Advanced Spiral Technology’s TruHelix - Flight Forming Technology Lifts the cloak on an old ‘Black Art’

Until the advent of Advanced Spiral Technology’s TruHelix™ Flight Forming System helical screw “pitch” dependent dies in various forming machines primarily formed flights. The accuracy and consistency of the helical form was largely a function of the die pitches, the experience of the press operator and the accuracy of the cut annulus from which the helix was formed.

All of this cloaked the Black Art that was “Flight Forming”.

Advanced Spiral Technology’s TruHelix™ Flight Forming System has lifted the cloak by;

  1. Eliminating any and all of the constraints and limitations associated with the “Black Art” of sectional screw flight manufacture.
  2. Revolutionized the process so that no experience is necessary. You will be able to consistently produce accurate sectional screw flights with the best quality in the world at efficiency rates 2 to 8 times better than any other system.
  3. Being CE approved and has an EC certificate of conformity – it is the only Flight Forming System that incorporates guarding to protect the operator.

With multiple systems already installed, or scheduled for installation in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, France, Italy, South Africa, South Korea and the USA. Advanced Spiral Technology’s TruHelix™ Flight Forming Technology is quickly establishing itself as the most advantageous and easy to use Sectional Screw Flight manufacturing system in the world.

Companies that once purchased their sectional screw flight requirements from a so called expert manufacturer are now realizing the savings and flow on benefits that manufacturing themselves, in-house, can provide. Plus they produce a far superior product, which further saves them time and money.

If an OEM company regularly purchases sectional screw flights from a sub supplier then they should possibly consider investing in one of Advanced Spiral Technology’s TruHelix™ Flight Forming System‘s and improving their bottom line.

How does Advanced Spiral Technology Compare with the old ‘Black Art’ method of manufacture?

AST’s revolutionary TruHelix™ system is fully adjustable with interchangeable Form Tools that can be utilised for both Right Hand and Left Hand forming.
Special durable design virtually eliminates wear and maintenance.

Whereas the old style Black Art utilises restrictive pitch dependent forming dies that require numerous sets of Right Hand tools and the equivalent sets of Left Hand tools. Constantly wears and require regular maintenance.

The many benefits of AST’s TruHelix™ technology means that it requires a great deal less tool sets, and yet can be set to cover every conceivable flight combination perfectly.
Unlike with the bulky pitch dependent dies AST’s TruHelix™ technology requires minimal storage space.

Virtually no maintenance is needed and minimal experience necessary to set up and run.

All the TruHelix™ Flight Forming machines utilises a PLC that runs the Machine Setup Programme. The Machine Setup Programme calculates and controls all the forming constraints. It sets the machine’s forming parameters and pressure, specific to the flight combination, to ensure uniform indexing and identical pressing of every helix consistently.

Whereas, the old ‘Black Art’ method relies solely on the operator’s experience, attitude and attention to detail to achieve an adequate result. Lack of experience can result in an inferior product. If an operator is not giving the operation his full attention it can show in the finished product.

The benefits of the TruHelix™ Flight Forming technology are;

  • Ensured consistently as every flight is produced identically.
  • Eliminates any need for reliance on operator input or experience
  • The TruHelix™ Flight Blank Designer program accurately calculates and draws the flight blank development, regardless of the combination or complexity.
  • Whereas the ‘Black Art” – Refer to the ‘book of sizes’, take an educated guess, try CAD program developments regardless of the technique the confidence in obtaining an accurate result first time is low so trials are needed to ultimately achieve an acceptable, but not always accurate, outcome.

Here again TruHelix™ Flight Blank Programme has many benefits in that it,

  • Correct and accurate flights first time every time with no material wastage.
  • No expensive non-production time lost due to trials.
  • And importantly no experience required while at the same time producing perfect results consistently.
  • In order to produce top quality products TruHelix™ will consistently form the flight blanks into a finished flight without defamation which provides a perfect fit on the centre tube and perfect matching of the flight ends every time.
  • Again the old ‘Black Art’ is often deforming which then requires multiple runs and several reworks by the ‘expert’ operator to at least achieve a satisfactory result. 
  • Fit on the centre tube and matching at the flight ends is often compromised and material and time is wasted.
  • The benefits of TruHelix™ Flight Forming are that you can consistently achieve a pure helical shape every time.
  • Fitting is extremely cheap and easy which saves time and money for you and/or your customer 
  • TruHelix™ requires no reworks or manipulation and again no experience is required.

With regards to the efficiency of the TruHelix™ Forming System the TruHelix™ Machine Configuration Tool (Virtual Tool Setter) incorporates a scientific calculation of the flight material’s proportional limits by utilising Yield Stress and Young’s Modulus to correctly predict the best tool set and then provide a machine/tool set up that will form the flight very accurately in the first pass. The flight fit adjustment feature of the programme can easily accommodate any variations in material characteristics. All standard materials are pre-programmed and new or exotic materials can be easily added at any time in the future.

Remember the Black Art method where you have to take an educated guess and then keep resetting, manipulating and reworking until you achieve a result that resembles something satisfactory. This is now a thing of the past.

With regards to the all-important issue of health and safety TruHelix™ is CE approved and EC certificate of conformity.

Also, TruHelix™ is the only Flight Forming System that incorporates guarding to protect the operator.

Compared with the old equipment required with Black Art machines that shouts Danger! Danger! Danger!

The safety aspect of TruHelix™ has not been overlooked as people are always our most precious asset. So the TruHelix™ machines are all;

Approved to some of the most strict safety regulations in the world
Fully guarded to protect the operator