TRS launches new range of presses

TRS Engineering Services' TechModern presses provide stamping, hydroforming, deep drawing and other operations that metal forming presses will need to do today and in the future.

Managing director Wesley Osborne said that the presses had been designed and developed from scratch over a number of years by a three-strong team at TRS.

"We have invested £1.3 million to develop the new generation TechModern range," said Mr Osborne, who started the business in 1993.

He said that the aim was to sell them to customers involved in general engineering for sectors including automotive and aerospace.

"They can be utilised for all kinds of pressings, tubes and panels. We have already had a lot of enquiries about them," added Mr Osborne, who worked for Rolls-Royce for more than 30 years and was also an engineering manager for British Rail.

TRS Engineering Services, which currently employs 17 at its site in Saddlers Court, Fryers Road, Bloxwich, is looking at both the home and export market.

The presses are of a modular design, comprising a flat pack framework which can be readily transported to their destinations on low loader trailers and assembled on site.

They are floor mounted without the need of pit foundations and can be assembled, together with their computer control systems, commissioned and maintained at floor level.

The computer controlling systems are programmed on board and can, in addition to the operating command sequencing, include the component design and its forming simulation.

For product support it can be equipped with condition monitoring.

A speciality of these presses is the hydroforming capability to utilise fluid pressure in place of a punch to form sheet metal or tubular blanks into complex shapes.

This enables the manufacture of components with improved properties and lower costs compared with conventional manufacturing techniques.

The hydroforming technique allows for the production of components that would otherwise be made from multiple stampings joined together.

For the tube hydroforming process, the tube is loaded into hydroforming dies and the press closes on the dies. The tube is filled with liquid and internal pressure is increased and the tube takes the shape of the dies. The press is opened and the part is removed.

For the panel hydroforming process the sheet is placed above the die, the press closes securing the sheet in the die and fluid under pressure fills the chamber. The pressure is increased and the sheet takes the form of the die. The press is opened and the formed panel is removed.

Further details on the TechModern presses are available on the company's website at www.trseng.com