28/07/2008 10:00am

Best viewed at 800 x 600 in explorer 5 / 6

Punching Large Diameter Tubes with Thick Walls - This machine punches 4,5 metre traffic light poles

This is a general view of a custom built punching machine to produce traffic light poles. The poles are made from 110mm diameter tubes of 3,5mm wall thickness and 4,5 metres in length. The tube is rolled via a feed table (not shown here) and drops between punching tools into a series of ‘Vee’ cradles which contain ‘Rolling Balls’. The tube is then manually ‘rolled’ towards the right hand end of the machine mandrel which has three punching tools, These operate in a vertical mode. Further holes are punched by indexing/rotating the tube through the four quadrants until hole groups are punched on the four axis of the tube. The scraps pass through the die into the centre of the mandrel and these are ‘stoked’ out of the tube by an air operated cylinder of 1,25 metre stroke. The tube is then slid to the left hand end of the machine to have other holes punched in a similar manner.