JDM Steel Service, formerly Northern Industries, a steel service center located in Chicago Heights, Illinois, has completed the installation of a Red Bud Industries, Red Bud, Illinois, Retrofit to their existing Cut-To-Length Line.

JDM Steel Service was seeing an increased demand for closer length and squareness tolerances in their hot rolled market. In its original configuration the existing line was not able to consistently produce these parts directly from coil. Based on Red Bud's experience in this market, they were chosen to do the Retrofit.

Red Bud incorporated their Heavy Gage Servo Hydraulic Grip Feed System, Heavy Gage Edge Trimmer, and Variable Rake Shear into their existing line. Material up to .312" (7.92 mm)

thick will be run in a deep loop while the thicker material will run in start/stop mode. Specially designed grippers allow the material to be processed at high speeds without slippage. The Feed's unique alignment system and auto camber control ensures the consistent production of very accurate, square parts.

The Heavy Gage Edge Trimmer is specially designed for quick set up and changeover. The system also features a unique floating head design that tracks the strip to help minimize the introduction of camber into the strip. To further improve squareness tolerances, if a part is out of square, the Shear angle can be quickly adjusted to compensate.