Alsdorf, Germany, 19 January 2024    Aachener Maschinenbau GmbH (Amba) will be showing two new All-in-One machines at the WIRE 2024 trade show. The BM12 machine is the first screwmaking machine able to produce up to 70 screws per minute from 18-mm-dia wire. BM-BiMetal, the second machine shown, is a further new addition to Amba’s All-in-One range. This machine can produce up to 100 bimetal screws per minute in automatic mode.

BM12 screwmaking machine

With the new BM12 screwmaking machine, Amba has increased the product range covered by its All-in-One machines to wire gages of up to 18 mm diameter. The new machine forms wire gages of up to 12 mm conventionally by cold-working. Its new feature is the integrated hot-forming capability for larger diameters: In the case of 12 to 18 mm gage wire, the material is inductively heated within the machine before upsetting. The blanks can be preheated to temperatures of up to 1,200 °C. The machine is designed for production rates of between 50 and 70 items per minute.

The first machine of the new series will be used to produce up to 600-mm-long screws with thread diameters of 19 mm or more directly from the coil. It will be installed at a US customer where it will replace two existing production lines consisting of several individual machines that require manual feeding. Here, the All-in-One principle will provide a marked boost in productivity as it performs all process steps from wire pay-off, straightening and blank cutting, screw head upsetting up to and including thread rolling within one single machine. Additionally, the new Amba machine will use much less space than the current equipment.

Machines for bimetal screw production

The new BM-BiMetal – which is also an All-in-One machine – can produce up to 100 self-drilling bimetal screws per minute fully automatically. These special screws are used in the construction industry for fastening profiled sheet metal roofing and façade cladding and in the energy industry for mounting solar panels, for example. The drill point of the screw is made from hardened carbon steel, the shank from stainless steel. These screws do not need a pilot hole. Therefore, they can be applied without extra pre-drilling.

So far, bimetal screws used to be produced on several separate machines, allowing only partial automation. Now, thanks to the Amba All-in-One approach, all process steps – from material feeding, forming of the screw head, weld joining of the carbon steel drill point to the stainless steel blank and thread rolling, up to the punching and heat-treatment of the drill bit – can be performed within one single machine.

430 words including introduction

Amba at the WIRE 2024
Düsseldorf, Germany, 15 - 19 April 2024
Hall 16, Stand H58

About AMBA

Aachener Maschinenbau GmbH – generally referred to as “Amba” – was founded in 1908, at a time when Aachen was worldwide famous for its high-quality needle production. Since then, the company has evolved into an internationally renowned manufacturer of machinery used to make cold-formed metal components.

Today, Amba specializes in equipment for the production of long and slender components with varying cross-sections, such as screws between 60 and 2,500 mm long, and tubes and spokes.

The Amba All-in-One design has made the company the world’s only supplier of machinery that can perform all steps needed to manufacture long and complex components continuously on just one machine. All process steps from feeding the input stock – wire rod or tube blanks – up to the finished, packaged product are handled by just one machine. This is unique in the industry.

At its headquarters in Alsdorf near Aachen, Amba employs 80 people in its development and design departments, in the workshops and in after-sales.