A Straightening machine is a heavy machine mostly employed in metal working industries which is used to straighten so many different types of metal objects like rods, sheets, tubes, wire rods and angles which are made from steel, iron or aluminum and also so many other kinds of ferrous and non-ferrous metals. These metal straightening machines are specially designed by highly skilled engineers and they work as a great part of rolling mills and other similar industrial units worlwide.
Straightening machines come in a variety of designs. Some are powered while others use a combination of power and gravity to move the metal through. Depending on the type of metal being straightened and the maximum width of the material, some of these straighteners can be configured with back-up rollers which are positioned in one, two or three positions across the maximum width of the machine. These rollers are typically made of high quality 52100 hardened heat-treated steel and they can be coated with a variety of materials such as matte chrome, Teflon or titanium nitride.
Having proper and well-maintained straightening equipment can help eliminate residual stress, up and down bending, side bending, torsion, gnawing, correction markings and other flaws in rolled and extruded metals. This will also improve the strength, fatigue life, product yield, and overall performance of the material. The most common types of straighteners are pull through or power straighteners and corrective levelers.
In pull-through straighteners, the feeder provides the power to move the material through the machine. While these types of machines cost less and save space, they can often create problems such as excessive deflection of the work rollers which reduces contact surface area, lowers straightening efficiency, marks the material or causes the material to slip during starting and stopping.
With a power straightener, the motor drives the bottom set of rollers which then passes the material to the top set of unpowered (or gravity) driven rollers. The top set of rollers is then pulled by the feed to re-straighten it. These machines are usually larger than pull through models and they can be equipped with a wide range of roller materials such as steel, chromium or even titanium nitride to meet the needs of most applications.
The amount of power required to operate a straightener depends on a number of factors, but the most important is the maximum material width and thickness. This will determine the maximum amount of deformation the machine can take without the work rollers bending and damaging the material. The other important factor is the maximum yield strength of the material being straightened. Materials with higher yield strengths will require more power to achieve a satisfactory straightness. Lastly, the combination of work roller diameter and center distance spacing will have a significant effect on power requirements as well. This is why it is important to understand the specific requirements of your application before selecting a model.
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