphic Cybelec CNC control. It also has a six-axis gauging system and a gauging range of 80 in.

It uses integrated support arms on linear rails mounted along the front of the machine for easier material handling. For greater flexibility, McNeilus ordered an extended open height and stroke. It uses a special 24-ft. lower die designed with rollers inside the V opening to facilitate easy lateral movement of long rails formed on the brake. FFJ

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