WO2021028204A1

WO2021028204A1 - Forming machine having an infeed device

Info

Publication number: WO2021028204A1
Application number: PCT/EP2020/071110
Authority: WO
Inventors: Samuel Johannes WEBER; Andreas Schur; Oliver Kuhnert
Original assignee: Wafios Aktiengesellschaft
Priority date: 2019-08-13
Filing date: 2020-07-27
Publication date: 2021-02-18
Also published as: DE102019212090A1; KR20220044335A; DE102019212090B4

Abstract

A forming machine for producing molded parts from an elongate workpiece, in particular from a wire, comprises a forming device having one or more forming units for receiving forming tools, and an infeed device (300) for feeding in an elongate workpiece from a material stock and for conveying the workpiece parallel to a transport axis (310) in the region of the forming device. The infeed device (300) is designed as a belt infeed device and has two transport belts (305-1, 305-2) which revolve in opposite directions and which, on sides facing each other, with outer faces facing each other delimit a transport gap (315), extending in the direction of the transport axis, for guiding the workpiece through. An aligning unit (400) for aligning the workpiece coming from the workpiece stock before entry into the infeed device (300) is upstream of the infeed device (300). The infeed device (300) is rotatable about an infeed rotation axis, which is coaxial to the transport axis (310), through predefinable rotation angles by means of a rotary drive (350).

Description

Forming machine with feed device

AREA OF APPLICATION AND STATE OF THE ART

The invention relates to a forming machine for producing molded parts from an elongated workpiece, in particular from a wire.

Forming machines are machine tools which, with the help of suitable tools, can produce smaller or larger series of molded parts with sometimes complex geometry predominantly by forming from elongated semi-finished products such as wire, tube, strip or the like in an automatic manufacturing process. A forming machine can be, for example, a bending machine for producing two-dimensional or three-dimensional bent parts from wire material, strip material or pipe material by bending or a spring production machine for producing compression springs, tension springs, torsion springs or other spring-like molded parts by spring coiling or spring coiling.

Nowadays, highly productive, computer-numerically controlled, multi-axis forming machines are used for the efficient production of large numbers of molded parts. Such a forming machine has several controllable machine axes, a drive system with several electrical drives for driving the machine axes and a control device for the coordinated control of working movements of the machine axes in a manufacturing process according to a computer-readable control program specific to the manufacturing process.

When manufacturing molded parts from wire, the wire is drawn in or conveyed under the control of an NC control program by means of a feed device of the forming machine from a workpiece supply (eg reel) to a forming device of the forming machine. By means of the reshaping device connected downstream in the material transport direction, the fed wire is reshaped into a shaped part with the aid of at least one reshaping tool of the shaping device. After completion of a forming operation, the finished molded part is cut from the supplied wire by means of a cutting device under the control of the NC control program. This process is repeated cyclically for each molded part to be manufactured. The present application relates to forming machines in which the feed device is designed as a belt feed device and has two counter-rotating conveyor belts which, on mutually facing sides with mutually facing outer surfaces, delimit a transport gap elongated in the material conveying direction for guiding the workpiece through.

European patent EP 2 710 715 B1 discloses a forming machine and a method for producing coil elements for electric motors and other molded parts. In the embodiment described, the electrically conductive starting material is in the form of a round wire which is held on a supply spool. The workpiece material is withdrawn from the material supply with the aid of a belt intake device and conveyed along a transport axis in the direction of a downstream forming device. The workpiece material withdrawn from the supply first passes a straightening unit which straighten the round material. The workpiece material then passes through a transformation unit in order to transform the incoming round material into a flat material with mutually parallel side surfaces, and then a measuring device for measuring the conveyed conductor material length before it enters the intake device. The forming device has a bending tool which has two bending pins which are mounted at a distance from one another on the end face of a shaft. The shaft can be rotated around its shaft axis and shifted parallel to its shaft axis. Furthermore, the bending tool as a whole can be rotated around the transport axis and moved vertically and parallel to the transport axis.

TASK AND SOLUTION

The invention is based on the object of providing a forming machine of the type mentioned at the outset with a robust construction, with which complexly curved molded parts can be produced with high dimensional accuracy.

This object is achieved by a forming machine with the features of claim 1. Advantageous developments are given in the dependent claims. The wording of all claims is incorporated into the content of the description by reference.

