Halter system extends unattended production

Compact robotic systems from Halter CNC Automation are suited to loading and unloading CNC machine tools, as family business Armbruster GmbH in Steinach, southwest Germany reports. The same machine tending technology is available in the UK market through 1st Machine Tool Accessories.

Armbruster employs about 130 staff and specialises in manufacturing complex, high-quality products such as surgical instruments and implants for the medical sector. It also provides subcontract machining services to a broad range of industries in batch sizes from 1 to 1000.

Florian Schätzle, team leader for machining support at Armbruster, says: “We’ve been committed to automation for a long time. The milling section is fully automated, although the eroding area is only partially autonomous. As regards turning and turn-milling, most production is automated by bar magazines but traditionally we load and unload billets manually for chuck-type work. We therefore decided to invest in a billet loading and unloading robot from Halter, a Universal Premium 35, which tends an existing Mazak Integrex i200 chucking lathe on the shop floor.”

The new solution made it possible to increase the number of workpieces of more than 200 mm diameter in the buffer of the robot cell from six parts previously to an additional 16 parts, i.e. a total of 22. Longer shafts from which several individual parts are machined may be similarly accommodated, enabling even longer periods of unattended production.

Says Schätzle comments: “Our staff realise that the robot cell enables them to organise their working hours better, for example for quality control of finished parts, without having to be present at the Mazak every minute to avoid machine downtime.”
For further information www.1mta.com

Optimising productivity in palletising applications

Automated product handling takes many forms and, with continued growth in manufacturing, a plethora of products are now seeing automatic transfer from the end of the line to pallets. The grippers used to handle these products are also becoming more sophisticated as the demands for flexibility and productivity increase. Vacuum layer gripping systems from Schmalz are fast becoming an integral part of the many palletising robots and gantry systems used across various industry segments.

Based upon a modular system, each gripper is configurable as required with choices for either rigid or flexible spring-mounded robot flange connections, designed to fit most common robots and gantry systems. Various gripper modules are available, with intermediate layer handling if required, layer detection and options for mechanical gripping support in applications where the top surface of the layer is unable to support the complete layer weight.

Layer gripping systems with foam are capable of handling virtually all items, and for applications where the layer may be uneven, the system is also available with vacuum cups. For extremely difficult workpieces the layer gripping system can be fitted with an outer skirt. In each case, Schmalz can supply these gripper systems with optional zoning to add further flexibility, allowing part layers to be handled or parts to be placed in groups or in different patterns.

The ability to configure the gripping solution to the application makes it possible to cater for layers with gaps, mixed layers, intermediate layers, pallets, cardboard and film packaging. In addition, loading and unloading of partially filled pallets is also possible by combining vacuum technology with mechanical gripping support.
For further information www.schmalz.com

New vice jaws available with 30-day free trial

Leader Chuck International used the GTMA’s recent Manufacturing Solutions event in Limerick to launch the Norgren Adaptix vice jaws to attendees seeking improvements in productivity and the elimination of waste from their machine shops and tool rooms.

Adaptix vice jaws present a new method of holding and gripping parts for milling. With sliding fingers, it is possible to adapt the system to any part geometry, reducing the time and cost involved in the design and development of vice jaws or bespoke fixtures.

Managing director Mark Jones explains how Adaptix vice jaws can benefit almost any workshop: “For many, the challenge of securely holding shaped material requires vice jaws machined to match the workpiece geometry, whether it is a cast or forged billet, a pre-machined part for second operations, or even a component being repaired or reworked. Every production or workshop manager knows this takes time, to produce a CAD file or drawing, obtain the materials for the bespoke jaws and then machine them. All before you can start cutting the part and making money.

“With Adaptix vice jaws you simply set the fingers against the workpiece and lock them in position,” he continues. “You can be cutting material within a few minutes compared to half a shift lost to producing machined bespoke jaws. And there is no waste, as the Adaptix vice jaws can be reset time and time again to suit any job that comes in.”

Leader Chuck International is so confident in the gains presented by the system that it is offering a free 30-day trial for any company that meets the product mix criteria; and is currently producing soft jaws and wasting valuable machining time.
For further information www.leaderchuck.com

Automated vice changes from the tool magazine

Lang Technik has launched the Haubex system, which is able to transform machine tool magazines into highly efficient automation systems. Negating the need for expensive pallet changers, feeding systems and robots, Haubex allows users to effortlessly automate their machine tools and significantly increase the efficiency of operations.

The cost-effective Lang Technik system provides flexibility and improved planning possibilities as is it not dedicated to any one machine tool. Rather, a single Haubex system is deployable across several machines. As no additional communication or installation procedures are required, commissioning is rapid and trouble-free.

The heart of Haubex is a work-holding hood that serves as a carrier and loading system for the clamping device which securely holds a workpiece blank. Multiple hood/clamping device arrangements are stored in the tool magazine, transferred to the machine and automatically exchanged at the end of each machining cycle, just as tools would be routinely swapped to and from the magazine.

