Automatic Feed Company (AFCO) announces the first shipment of its newest bundle turnover (BTO) designed to accommodate smaller stacked blanks than its previous models. This front-loading bundle turnover can accommodate many types of smaller stacked blanks including cold-rolled and advanced high strength steels (AHSS) as well as aluminum. It has a weight capacity of up to 18,750 lbs. and can accommodate blank stacks of up to 64” (1625 mm) wide x 82.25” (2089 mm) length and up to 45.44” total height.
Bundle turnovers automate the process of flipping over an entire stack of blanks 180-degrees bottom over top. This eliminates the difficult task and safety risk of flipping over metal blanks by hand or by crane while reducing the potential of damage to the blanks. Flipping blanks also allows the same blanking die to be used for making exact left-hand and right-hand mirror image parts.
This newly designed bundle turnover has steel bridges with lands surfaces, for use with pallets on the top and bottom of the stack for loading and unloading. This design allows a fork truck to load the stack into the BTO where it is flipped and then unloaded by the fork truck. A design option features the addition of urethane pads on the lands, allowing the flipping of stacks with or without pallets or dunnage.
AFCO’s BTO systems all feature automatic stack clamping, rotating and unclamping, providing safe and efficient turnover of heavy material stacks. The hydraulic clamping operation utilizes screw jacks to provide the clamping force. The rotation system is powered by an AC motor with a typical turnover, clamp, rotate, and unclamp, cycle of only a few minutes.