The forming machine is set up for the production of two-dimensional or three-dimensional curved molded parts from an elongated workpiece. The workpiece can in particular be a metallic wire. The forming machine has a forming device with one or more forming units for receiving Forming tools and a pull-in device for pulling in the elongated workpiece from a supply of material and for conveying the workpiece parallel to a transport axis into the area of the forming device. The term “transport axis” here refers to an axis in space that runs parallel to a coordinate axis of the machine coordinate system. The transport direction or conveying direction in which the workpiece is transported through the intake device ideally runs coaxially to the transport axis or almost coaxially to it.

The feed device is designed as a belt feed device. For this purpose, it has two counter-rotating transport belts which, on mutually facing sides with mutually facing outer surfaces, delimit a transport gap, which is elongated in the direction of the transport axis, for guiding the workpiece through. The workpiece is advanced or conveyed or transported in such a way that its longitudinal center axis runs as far as possible along the transport axis. A straightening unit is connected upstream of the infeed device, which serves to straighten the workpiece coming from the workpiece supply before it enters the infeed device.

According to one formulation of the invention, it is provided that the draw-in device can be rotated by predeterminable angles of rotation about a draw-in rotation axis coaxial to the transport axis with the aid of a rotary drive. This functionality offers several advantages. On the one hand, the shaping device does not require its own axis of rotation for rotating a shaping unit or a shaping tool about the transport axis. In this way, for example, the bending plane can be changed between an upstream bending operation and a subsequent bending operation by rotating the feed device and the workpiece conveyed thereby about the feed axis of rotation. The term “bending plane” denotes that plane that is spanned by a straight workpiece section located in front of a bend and a straight workpiece section located behind a bend. Since the forming device therefore does not need its own axis of rotation to switch between bending planes, structural complexity on the part of the forming device can be reduced.

A belt intake device is suitable for different cross-sectional shapes of the workpiece to be transported. With a belt intake, round materials can be conveyed in the same way as flat materials or strip materials. The inventors have also recognized that when processing softer materials, such as copper, aluminum, etc., the use of roller feeders can lead to deformations of the material. It may be that due to the high tension forces of the roller pairs, which during Feed to avoid slippage are necessary, a surface pressure that is too high for the soft material can arise. This can result in deformation of the material. This, in turn, can damage the surface of the material and the dimensional accuracy of the finished molded parts can be impaired. On the other hand, by using a feed device designed as a belt feed device with transport belts, the surface pressure on the material to be conveyed can be reduced. This enables slip-free transport even with low surface pressures, i.e. precise workpiece transport that is gentle on the material.

Furthermore, the inventors have recognized that in some shaping devices, to change between different bending planes, considerable masses have to be moved if a shaping unit of the shaping device is to be rotated around the transport axis. If the ability to rotate around the transport axis is shifted to the side of the intake device or to the side of the workpiece conveyed by it, heavy forming units, possibly with a strongly asymmetrical mass distribution, can be used if necessary. The construction on the part of the intake device can be designed in such a way that less mass has to be moved for the rotation, so that the influence of the inertia on the speed of the rotation and possible accelerations can be reduced. This enables turning operations around the transport axis with high dynamics and precision.

These advantages arise regardless of the number of forming units in the forming device. This can e.g. have a single forming unit. A shaping device can, however, also have two or more shaping units which are arranged distributed around the transport axis and can optionally be advanced in engagement with the workpiece. In this case, the workpiece can be rotated into the correct rotational position in relation to a selected forming unit by rotating the feed device, so that it can be brought into engagement with the workpiece. In all variants, the workpiece can also be rotated about the transport axis in the course of bending operations, which means that complex curved molded parts can be produced, which may also have twisted sections.

The feed device can have two axially parallel pulleys for each transport belt, around which the transport belt rotates. At least one of the pulleys is driven by a drive. The conveyor belt can be stretched freely between the pulleys. However, it has been found to be advantageous if the draw-in device has at least one support roller between the deflection rollers for supporting the transport belt in a section provided for contact with the workpiece. This allows a Even more even distribution of the contact pressure and thus an even more material-friendly workpiece transport can be achieved.

Although the transport belts can be designed as flat belts or V-belts without teeth, they are preferably designed as toothed belts, the internal teeth of which mesh with the external teeth of transport rollers. As a result, a slip between the transport belt and the deflecting rollers can be avoided, whereby the precision of the feed can be influenced favorably.

