Press Release

Air Tools

(Press Release, November 2013)

Pneumatic tools for cutting and assembly

Powerful, individually configured pliers

DEPRAG acquires CHJ Kretzschmar Engineering KG

If you are seeking a powerful aid for cutting and separating, for pressing and crimping, for assembly, or for embossing seals, the most effective tool is a modern set of pneumatic pliers. These handy universal tools have forged a firm place for themselves in industry. They carry out a myriad of tasks in series production, assembly and repairs within a huge variety of sectors, such as mechanical engineering, maintenance, the automotive industry or the assembly of household goods. The DEPRAG Group has expanded its range of high-quality pneumatically-driven pliers for industrial use by acquiring the pneumatic pliers business from market leaders CHJ Kretzschmar Engineering KG in Hamburg. Pavel Šilhán, Sales Manager at DEPRAG’s subsidiary in the Czech Republic sees good growth potential for the expanded product group. “With this acquisition we have expanded our pneumatic pliers range which promises much success, and DEPRAG is set up for the future on an even broader base.”

Pneumatic pliers are distinctive for their ease of operation and long service life. In fact the major benefit of pliers powered by compressed air lies in their extremely small size and low power-to-weight ratio. Peter Ziegler, DEPRAG product manager for pneumatic tools pointed out: “One of our customers had been experiencing many employees signing off sick due to RSI (repetitive strain injury). This syndrome occurs when a person suffers sustained, long-lasting and monotonous stress in performing tasks such as assembling clips with manual tools. Since the customer has been using our pneumatic pliers that problem has become a thing of the past. The low power-to-weight ratio means that our pneumatic pliers are also extremely easy to handle and user-friendly. These pliers achieve a maximum pressing force of 10,000 N.” It is the way the pneumatic drive works that creates these outstanding characteristics. The tool consists of a housing with a piston, the plier head and the plier insert. When the pneumatic pliers are supplied with compressed air the piston immediately transfers the energy to the plier head, and the power also transfers instantaneously.

Peter Ziegler adds: “The pneumatic pliers can be customised optimally to your particular requirements. If you turn the plier head towards the body and valve lever, the insert can be adjusted to any cutting position. Due to their small size and the flexibility of the plier head the pneumatic pliers are ideal for assembly and repair work in confined spaces which are difficult to access.” And there are even more advantages. We manufacture the components used in DEPRAG tools in our own factory. Modern heat treatment technologies guarantee long service life and reliability.

So which pliers are the most suitable for which application? And how does the customer find the right set of pliers that is the most appropriate to his particular task? DEPRAG INDUSTRIAL Sales Manager Pavel Šilhán attempts to categorise. “We distinguish between cutting pliers, pliers to assemble clips, pliers for pressing and crimping, assembly pliers, and customised pliers.” Ultimately the choice for the right insert is defined by the assembly or maintenance task in hand. Pavel Šilhán explains by citing an example: “Let us take cutting pliers. Our customer, Screen Servis s.r.o., a well-known manufacturer of filters, gridirons, sieves and conveyor belts was looking for pliers to use in their production facilities. Its task would be to reliably cut to length a 4 mm thick steel wire ready for the production of industrial sieves. The tensile strength of the material is between 400 and 900 N/mm². Around 2000 cutting operations per week were required. Pavel Šilhán adds: “Screen Servis came to us to select from our comprehensive range the pliers that would be just right for them. Our strengths include our advice and after-sales services. Customers can send us the material they wish to process and DEPRAG will find the most suitable pliers with the right insert. The pneumatic pliers are individually configured to suit the material and the application. Now that the pliers are in daily use, Screen Servis workers value the reliability, power and ergonomics provided by DEPRAG INDUSTRIAL pliers - quality that speaks for itself.”

Cutting pliers are appropriate for separating metals such as copper, aluminium, beryllium, silver and steel, as well as plastics such as duroplastics, thermoplastics and composite materials. They can be used to process a wide variety of products, for example cables, wires, ropes and hoses.

