This case study documents a real installation: a single piece spiral flight forming machine supplied to Equipos Industriales SpA, a metalworking and industrial engineering company based in Chile. The machine helps this company produce auger screw by itself, reducing costs and increasing profit margin.
Customer Background
- Company: Equipos Industriales
- Location: Chile
- Industry: Metalworking (maestranza metalmecánica) and industrial equipment manufacturing
- End markets served: Non-metallic mining, agro-industry, animal feed and food processing
This company designs, engineers, and manufactures conveying and process equipment, including screw conveyors, belt conveyors, mixing equipment, and metal structures for customers across Chile’s mining and agro-industrial sectors. As demand for screw conveyors grew, the company needed a reliable way to produce spiral flights in-house rather than sourcing them from third parties — improving lead times, quality consistency, and cost control.
The Challenge
Before this purchase, producing spiral flights for screw conveyors typically meant one of two approaches:
- Cutting and welding multiple flight segments together — labor-intensive, with weld seams that can weaken the blade and create balance/vibration issues.
- Outsourcing flight production — adding lead time and reducing quality control over dimensional accuracy.
This client required equipment that could form a single, continuous spiral flight from one piece of material, across a wide range of thicknesses and pitches, to serve varied conveyor specifications for mining and agro-industrial clients.
The Solution: Single Piece Spiral Flight Forming Machine
To meet this need, the Chilean client purchased a single-piece spiral blade forming machine with the following specifications:
| Parameter | Specification |
|---|---|
| Machine name | Spiral blade forming machine (single piece spiral flight forming machine) |
| Workpiece thickness range | 2–20 mm |
| Compatible materials | Q235, Q345B, 304, 316L, 201 stainless/carbon steel |
| Inner diameter range | ≥20 mm |
| Outer diameter range | ≤800 mm |
| Pitch range | 100–700 mm |
| Forming direction | Left-hand or right-hand |
| Tooling included | 1 set hexagonal tool |
| Documentation | 1 instruction manual per set |
| Motor power | 5.5 kW |
| Overall dimensions | 2700 × 550 × 1200 mm |
How the Single Piece Spiral Flight Forming Machine Works
- A flat steel disc (or ring blank) is loaded onto the machine.
- The machine applies controlled pressing/rolling force to progressively deform the flat plate into a three-dimensional helical shape.
- The pitch is adjusted according to the target specification (100–700mm in this configuration).
- The result is one continuous spiral flight, free of weld seams, ready for mounting onto a screw conveyor shaft.
Because the flight is formed from a single piece of material, the finished part has more consistent wall geometry and balance than a welded, multi-segment flight — an important factor for conveyor efficiency and vibration control, especially in continuous-duty mining and agro-industrial operations.
Problem → Capability → Outcome
| Problem | Machine Capability | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Welded segments weaken the blade, cause imbalance | Form one flight from a single blank | Stronger flight, no weld seams |
| Needed both carbon steel and stainless output | Handle Q235, Q345B, 304, 316L, 201 | One machine covers standard and corrosion-resistant lines |
| Needed varied sizes for mining and agro clients | OD ≤800mm, pitch 100–700mm | A wide size range from one machine |
| Needed both flight directions | Left-hand and right-hand forming | Support dual-screw and reversing designs |
| Limited workshop space and power | 2700×550×1200mm, 5.5kW | Fit a small-to-medium workshop |
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