According to a further development, the intake device has an infeed device for continuously symmetrical counter-rotating infeed of the conveyor belts in an infeed direction running perpendicular to the direction of transport. A stepless adjustment of the distance between the transport belts symmetrically to the transport axis is thus realized. This makes it possible to adapt the intake device to different material thicknesses of the material to be conveyed. At the same time, it is ensured that the transport axis always runs through the center of the transport gap, which has a favorable effect on the precision of the transport. In some embodiments, the tensioning force can be continuously adjusted by pneumatically pressing the transport belt.

It was found that, due to the forces acting, the surface material of the conveyor belts can, depending on the material, have a tendency to elastic deformation, which can also have an influence on the rolling circumference of the conveyor belts. Any wear on the outer surface can also contribute to changing the rolling circumference. This can lead to length fluctuations in the transport lengths during operation. In order to counteract this, in some embodiments a measuring device connected upstream of the intake device is provided for measuring the workpiece length conveyed by the intake device.

The measuring device can work according to different principles, for example optically. In some embodiments, the measuring device has a measuring wheel which, together with a counter-element, for example an impeller or a further measuring wheel, delimit a measuring gap for guiding the workpiece through. The size of the measuring gap can preferably be set continuously with the aid of an adjusting device, so that any slip in the area of the measuring device can be reliably avoided. It has been found to be advantageous if the measuring device can be rotated about the transport axis synchronously with the feed device. This enables particularly reliable measurements with different rotational positions of the intake device.

The measuring device can, for example, be mechanically coupled to the feed device in a rotationally fixed manner. Some embodiments are characterized by a support frame rotatably mounted about the transport axis, which has a first wall with an inlet opening facing the straightening unit and a second wall with an outlet opening facing the forming device, the intake device and the measuring device between the inlet opening and the outlet opening on the support frame are mounted. As a result, the pull-in device and the measuring device can be rotated together by rotating the support arm, so that particularly precise measurements are also possible with rotation.

According to a further development, the straightening unit can be rotated about the transport axis synchronously with the intake device. This can be done synchronized with the control of the forming machine using its own rotary drive. However, a mechanical coupling between the straightening unit and the intake device is preferably provided so that a separate drive for rotating the straightening unit can be omitted. In some embodiments, a support frame of the straightening unit is mechanically non-rotatably connected to the support frame of the draw-in device, so that the straightening unit is carried along when the draw-in device is rotated and is thereby also rotated.

In some embodiments, the forming device has only a single forming unit, for example in the form of a bending head.

In other embodiments, the shaping device has two, three or more shaping units which are arranged distributed around the transport axis and can optionally be advanced in engagement with the workpiece. In this case, the workpiece can be rotated into the correct rotational position in relation to a selected forming unit by rotating the feed device, so that it can be brought into engagement with the workpiece.

In all variants, rotations of the workpiece about the transport axis are also possible in the course of bending operations, which means that complex curved molded parts can be produced, which may also contain twisted sections. Depending on the specific requirement, the starting material can be, for example, a flat material with an essentially rectangular cross-sectional shape or a round material or also with a different cross-sectional profile.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further advantages and aspects of the invention emerge from the claims and from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention, which are explained below with reference to the figures.

1 shows an oblique perspective view of a forming machine designed as a torsion spring machine according to an exemplary embodiment;

2 shows an isometric view with a straightening unit and a feed device of the forming machine;

3 shows a side view of the front side of the intake device with the transport belts installed in a rotatable support frame;

4 shows an isometric view with drives for rotating the feed device and for transporting the conveyor belts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

1 shows an oblique perspective view of a forming machine 100 designed as a torsion spring machine according to an exemplary embodiment. FIG. 2 shows an isometric view with a straightening unit and a feed device of the forming machine. 3 shows a side view of the front side of the intake device with the transport belts installed in a rotatable carrier frame. 4 shows an isometric view with drives for rotating the feed device and for transporting the conveyor belts.

The forming machine 100 is set up to produce complex curved shaped parts in the form of coil elements for electric motors. A starting material (also referred to as a workpiece) is processed which has a wire-shaped electrical conductor material (for example copper) with a substantially flat, rectangular cross-sectional shape, which is covered by an electrically non-conductive insulating layer of lacquer or the like. is wrapped. The source material is in the form of a wound material supply (coil). The workpiece is also referred to below as “wire” or “flat material” for short.

The computer-numerically controlled, multi-axis forming machine 100 has several machine axes that can be controlled via a control unit 190, a drive system with several electric drives for driving the machine axes and a control device for the coordinated control of working movements of the machine axes in a production process according to a computer-readable control program specific to the production process.

