Industrial Fabricators installs stretch leveling cut-to-length line

Industrial Fabricators Inc., a supplier of carbon steel, aluminum, and stainless metal fabrications and flat-rolled processing and metal distribution services, has installed a 72- by ½-in. Braner/Loopco stretch leveling cut-to-length line in its 700,000-sq.-ft. Gastonia, N.C., facility. The line can convert coil—in gauges from 0.060 to 0.500 in. with up to 125,000 PSI—into memory-free sheet and plate products.

Coils to 84 in. OD initially are worked by a heavy flattener that corrects coil-set and cross-bow conditions. The strip is processed through a hydraulic cassette leveler fitted with a multimotor TorqueMaster powertrain that produces extra-deep work roll plunge to correct strip edge-wave and center-buckle conditions.

A precision servo feed meters the strip into a variable-rake cut-to-length shear that cuts the strip to a preprogrammed length. Cut sheet/plate is stacked, weighed, and run out for further packaging. Sheets/plates that require complete elimination of springback memory conditions are elongated by a 40-ft.-bed stretch leveler that grips and stretches the strip beyond its elastic limit with no surface marking.