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Weber Metals Unveils New 540-Meganewton Press for Aerospace Components

The new press is designed to forge sophisticated monolithic titanium and aluminum parts for advanced, lightweight airliners.

The new hydraulic forging press is nearly 10 stories tall and only one-third of it is visible – the other two-thirds are below ground level. (Image source: Weber Metals)

As aircraft become larger, lighter, and increasing more sophisticated, so do their components and parts. Follow that logic, and part manufacturing must also become more powerful and advanced. In the case of aluminum and titanium press-forged parts – like cockpit window frames, wing to fuselage fittings, various bulkheads, supports, and fuselage keel chords – this means higher press force.

Weber Metals Inc., a division of Otto Fuchs KG of Germany, unveiled a new, $180 million, 60,000-ton press at its 2.5-acre facility in Paramount, California, southeast of Los Angeles. It sets a record as the highest tonnage hydraulic forging press in the Americas and the largest privately funded forging press investment in the world. The press’ total power is 540 meganewtons.

“This innovative technology will literally forge the future for parts made for aircraft and spacecraft,” says Dr. Hinrich Mählmann, managing partner of Otto Fuchs KG.

“This, the world's largest pull-down forging press, will shape some of the world's largest monolithic parts from both aluminum and titanium. For Otto Fuchs, this is the third time we have developed the world's largest forging press and the second time it has been on Weber's property,” he added.

Weber Metals President and CEO Doug McIntyre said that the new press addresses the demands and expectations from the company's customers for larger, more sophisticated monolithic titanium and aluminum parts. Monolithic forging can reduce both part weight and complexity and help aircraft and aerospace companies improve their environmental efforts – a priority for Otto Fuchs and Weber Metals.

“Environmental sustainability is a priority for both companies,” says Dr. Klaus Welschof, head of the Otto Fuchs aerospace division.

“Green product design reflects the efforts by both of our companies to help reduce carbon footprint for commercial aircraft. It also connects with another of our commitments: improving the mobility of people everywhere through better aircraft design,” he added.

Facility groundbreaking was April 2014, with construction starting in January of 2017 when the first press piece arrived on site. The machine is nearly 10 stories tall and only one-third of it is visible – the other two-thirds are below ground level. The press has a bed size of 10 feet by 20 feet and utilizes an automated die clamping system which allows for quick die changes between jobs. Multiple hydraulic cylinders facilitate lower operating costs and allow for numerous modes of force for a variety of part configurations. Weber Metals' first production part will be for Boeing's main landing gear beam on the Boeing 737 MAX narrow-body airliner.

The state of California contributed $20 million in tax credits to the project. Weber Metals plans to double its employment to 800 jobs.

William Kucinski  is content editor at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group in Warrendale, Pa. Previously, he worked as a writer at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was responsible for writing the agency’s System Failure Case Studies. His interests include literally anything that has to do with space, past and present military aircraft, and propulsion technology.

Contact him regarding any article or collaboration ideas by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Topics:
Aircraft Aircraft structures Airframes Alloys Aluminum alloys Bodies and Structures Catalysts Defense Electronics & Computers Emissions Emissions control Environmental protection Exhaust emissions Forming Green Design & Manufacturing Greenhouse Gases Manufacturing & Prototyping Manufacturing equipment and machinery Manufacturing processes Metals Metals Sustainable development Titanium alloys

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    Transcript

    00:00:02 [Music] large larger gigantic the wording quickly makes frequent use of superlatives when it comes to describing the world's largest and most powerful hydraulic close die forging press and Webber metals in Los Angeles a subsidiary of auto Fox kg but that's not what it's really about for the producer of special and high

    00:00:35 performance products for the aerospace industry today's aircrafts are becoming bigger their components are becoming larger their geometries are becoming more complex and sophisticated and demand a higher press force for their production in this respect the pull-down forging press with 540 mega newtons or 60,000 short tons press force is only a means

    00:01:02 to an end and that was also the starting point for the machine producer the SMS group Oh sweetie citizens all your most important character trait is the ability to listen to listen to what the customer wants to produce with our product and what he aims to achieve on the market in this case it is in particular parts for the aerospace industry with very high

    00:01:31 demands and very high material grades so we had to think backwards starting from these parts and building something around them and that is the press that we have developed for this purpose [Music] the new press consists not only of large parts it is also being built in large steps important milestones were reached on

    00:01:55 schedule the large castings come from foundries in Korea and as here Great Britain five ladles are cast simultaneously a total of 34 castings and forgings with weights between 100 and 310 metric tons are required for the forging press despite their size all the parts have to be machined with high precision as here with the conical guides

    00:02:28 the parts are shipped to Europe and Korea for further finishing on special machines this project is a global masterpiece also from the point of view of logistics in Tamiya is it man behind me you can see one of the four conical guides one of the largest parts that can be produced by casting the tie rods and compression boxes will

    00:02:55 later run through these conical guides the four tie rods give the press its stability these unique huge parts are forged on the open-die forging press supplied by the SMS group - these are shmita for Klingon they are more than 25 meters long and have a diameter of around 1 meter the game we are pushing the limits of what is physically possible

    00:03:25 here once again size alone is not the crucial criteria the very highest precision is also required here in the USA at AutoFix kg subsidiary Weber medals all the parts arrived on site for assembly into the largest pulldown forging press not too many people in the world as capable as the SMS group to to deliver this type of technology for this

    00:03:55 application and the team has been highly engaged with SMS throughout this process to deliver a world-class piece of equipment here to have Weber medals the roughly 24 meter deep pit for the press has been excavated and is ready for the erection the majority of the hydraulic equipment has already been installed in the pump cellar but the next major challenge is still ahead of us

    00:04:20 the lower cross head that you can see here in the background is just being prepared and pre tensioned so that it can be transported into the press pit tomorrow here again we are talking about for large and heavy hearts that together weigh 1200 tons the cross set is first raised using a mobile lifting tower MLT and then moved proactive planning and working is vital

    00:04:47 on this site a number of parts are already in the press pit such as the large nuts since the space is so confined that the nuts can no longer be installed later acclimatize small parts er weigh over 200 tons that means that everything here is a huge challenge everything is ready now the lower cross set is lowered into the press pit slowly

    00:05:15 carefully and precisely accurate to a hundredth of a millimeter Plus that is a very unique project heavy pieces heavy parts that need to be put together is a challenge but with the team I have on site we do a pretty good job done the cross head has been successfully lowered into its final position by the team right on the dot [Music]

    00:05:45 but we could only wish for customers like Otto Fuchs and a cooperation such as we have found in this project for all our projects it is purposeful it is constructive and it is teamwork the whole team is continuing to work with unabated motivation the cross head was just one milestone of many we are well on schedule everyone

    00:06:14 involved is full of enthusiasm you

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