Abstract: To spin a metal sheet around a chuck for forming a product, in a teaching phase involving force control, a product is formed on the chuck by rotating the chuck about the axis of rotation and by moving a forming roller one or several times alongside the chuck with a pre-determined pressure force thereby spinning the intermediate metal sheet. In the teaching phase, measuring data corresponding to the movement of the forming roller during spinning is fixed in a memory of a control unit, and in the production phase the forming roller is controlled with the aid of these measuring data. The control unit determines the position values of the forming roller in axial direction and in transverse direction relative to the chuck from the data fixed in the teaching phase, and the control unit controls the forming roller in the production phase at least during a part of the spinning movement by means of the position values determined in this manner for spinning the metal sheet into the desired product.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for spinning a product, wherein a metal plate which may be preshaped or not, is deformed on a rotating chuck by a forming roller into a hollow product with a wall thickness. The shape of the chuck is determined and is stored in a memory of a control unit as a series of successive points. The control unit moves the forming roller according to a path corresponding with the shape of the chuck. This path is determined by the stored shape of the chuck with a desired wall thickness of the product added thereto. The metal plate is deformed by moving the forming roller according to the thus determined path. In each point of the stored shape of the chuck, the control unit determines a tangent line of the chuck shape at the location of this point and adds the desired wall thickness to the chuck shape at the location of this point according to a line perpendicular to the tangent line to calculate the path of the forming roller.

Abstract: In a method of forming a rim on a lamp reflector, a forming roller is positioned on one side of the reflector rim to be formed and a support roller is positioned on the other side. The reflector is rotated about its center axis and the rollers are rotated with the same circumferential speed as the reflector rim. Then the rollers are moved such relative to each other and to the reflector that the rim is flanged between the rollers. The forming roller is moved such that the final tangent line of the circumferential face of this roller to the reflector rim is tilted about a pivot point which is positioned substantially on the bending line of the reflector rim. The invention also includes an apparatus for performing this method.

Abstract: A forming machine comprises a rotatingly drivable gripping device (1) for gripping a forming tool (2) and a material plate (3) to be formed, a movable lower slide (6), a first drive (8) for moving the lower slide, a movable upper slide (10, 35) mounted on the lower slide, a second drive (11, 34) for moving the upper slide and a holder (5) for a forming roller (4) supported on the upper slide (10, 35). A control unit (16) is provided for controlling the movement of the forming roller (4) by actuating both drives (8; 11, 34), the control unit being connected to a detector (18, 21) for determining the force exerted on the forming roller (4) and to a detector (17) for determining the position of the lower slide (6). A memory (25) is connected to the control unit for storing corresponding force/position values. The control unit (16) is adapted to control the movement of the forming roller (4 ) in dependence on the force/position values stored in the memory (25).