Design changes include a 15 percent increase to journal and bearings sizes, enabling the feeds to handle material thickness up to 0.750-in. To optimize performance, COE reduced the air cylinder diameter across the product line. Minimizing cylinder size reduces the air required to pilot the feeder, helping to achieve faster speeds.
The edge guides have been designed to be more robust and flexible, and a new Single Point Roll Lift adjustment option helps operators to quickly set the optimal roll gap to ensure proper piloting. Both of these features are available in a hand crank, motorized or automated configuration.
The revamped product line, consisting of the 500, 600, 700 and 800 series, is available in nine widths from 18-in. to 78-in. COE has released two new pull-through straighteners models to work in conjunction with these HD feeds. The feeds are designed to work with or without a power straightener.
COE also developed a Servo-Piloting option to increase productivity in high-speed and high-precision applications, which will be on display in the booth. Servo-Piloting allows accurate, repeatable pilot timing at speeds more than 10x faster than air piloting mechanisms.
These systems can process a wide range of heavy gauge materials including advanced steels. The HD Feeds can reach speeds up to 319 FPM, or up to 409 FPM with the Servo-Piloting option and have a peak motor torque of 1406 to 1800 lbs. based on model and configuration.