In the exemplary embodiment, the forming machine has a right-angled machine coordinate system MK marked with lower case letters x, y and z with a vertical z-axis and horizontal x- and y-axes. In the example shown, the x-axis runs parallel to the transport axis 310. The coordinate axes x, y and z are to be distinguished from the machine axes that are driven in a regulated manner and whose drives are controlled by the control unit of the forming machine.

The forming machine 100 has a machine frame which carries a vertically oriented front wall 105 on its front side. The forming device 200 of the forming machine, which is mounted on the front wall and accessible from the front, includes, among other things, a plurality of forming units 220, 230, 240 with tool heads, on which one-piece forming tools or forming tools composed of several components can be used.

The wire exits in the area of a guide device 110 equipped with a guide bushing perpendicular to the front wall 105 coaxially to a horizontal transport axis 310 of the forming machine running parallel to the x-axis of the machine coordinate system MK from the guide device into the area of the forming device 200. The guide bushing has a guide opening with a rectangular cross section that is adapted to the rectangular cross section of the flat material.

The wire is formed into a three-dimensionally curved shaped part with the aid of numerically controlled tools of the forming device 200. The finished or largely finished formed part is then separated from the supplied wire by means of a cutting unit 280 with a scissors cut. The cutting unit 280 equipped with a movable cutting knife is at 45 ° to the vertical direction.

Behind the front wall 105 there is, among other things, a pull-in device 300 for pulling in the elongated workpiece material from a material supply and for advancing or advancing it. Conveying or transporting the workpiece parallel to the transport axis 310 in the area of the forming device 200 and a straightening unit 400 connected upstream of the feed device 300 for straightening the workpiece coming from the workpiece supply before it enters the feed device 300 (see FIG. 2).

The straightening unit 400 has straightening rollers which are attached in planes oriented perpendicular to one another and, by means of a corresponding infeed, eliminate the internal stress in the workpiece material and thus bends in it or produce a workpiece that is as straight as possible.

The infeed device 300 downstream of the straightening unit 300 is designed as a belt infeed device 300, the successive workpiece sections of the workpiece material coming from the material supply and straightened by the straightening unit 400 with a numerically controlled feed speed profile in the horizontal transport direction more or less coaxially to the transport axis 310 through the downstream guide device 110 into the area the forming device 200 can supply.

Details of the structure and function of the intake device 300 can be clearly seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, among others.

The intake device 300 has two transport belts 305-1, 305-2 rotating in opposite directions around axially parallel pulleys or transport toothed disks, which on mutually facing sides with mutually facing outer surfaces delimit a transport gap 315 elongated in the direction of the transport axis 310 for guiding the workpiece through.

The draw-in device 300 has a base body 320 in the form of a strip, which has two linearly movable arms 325-1, 325-2. Each boom holds a drivable shaft fitted with a toothed transport disk 316 and an axle fitted with a toothed transport disk 317. In each case two transport toothed pulleys 316, 317 are wrapped around by a transport toothed belt and act as pulleys. The toothed transport belt is additionally guided by two support rollers 318 in the section provided for contact with the workpiece between the toothed transport pulleys.

The intake device 300 has an infeed device for the stepless symmetrical counter-rotating infeed of the transport belts 305-1, 305-2 in an infeed direction running perpendicular to the transport axis 310. The delivery device of the example works pneumatically. If pneumatic cylinders coupled to the arms are supplied with compressed air, the assigned arm moves in a translatory manner towards the arm arranged opposite and a workpiece placed between the transport belts 305-1, 305-2 is clamped centrally. If a torque is also applied to the shafts, the workpiece is transported.

In a variant of the belt pull-in device, not shown, a transport belt cannot be changed in its position and the delivery takes place only with the second transport belt. Here, the intake device is designed to be height-adjustable as a whole, so that the transport gap can be adjusted to match the transport axis.

A drive is provided for generating the rotary movement of the driven transport toothed pulleys, which rotates a drive gear arranged on the rear side of the base body via a drive toothed belt. The torque is then transmitted from the toothed drive pulley, which is directly driven by the drive, via a toothed drive belt with teeth on both sides to the toothed drive pulley attached to each shaft.

The preferred transport direction 312 for the workpiece is specified from right to left in FIG. 3. Transport in the opposite direction is possible. The belt tension of the drive toothed belt is adjustable. To adjust, a pneumatic cylinder assigned to a tensioning roller is charged with compressed air.

The size of the transport gap 315 can be predefined in a defined manner, taking into account the workpiece thickness and the coefficient of friction between the transport toothed belt and the workpiece. The specification is made via a mechanism that positions a double wedge 319 as the mechanical end position for the movable arms 325-1, 325-2.