But besides the basic function of cutting, these specially designed cutting pliers take on other tasks such as crimping or bending wire ends. Pavel Šilhán adds: “The choice of pliers depends first of all on the application. Inserts are available with straight or angled cutters. They can be designed as end cutters or straight cutters and are even available as replaceable triangular cutting inserts.” To cut metals, one side of the pliers is machined as a cutter, and the other is designed to be the counter-holder (the anvil). Synthetic materials require a different cutting technology: both sides of the insert are designed to cut.

The pneumatic pliers are operated by a pressure strip and provided with a switch-on guard. The more powerful pliers are also equipped with a safety lever valve.

In addition to the cutting pliers the wide range of products also includes assembly pliers that can be used, for example, to assemble clips.  The primary function of a hose clip is to securely fix a hose to a connecting piece or coupling. And the hose clip itself is assembled easily and reliably with the expanded DEPRAG INDUSTRIAL range of pliers. Clips are deployed in a multitude of ways. A very wide range of types, clamping ranges, band widths and materials are used. DEPRAG clip pliers are suitable for all types of clip - support clips, circlips, spring clips, spring band steel clips, double circlips, clamping jaw clips, worm thread clips, joint bore clips, exhaust pipe clips - to name just a few.

The application in question will also define the right choice of hose clip. The clamping range, the clamping force, the material, the installation and assembly conditions, as well as the assembly specification set by the manufacturer of the clip are all crucial to this choice. DEPRAG INDUSTRIAL clip pliers ensure that the widest variety of connecting pieces are processed securely and reliably. The width of the jaw can be adjusted to adapt to the assembly task in hand. A safety lever valve ensures that workers are safe as the clips are pressed together. There are clip pliers for widths ranging from 8 to 100 mm, providing pressures between 450 N to 10,000 N.

Water and electricity meters are sealed with an embossed lead seal. For example public utility companies will have their own logo stamped on the lead seal for easy recognition. Pneumatic pliers are the ideal tool for applying the lead seals to these meters and embossing the seal. The precisely defined stroke ensures that the pliers emboss and seal the lead die without problem and with repeated accuracy. Here the DEPRAG range contains two basic variants: pliers to apply a lead seal, another to apply the seal while at the same time cutting the wire ends to length.

A comprehensive range of pressing and crimping pliers is available for many applications. These pliers are equipped with exchangeable pressing dies, such as those used to process wire end ferrules, hexagonal crimps, BNC plugs, insulated compression cable lugs, pipe cable lugs, crimped cable lugs, uninsulated flat plugs and angled flat plugs, crimping dies and W-dies. And a huge variety of inserts are available for fitting DIN 471 and DIN 472 locking rings, or external Seeger rings to fasten bolts, for example in the automotive industry.

Countless numbers of assembly jobs are resolved quickly and reliably with the help of pneumatic pliers. There are pliers to fit hoses, to mount chain locks or hollow rivets, to press-fit or set plastic plugs, to set earth terminals, to assemble fuse terminals or hole-reinforcing bushes, to punch or uncouple parts made of rubber, plastic and NE metals, to identify sheet steel, to press in hinge pins, to pre-stretch steel ropes, to spread running rails apart, to expand cable inlets, to apply wide cuts, to bend wire eyes, and there are also pneumatic pliers for stamping holes.

Product manager Peter Ziegler summarises: “It is almost impossible to list the huge variety of different types of pliers. The main thing is that our range contains the appropriate pneumatic pliers for almost every application you can imagine. If it doesn’t, our engineers will design a suitable device for you. All the pneumatic pliers have one general thing in common - the high level of reliability, power and ergonomics that distinguish these tools and ensure that users find them indispensable.”

DEPRAG SCHULZ GMBH u. CO. KG in Amberg has more than 600 employees in over 50 countries. The pneumatic pliers come into the range of pneumatic tools marketed under the DEPRAG INDUSTRIAL brand. Other key fields of expertise available at this company include screwdriving technology, automation and air motors.


Press Contact:

Dagmar Dübbelde
DEPRAG SCHULZ GMBH & CO. KG
Carl-Schulz-Platz 1
D-92224 Amberg
Tel: 09621 371-343
Fax: 09621 371-199
Email: d.duebbelde@deprag.de

 

www.deprag.cz/en/air-tools/air-pliers/

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