Success story
Graphite bushings

 
Coimbatore in South India is a difficult environment for powder presses - a hot and, above all, humid place.

A businessman from Coimbatore, who had previously purchased graphite bushings for plain bearings from Germany, decided two years ago to purchase two hydraulic ejection presses (one S 60-2 E and one S 250-2 E with 60 and 250 tons respectively and two levels) from KOMAGE in order to produce these bushings himself.

Difficult conditions

Although the production of graphite bushings is not particularly demanding in itself, the manufacturing conditions are difficult. On the one hand, filling the bushes is not easy because some of them have only small wall thicknesses. KOMAGE could however support the manufacturer in this point with comprehensive know-how and special filling systems, which have been developed by KOMAGE over many years. Thus, the necessary precise powder fillings could be realised relatively easy.

Another - at least theoretical - handicap for the pressing of powders is the environmental conditions. In southern India, temperatures of between 45 and 50 degrees Celsius and humidity of up to 90 or 100 percent prevail in summer. These are demanding production conditions, which are further aggravated by the fact that in this example the sintering furnaces are operated in the same room as the presses. In this way, the inside temperature reaches up to 65 or even 68 degrees Celsius in summer.

The two KOMAGE presses are in operation since 2015 despite the delicate conditions and work without any problems. The smaller optimisations on the filling systems - an adjustment of the inserts, which improve the flow - have obviously paid off. The modifications were carried out by KOMAGE on site together with the customer. In 2017, the order of a third press was placed by the customer, a small S 30-2 E and discussions were started about the delivery of a multi-level press, an S 100-4 E for complex part geometries. The customer is highly satisfied with the delivered machines and emphasises that the support of the KOMAGE service team, especially in the beginning when experience was lacking, was of great importance for him. If there are problems or questions, a contact person is always available.

KOMAGE has supported the Indian partner continuously and unbureaucratically in the last two years - especially with powder changes or new tools - if for example the shapes of the tools have been changed. And although the know-how is now almost completely available on site, sometimes the question is still asked: "Can we do it this way or do you have a suggestion how it could be better? The connection between the partners is still intensive - and is appreciated by both sides.