A prerequisite for the transport of workpiece material is a non-positive connection between the workpiece and the toothed conveyor belts 305-1, 305-2 with simultaneously applied torque to the driven toothed conveyor wheels 316. It depends on the friction between the workpiece and the toothed conveyor belt.

With the aid of a servo-electric drive 350, the intake device 300 can be rotated around a retraction axis of rotation 310 corresponding to the transport axis 310 in both directions of rotation, limited by predeterminable angles of rotation (eg +/- 180 °). In the exemplary embodiment, this is implemented as follows. The front wall 105 is part of a structural unit 111 in which a vertical rear wall 115 is provided at a distance behind the front wall 105, which is or can be firmly connected to the front wall in the lower and upper area. Rotary bearing points that are coaxial to one another are formed in the front wall and the rear wall, in which a housing-like support frame 320 is rotatably mounted about the transport axis 310. The front bearing 322 and the rear bearing 323 of the support frame 320 can be seen clearly in FIG. 4. The support frame has a first wall 324 with an inlet opening facing the straightening unit 400 and a second wall 326 with an outlet opening facing the forming device 200, each of which includes the transport axis 310. In the interior of the carrier frame, the intake device 300 is mounted in such a way that the transport gap 315 is symmetrical to the transport axis 310. In addition, wire guides are provided that guide the workpiece for transport along the transport axis. The rotary drive 350 for generating the rotation of the carrier frame 320 or the intake device 300 about the transport axis 310 is arranged offset parallel to the transport axis 310 and drives the rotation of the transport frame via a belt which is guided over a cylindrical section of the carrier frame. The drive 360 for the transport belts of the intake device 300 is also mounted on the side of the straightening unit in a section of the support frame.

FIG. 3 also shows components of a measuring device 380 for measuring the workpiece length conveyed by means of the intake device 300, mounted. The measuring device 380 has two wheels rotatable in opposite directions, namely a measuring wheel 381 and a running wheel 382, which are connected upstream of the feed device and with their peripheral surfaces delimit a measuring gap for guiding the workpiece through. The counter-rotating wheels 381, 382 are also mounted in the carrier frame so that they can always rotate synchronously with the intake device 300. The size of the measuring gap between the circumferential surfaces of the wheels can be continuously adjusted using an adjusting device.

On the side facing the straightening unit 400, beyond the rear bearing 323, there is a mechanical coupling device 329 for the non-rotatable coupling of the straightening unit. The straightening unit 400 is mounted in a carrier frame 420, which has a counterpart to the mechanical coupling device on the side of the intake device 300, so that the carrier frame 420 of the straightening unit can be connected to the carrier frame 320 for the intake device in a rotationally fixed manner and the straightening unit is always synchronized with the intake device turns. The rotation of both units is generated by the rotary drive 350 for the intake device 300. All connection lines for the externally controlled components of the rotatable pull-in device 300 are routed via a common cable chain 370 from a rotatable component to a connection fixed to the machine. This solution is sufficient because the intake device 300 does not have to be rotatable indefinitely, but rotatability by +/- 180 ° is sufficient for all operating positions.

The front wall 105 is designed such that one or more shaping units of the shaping device 200 can be mounted on the front wall 105 in a suitable orientation relative to the transport axis 310. Each forming unit has a tool holder on its side facing the transport axis 310 for receiving a forming tool, the forming tools here generally being bending tools. In some cases, a single forming unit can be sufficient; as a rule, several forming units are installed. Two, three, four or more forming units can be arranged distributed around the transport axis 310. Each shaping unit has a translationally movable slide with which the respective shaping tool can be advanced or withdrawn, essentially radially or tangentially to the transport axis 310, in engagement with the workpiece. Furthermore, each forming unit has a rotating mechanism with one or more rotary drives in order to be able to rotate movable components of the forming tool about corresponding axes of rotation in response to control signals from the control device 190.

In the example, the forming machine is equipped with three forming units 220, 230, 240.

