Germany-based Schuler and its affiliate Farina in Italy have unveiled the world’s largest mechanical forging line in Italy to an international group of 60 forging experts. A live video stream transmitted from the production site in Suello (near Milan) showed the 16,000-tonne press with 600mm stroke in action of 600mm. It scheduled to be delivered to the Germany-based ThyssenKrupp Gerlach.

Schuler’s sales manager Klaus Berglar-Bartsch said: “Neither Farina nor Schuler alone would have been able to set up a machine in such a short time. We put all our engineering resources together to make it happen.”

Thanks to the Scotch Yoke design, the press with a total height of 14m is much smaller than conventional ones, enabling high off-centre loads, a high number of strokes per min and extremely high precision.

From the outside, the new GLF type machine looks like a conventional press including the flywheel, clutch and crown gear. However, in its heart, the Scotch Yoke directly works in the slide, which is the reason for the compact design. The massive press with a total weight of some 1,850 tons further consists up of a table in cast steel design as well as welded uprights.

Farina’s general manager Marco Gritti told the participants of the video conference: “The order was placed in April 2019. In December 2019, the design had been finalised, and we started to place orders at our suppliers.”

The main parts arrived in spring of 2020, in the very beginning of the Corona pandemic. Nevertheless, Farina started the assembly in September of last year and managed to finish it in January. “It was a tough time”, recalled Mr Gritti.

In the middle of April, all parts arrived on site in Germany ready for installation. Overall, the project was completed in only 26 months.

During the following live demonstration, the machine was running at its half speed of 16 strokes per min. The online audience could see that the fly wheel is installed exactly in the middle of the crown.

He continued: “This permits the press to be more precise in the forging process. The accuracy of parts is therefore higher than with a traditional press.”

Because of the Scotch Yoke design, the press force of 16,000 tonnes provided by an 800kW drive is available 500mm to the right and left.

Mr Gritti concluded: “Becoming part of Schuler in 2018 has permitted Farina to grow and penetrate new markets in other parts of the world, and this project is a direct result.”

According Mr Gritti, plans are now afoot for a 20,000-tonne mechanical forging press.