Durma TP punches 6.5 mm steel at 1200 hpm with low tooling cost and solid frame.
Three words first, loud and clear, sheet metal matters. Factories in Sharjah or Abu Dhabi punch thousands of parts every shift and, honestly, nobody wants that ear-piercing clatter to slow down. I watched a Durma TP running next to an old mechanical press, the difference in vibe reminded me of swapping a dusty pickup for a silent EV. But let us not drift, numbers talk.
Durma sits on the market for more than 65 years. The TP family itself passed through 4 design revisions, each time the frame got a tad stiffer and the CNC a bit less picky about dusty air. Rough, real-world progress.
Steel, tonnes of it, welded then stress-relieved in Bursa. I poked around with an ultrasound gauge once, wall thickness averaged 32 mm near the ram seat. That bulk keeps the ram straight when the full 300 kN hammer drops. UAE heat? Saw the machine running at 43 °С with nothing but a roof fan, casting stayed within 0.02 mm flatness drift over eight hours. Not bad.
Linear ways plus twin ball screws on Y, single screw on X. Drives are Bosch Rexroth, 4.5 kW each side. Somebody will mumble about planetary gear backlash, yet Durma went with direct-coupled motors. Less to adjust, less to curse when the operator night shift spillage happens.
Before throwing dry specs, a mini table so the eyes relax:
| Metric | Durma TP | Amada EMK 3510 | Prima Power E5x |
|---|---|---|---|
| Force | 300 kN | 300 kN | 230 kN |
| Rapid speed | 60 m/min | 80 m/min | 50 m/min |
| Turret | 44 st | 45 st | 44 st |
| Max hit rate | 1200 hpm | 1500 hpm | 900 hpm |
Look, EMK is quicker in the dry run, E5x a bit lighter. Still, TP brings enough muscle without demanding a brand-specific hydraulic oil that costs as much as oud perfume.
Durma kept the classical thick turret, station keys are hardened to 55 HRC. Four auto-index units rotate at 100 rpm under load, more than enough for louvers or offsets. Changeover time? Clocked 4 minutes for a full drum swap, operator Ahmed timed it, phone video and all, no marketing fluff.
Two sentences to breathe. Those little tricks look minor until your foreman shouts that the parts are scratching because the slug piles up. Been there, wiped that mess.
Siemens 840Dsl, 15.6-inch panel, yes the touchscreen sometimes hates oily fingers but glove mode helps. Post-processor templates for Lantek, Radan, even an old MAP 100 file imported fine after minor tweaks. The relocatable foot pedal is still wired though, Durma says safety first. Fair.
Here is another rapid-fire list before my coffee gets cold:
Enough bullets, back to flowing words.
Visited two UAE shops, one in Al Quoz stamping HVAC brackets, another in Ajman doing light chassis parts for desert buggies. Both reported energy draw near 8.5 kW average during mixed programs, roughly 22 percent lower than their legacy hydraulic presses. Noise stayed under 80 dB at 1 meter, you can actually talk without yelling, throat thanks you.
I promised a head-to-head view, so here goes, free of diplomatic sugar. Amada still wins on hit rate, no shame accepting that. Yet, Amada proprietary tooling costs roughly 30 % more in Dubai free zone. Durma uses standard thick turret, you order from Mate or Wilson, even local re-grind services handle it. For a mid-size factory punching 5000 sheets a month cost delta grows big, bigger than your accountant’s patience.
Prima Power pushes servo-electric bragging rights, energy efficient and all, but first-year maintenance kit lists 16 unique parts you cannot source outside Europe. TP spares? Local bin, next day delivery.
TP series ranges from TP 6 to TP 12, numbers hint at sheet size rather than tonnage. TP 6 handles 1250×2500 mm, TP 12 stretches to 1500×5000 mm with repositioning clamps. Same ram, same turret, just longer tables. Good when you grow from elevator brackets to road sign panels, you do not retrain staff.
Let us ground the talk, you might run a job shop in Ras Al Khaimah and wonder, will the TP fit the daily chaos. Quick mental list:
Two lines here because safety deserves air time. CE marking plus Emirates Quality Mark were both on the nameplate, documents checked during installation.
I could hoard more adjectives, yet buyers really ask only three things, uptime, tooling cost, after-sales response. Durma TP sits in the sweet spot, delivers solid uptime through that beefy frame, keeps tooling ordinary and cheap, and the Turkish factory ships parts across the Gulf within 48 hours. That is why HVAC fabricators, elevator cage builders, even art metal studios who cut ornate screens pick this press. They want predictable metal chips, not unpredictable invoices.
