Gerhard Rauch GmbH in Trasdorf, Austria, machines complex mechanical components and assemblies to tight tolerances. For high-precision prismatic machining, the company has standardised on the use of milling centres from German firm Roeders, which are available in the UK and Ireland exclusively from Hurco Europe.

CEO Anton Buresch says: “We produce punching tools to extremely high accuracy. For example, the mass production of aluminium foil yoghurt pot lids requires tools with clearances of 2 µm in some cases. This requires a tolerance of less than ± 1 µm for both the punch and the die.”

In the past, the company required multiple operations to manufacture such tools. Following pre-milling, hardening would result in a certain amount of distortion. Separate milling and grinding would take the tools to their final dimensions. This multi-stage process was necessary because the previous machining centres struggled to process hardened steel.

The solution was to invest in prismatic machining centres from Roeders, which are both rigid and precise enough to machine even extremely hard materials to the required accuracy, including tungsten carbide. Gerhard Rauch GmbH can now clamp and machine to final dimensions by milling and jig grinding on the same platform. This capability results in enormous savings in terms of personnel, throughput time and cost.

Today there are five five-axis Roeders machines on the shop floor in Trasdorf: three RXP 501 DS and two RXP 601 DSH models. All are automated with an RCE 1 pallet storage system which, depending on the pallet type, can hold between eight and 45 workpieces.More information www.hurco.co.uk