RENOVATION OF A PRESS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND EXPERIMENTAL PURPOSES

This paper is focused on a project by academics and students at the University of West Bohemia (UWB). The aim of this project is the reconstruction of a dedicated press that had been used in the automotive industry. The outcome of this project is a multipurpose press for educational, experimental and manufacturing purposes. The multi-purpose press can be used for a wide variety of experiments. Various types of forming operations depending on the application and tool may be carried out on the press. Students at the Department of Machine Design participate in this project in the 4th and 5th years of their studies within their semester projects where they work on various stages of reconstruction such as digitization of the machine frame; FEM verification of the machine frame; proposals for modifications of the design for conversion into a multi-purpose press. Tutors at the UWB want to provide students with an attractive and practical education. Students work in teams, learning the basic principles of teamwork. Students can gather a lot of practical experience which is a scarce commodity in a university type of education.