A first forming unit 220 is mounted on the front wall 105 with a horizontal slide axis and engages the workpiece on the right-hand side (viewed from the front). The forming tool mounted on the front of the forming unit is designed in the manner of a tensile bending tool in order to convert the workpiece into a tensile bending operation (also called rotary tensile bending). For this purpose, the forming tool has a bending head with a bending form and with a bending arm that can be rotated about the bending form and that has a clamping device for clamping an end section of the workpiece against a peripheral section of the bending form and that is rotatable about a bending axis. To produce a bend, a front end section of the workpiece is brought into a starting position in the engagement area of the bending head, the clamping device is brought into contact with the end section and the end section is clamped against a peripheral section of the bending mold. The draw-in device 300 is brought into engagement as a counter-holder device with a feed-side section of the workpiece. In a bending operation, rotating the bending arm about the bending axis creates a bend between the feed-side section and generated the clamped end portion. In this way, flat bends can be produced, the bending radius of which is specified by the outer contour of the bending shape.

It is also possible to produce a twisted or twisted section within the workpiece. For this purpose, the pull-in device for introducing a torsional moment on the feed-side section before, during and / or after the rotation of the bending arm about the bending axis about an axis of rotation running parallel to the longitudinal direction of the feed-side section, namely the transport axis 310, can be rotated such that in a region between the feed device and the bending form a twisted section is generated. The pull-bending tool in combination with the rotatable pull-in device 300 thus allows the production of complex bending geometries, which may also contain one or more twisted sections

The second forming unit 230 is at 45 ° to the horizontal or vertical direction and engages the workpiece from the top right. In the example, a bending tool with two bending pins is used in the end of the forming unit facing the tool holder on the workpiece. The bending tool can be rotated around its tool axis and pushed back and forth parallel to the tool axis using the slide. In connection with the rotatable draw-in device, bends with differently oriented bending planes can be produced in the workpiece in a simple manner.

The third forming unit 240 is mounted with a vertical slide axis on the front wall 105 and engages the workpiece from above. A slewing gear is not installed, but can be installed as an option. The tool holder of the third forming unit is not equipped in the example. It can be equipped with different forming tools, e.g. also with the same type of bending tool as the first forming unit 220, but rotated by 90 ° to save time during forming.

Claims

1. Forming machine (100) for the production of molded parts from an elongated workpiece, in particular from a wire, comprising: a forming device (200) with one or more forming units (220, 230, 240) for receiving forming tools, a feed device (300) for Pulling in an elongated workpiece from a supply of material and for conveying the workpiece parallel to a transport axis (310) in the area of the forming device (200), the pulling device (300) being designed as a belt pulling device and two counter-rotating conveyor belts (305-1, 305- 2) which, on mutually facing sides with mutually facing outer surfaces, delimit a transport gap (315) which is elongated in the direction of the transport axis and for guiding the workpiece through; a straightening unit (400) connected upstream of the feed device (300) for straightening the workpiece coming from the workpiece supply before it enters the feed device (300); characterized in that the draw-in device (300) can be rotated by means of a rotary drive (350) around a draw-in rotary axis coaxial with the transport axis (310) by predeterminable angles of rotation.

2. Forming machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the

Infeed device (300) has two axially parallel deflection rollers (316, 317) for each transport belt (305-1, 305-2), at least one of which can be driven by means of a drive, the infeed device preferably between the deflection rollers for at least one support roller (318) Has support of the conveyor belt in a section provided for contact with the workpiece.

3. Forming machine according to claim 2, characterized in that the transport belts (305-1, 305-2) are designed as toothed belts.

4. Forming machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the feed device (300) has a feed device for continuously symmetrical counter-rotating feed of the transport belts (305-1, 305-2) in a feed direction perpendicular to the transport direction (310).

5. Forming machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by a measuring device (380) for measuring the conveyed by means of the feed device (300) Workpiece length, the measuring device (380) preferably having at least one measuring wheel (381) which, together with a counter-element, in particular an impeller (382) or another measuring wheel, delimits a measuring gap for guiding the workpiece through.

6. Forming machine according to claim 5, characterized in that the measuring device (380) is rotatable about the transport axis (310) synchronously with the feed device (300).

7. Forming machine according to one of claims 5 or 6, characterized by a support frame (320) rotatably mounted about the transport axis (310), which has a first wall (324) with an inlet opening facing the straightening unit (400) and a second wall (326) with an outlet opening facing the shaping device (200), wherein the

The intake device (300) and the measuring device (380) are mounted on the support frame (320) between the inlet opening and the outlet opening.

8. Forming machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the straightening unit (400) can be rotated synchronously with the intake device (300) about the transport axis, preferably a support frame (420) of the straightening unit (400) mechanically non-rotatably with a support frame (320 ) for the feed device (300) is connected.

9. Forming machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the forming device (200) has two, three or more around the transport axis

(310) has reshaping units (220, 230, 240) which are arranged distributed around and optionally in engagement with the workpiece.