Explaining the benefits of the new Haubex system, Lang Technik UK director Gareth Barnett says. “Early adopters of Haubex are reporting significant rises in their efficiency and productivity levels, brought about by much increased machine tool utilisation times. In addition to filling-in previously non-productive machine tool downtime, the system can create additional time windows for alternative value-adding activities. Early users are also using the system to extend their productive working hours by allowing Haubex-enabled machine tools to continue performing considerably extended unmanned production after the end of each working shift.”
For further information www.lang-technik.co.uk

TENON GETS A GRIP ON MACHINING EFFICIENCY WITH LANG WORKHOLDING SOLUTION

Tenon Engineering enjoys a global reputation for its high-precision manufacturing capabilities. In addition to serving an international scientific equipment client base, the Dorking, Surrey-based business counts companies involved in similarly demanding technical sectors as loyal customers.

Approximately 80% of Tenon Engineering’s output is exported to major markets in the USA, Asia, Africa and mainland Europe. Along with its high-precision subcontract work, the business also manufactures for its sister company, Wallace Instruments, a specialist in the quality assurance testing of rubber, plastics and other materials.

Given the nature of the sectors it serves, and the critical functions that much of its output is designed to perform, quality, accuracy, efficiency and reliability are central to the ethos of the business. To help ensure adherence to these values, Tenon Engineering boasts a comprehensive range of in-house resources, including multi-axis machining, cylindrical grinding, precision sheet metal fabrication, assembly and coil winding, and electrical motor manufacture.

The company’s machining facility houses a variety of advanced CNC machine tools, including a range of Dugard CNC lathes and several multi-axis machining centres. As the company’s machine tools are normally involved in performing the low-volume production of high precision parts, to help minimise job changeover times and reduce non-productive periods, Tenon Engineering’s chief engineer Terry Healy searched for a suitably efficient work-holding system. He found the answer to his quest in a Lang pre-stamping unit along with a collection of Lang Technik Makro Grip Vices.

”Our capabilities and world-class engineering expertise, from the design and development of prototypes to all aspects of manufacturing, means that we can provide innovative solutions across a multitude of industries,” reports Healy. “Therefore, our international customer base includes companies involved in the scientific instrumentation, materials testing equipment, aviation, medical instrumentation and quality control analysis sectors. The nature of our customer means that we generally employ our machine tools in high-value, relatively short machining runs.”

Consequently, with the intention of cutting the times lost in job changeovers and increasing our machining efficiencies, Tenon Engineering invested in Lang Technik’s advanced pre-stamping technology and Makro grip vices.

“The use of Lang Technik’s advanced work-holding systems on our machine tools has achieved our target of significantly speeding-up our job change-over times and increasing the efficiency of our machine tools,” explains Healy. “By using our LANG Technik products, a lot of the work involved in setting-up the next job on a particular machine tool can now be done while the current machining task is still being performed.

“Now, within the cycle time of an existing job, our production staff use our new Lang Technik stamping unit to make high-precision, small indentations into the next workpiece blank to be machined,” he continues. “Then, when the prepared workpiece is clamped into one of our Lang Makro-grip vices, the features on the vice’s jaws engage precisely with the workpiece’s pre-stamped indentations. By using this arrangement, we’re able to achieve outstanding holding power while only needing to apply minimal clamping forces. Also, the rapid loading and unloading of our Lang Technik work holding means we have achieved much quicker job change-over times.”

Adds Healy: “The system’s reduced holding pressure requirement ensures that, under all machining conditions, we’re able to securely clamp from the softest to the hardest of materials without worrying about the component deforming or the vice loosening its grip under high machining loads. An added advantage is that the Lang Technik stamping unit makes its indentations into just the last 3 mm of each workpiece blanks. Therefore, we’re now also making savings on material.”

Notably, the many benefits gained from the use of the innovative Lang Technik pre-stamping technology and Makro grip vices has ensured that the system has become the benchmark clamping method for ultra-secure five-axis machining.

The toothed jaws of conventional vices must perform two distinct roles, in addition to indenting workpiece’s material, they must also securely hold the workpiece under all machining loads. Commonly used vices are only able to exert a maximum pressure of approximately 4-6 tons. As a result, the effective penetration of their jaws into workpiece material can be problematic, especially when clamping harder metals. Also, to ensure adequate piercing of the workpiece, a vice’s teeth must remain sharp. Due to the exposure of vice teeth to high levels of torque and wear in use, their clamping ability inevitably declines. Subsequently, when using conventional vices during the machining of soft, distortion-prone materials, jaw teeth also tend to lose their holding power and work free from components when under machining forces.

Using Land’s advanced stamping technology overcomes these issues by applying up to 20 tons of pressure during the pre-stamping of workpieces. This capability guarantees the creation of precise indentations, even when applied to the hardest of materials. Following pre-stamping, as the teeth of Makro Grip Vices engage exactly with the pre-stamped indents, only relatively low clamping pressure is required to hold the workpiece securely. In addition to holding the workpiece in the vice under the most severe machining conditions, the truncated pyramidal shapes of the pre-stamped indents prevent vice teeth from moving deeper into the workpiece material by providing a defined penetration limit.

Despite the application of comparatively low clamping pressure, the holding forces exerted on workpieces held in Makro Grip vices actually become greater, the harder and more resistant the workpiece material. Moreover, as workpieces are prepared before being loaded into the machine tool, machine downtime reduces significantly.
For further information www.lang-technik.co.uk