Elta Investment Packs a Punch

A new investment from the Applied Technology division of Elta has significantly increased the production capacity at its engineering and manufacturing site in Fareham, Hampshire, with the introduction of the latest in sheet metal punching technology.

A Trumpf TruPunch 2020 punching machine marks the newest addition to Elta’s already extensive manufacturing hardware and software, providing greater productivity and flexibility in the manufacture of fans and ancillary equipment employed in a wide range of building services applications.

The TruPunch offers speeds of up to 2,200 strokes per minute when marking, 900 strokes per minute while punching and rotates at three revolutions per second, whatever the tool being used. With all 19 tool stations fully rotational to ensure swift and easy changing of tools to meet different punching requirements, it also reduces the handling of parts by consolidating different operations in a single machine.

Paul Greenwood, Sheet Metal Foreman at Elta’s Fareham site, said – “As with most fabrication, a lot of the processes are repetitive so the capacity for this machine to be accurate and repeat the marking and punching so precisely and so quickly has been a real boost to our manufacturing capabilities. It is being used for fabricating a number of fan housings, including the Revolution Long and Short Case Axials, the Contra-Rotating Axials, and the Multiflow Mixed Flow Fan ranges. We are also seeing the benefits of it in the bespoke manufacturing for which the Applied Technology division here at Fareham is particularly known.”

Another feature of the TruPunch is the integrated loader/unloader facility which automates the process and allows the machine to run throughout the night if required.