Keying surface produced for anodising

When Bodycote a world leader in metal technology, were faced with a demanding finishing problem, coupled with an extremely tight delivery deadline, they approached Guyson International for help.

When Bodycote a world leader in metal technology, were faced with a demanding finishing problem, coupled with an extremely tight delivery deadline they approached Guyson International for technical assistance, which led to an integrated wash and blast system being designed and built for installation in Scandinavia.

The problem was how to produce a high quality, thoroughly clean, low profile keying surface suitable for anodising, whilst, at the same time achieving a target rate of 33,000 units per day.

The solution was to combine the cleaning and degreasing performance of a three-stage (heated spray washing, rinsing and drying) Guyson Marr-Line with the surface finishing performance of a three-stage Guyson Multiblast system, using a series of flat bed, indexing and straight through traversing conveyors.

The components were pressed aluminium mobile telephone fascias, supported within a lightweight aluminium rectangular frame 0.5mm thick.

To achieve a smooth, controlled flow of these components throughout the process, new customised handling, fixturing, orientation and presentation facilities had to be devised.

All surface contamination from dirt and pressing oil residues was to be removed and a superfine, low profile keying surface finish produced.

A two axis pick and place unit transfers each strip to one of a series of component holders that ensures every strip is correctly orientated and presented in such a way to achieve maximum cleaning efficiency from the dedicated heated wash and rinse spray patterns.

Passing through the drying chamber heated air is blown at the part from top to bottom which ensures that it is completely dry before entering the blast finishing section.

A further pick and place unit moves each strip sideways from the wash plant conveyor into the loading chute of the blast machine where it is automatically fed through the three-stage blast finishing process on its edge, in a controlled manner, at a constant speed.

Blast finishing of the surface is arranged in two stages to eliminate the risk of distortion occurring in any of the eleven fascia panels in each strip.

First the back of each strip is blasted as it passes through the path of a set of six blast finishing guns followed by the front, through the path of the second set of guns, continuing on to the third stage, a separate air wash enclosure.

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