Focus on coil processing
tive levelers and high speed decoilers were
Straight an d level
transferred to Formtek Maine. There are hun-
dreds of B&K levelers in use today, located in
over thirty countries.
Upon receiving the rights to the B&K leveler,
Formtek Maine placed it into a research and
development programme and started analyz-
ing what changes were required to equip the
material as a requirement of the automotive
leveler with cutting edge technology.
markets. This material is thinner and much
“Mechanically, it was decided to develop
stronger and is a benefit to the automotive
the 5- hi and 6 -hi leveler configurations with
arena as the parts are lighter than those man-
floating intermediate rolls,” the company
ufactured from mild steel. The drawback,
told ISMR. “This concept traps the intermedi-
when processing this HSLA material, is that
ate rolls between bronze wearite plates and
the yield strength is very high and usually
does not use journals on the ends of the rolls.
requires more work to be performed than
This design allows the end user the ability to
a conventional straightener can provide. A
grind the work rolls to clean them (this is a
leveler with 17 or 19 work rolls, a smaller
common occurrence with a leveler, usually
diameter and closer centre distances allows
performed annually).
the material to be worked beyond its yield
“When the work rolls are ground, the cir-
point and remain in a flat state after being
cumference of the roll is decreased and this
blanked in a press.
poses a problem for machines that trap the
intermediate rolls in journals as now there
The development path
is a space difference between the rolls. Our
So what elements go into the development
design allows the intermediate rolls to drop
of a corrective leveler? ISMR tracks the R&D
right into position upon the newly-ground
route of a corrective leveler produced by US
work rolls and, once the upper back-ups
manufacturer, Formtek Maine . . .
are adjusted, there is no space difference
B&K was founded in 1956 and special-
between the intermediate rolls and the work
ized in corrective levelers and roll form-
rolls,” the company explained.
ing systems. In 2000, the company was
Access to clean the work rolls is always
purchased by the Formtek Metal Forming
a concern in corrective levelers due to the
Group. The roll forming activity was trans-
number of rolls within the machine. Levelers
ferred to Formtek Cleveland and the correc-
quite often process critical finish materials
Above: Sample help screen (left) and preset back-up roll adjustments based upon edge wave condition (right)
International Sheet Metal Review March/April 2007 49
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