Press

Built JIT from the modular kit system: the TOX® stamping press for the rational production of blanks for medals of the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing

The inquiry addressed to the Chinese subsidiary of the world-wide acting TOX® PRESSOTECHNIK at the end of last year was not at all ordinary. The medal supplier entrusted by the national Olympic Committee of the People’s Republic China asked for production possibilities for circular blanks of high quality for Olympic medals. The TOX® representatives in Taicang City/Shanghai approached the task with a comprehensive solution: the building of a specially conceived stamping press including the tools for circular blanks.

The quickly found and economic solution offered to the supplier of the Olympic Committee consists of a standard press of 4-column construction, type MAG 050, a rugged pneumo-hydraulic TOX®-Powerpackage drive cylinder for pressforces up to approx. 500 kN, a safety control for the press, a twin stamping tool set, a metal strip feeder, and a discharge conveyor for the stamped circular blanks. The advantage of the 4-column construction of the stamping press has to be seen in the precise guiding of the ram plate and the optimal load distribution over the entire ram plate. Thus the tool load is reduced and the stamping quality is maintained over a long period of time. With regard to the circular blanks for the medals, the ample tool installation area made it possible to use a twin stamping tool producing with just one stroke two circular blanks. The relevant reduction of production time i.e. throughput was, of course, well appreciated by the supplier who was pressed for time.

The material used for the circular blanks for the Olympic medals is silver, thickness 2.4 mm. The „double pack“ production has not been a great challenge neither for the TOX® stamping press nor for the tool which was also produced by TOX® China, and so the order covering several thousands of  blanks could be executed by the customer within short.