Swaging is a process that utilizes compressive force to manipulate metal into the desired shape. It’s used to form and connect components like casters and legs on furniture pieces, the lugs found on steel wire rope cables and even aerospace tube parts. While it’s primarily a cold-working process, swaging machines can be heated in order to work with materials such as tungsten and molybdenum that have low ductility at room temperature. The swaging machine can also be employed for other purposes such as end forming, reduction and creating internal shapes within tubing.

The Swaging machine works by forcing a shaped mandrel into the hollow stock of the part being swaged. This causes the stock to be swaged into the shape of the mandrel, securing it in place and preventing the stock from being pulled out of its new shape. The swaging machine can be adjusted to produce different shapes utilizing the mandrel, such as flare or bell ends and elbow elements. Various types of profiles can be produced as well, with round, square and rectangular sections possible along with polygons, tapered and contoured forms. Holes can also be swaged into tubes using this technique, although they are typically smaller in size than a standard pop rivet and require an additional tool for this purpose.

In addition to being able to create complex internal and external shapes, swaging machines can increase the diameter of a pipe section. This is achieved by placing a small swage punch into the end of a section of pipe and hammering it with a swaging tool, which forces the section of pipe to deform around the shape of the swage punch. When the swage punch is removed from the section of pipe, it retains its new, larger diameter.

FENN offers a complete line of swaging machines for pointing, forming and reducing a wide variety of wire, rod and tube sizes. In addition, the company offers additional swager components and options such as sound enclosures, coolant/slushing systems and feeders to optimize and automate swaging processes.

All FENN swaging machines, dies and hammers are designed and engineered in-house, assuring their accuracy and durability for decades of continuous use. The company’s team of application specialists and parts department is available to assist customers with the selection of a specific swager model or custom solution for any unique metal forming requirements.

In addition to their ability to provide highly customized solutions, swaging machines offer numerous cost benefits over traditional machining techniques. For example, swaging can help reduce the amount of material that is wasted during a production run by allowing workers to place more precision on each individual piece of stock. They can also save time and money by enabling fewer people to operate each machine. This allows for higher throughput and increased efficiency. In addition, the high level of repeatability and consistency offered by swaging machines can improve product quality and customer satisfaction. This is particularly true for parts such as tubing, hose and flexible conduit that are re-used multiple times in different applications.