Meeting place for deburring technology

DeburringEXPO, the fourth edition of the trade fair for deburring technology and precision surface finishing, will be held at the Karlsruhe Exhibition Centre on 12-14 October 2021.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an expert forum, which is in great demand as a source of knowledge, complete with simultaneously interpreted presentations (German <> English). Beyond this, examples based on actual practice and benchmark solutions will provide ideas and stimulation for the optimisation of processes.

The supplementary programme at DeburringEXPO will be geared towards increasing demands for efficiency in production and changing manufacturing technologies, such as in the areas of joining, coating and assembly. A new theme park ‘Automated Deburring with Industrial Robots’ will provide information concerning corresponding solutions, and address the integration of deburring and rounding processes in an interlinked/digitalised production environment. Elsewhere at the show, the ‘Cleaning after Deburring’ theme park will deal with growing demands for technical cleanliness.
DeburringEXPO has a very high proportion of participating visitors (94%) involved in operational investment decisions. These decision-makers are seeking out solutions in a targeted fashion at the show.

“The challenges faced by companies from virtually all manufacturing industries also have an impact on surface-finishing processes such as deburring, rounding, and the production of precision surfaces and cleaning,” explains Hartmut Herdin, managing director of promoter FairXperts GmbH & Co KG. “Beyond this, these process steps are becoming more and more important in the growing market for component conditioning.”
Key requirements in this regard include ongoing quality improvements, increased efficiency, optimisation, automation and the digitalisation of processes, as well as solutions for parts manufactured using new and modified production technologies, such as 3D-printed workpieces and components made from hybrid materials.

For further information
www.deburring-expo.com

GTMA grows medical cluster

Anticipating the need for an immediate response to the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing medium/long-term growth in the global requirement for medical devices, in March 2020 the GTMA formed a cluster of member companies interested in serving the medical sector. Around 40 companies initially joined the initiative, but this number has now grown to over 90. As a result, the GTMA is continuing to build-up intelligence and connections in the UK medical manufacturing supply chain, identifying commercial opportunities for member companies.

For further information www.gtma.co.uk

Connected shop floor

GKN Aerospace is leading the ‘Smart Connected Shop Floor’ project as part of the UK’s ‘Manufacturing Made Smarter Challenge’.

UK government and industry are jointly investing to help businesses implement new technology that will boost their productivity. The project will focus on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), intelligent robotics, augmented reality (AR), smart devices and data analytics. Ultimately, the aim is to exploit the productivity opportunities of the digital space, empowering end users, creating an eco-system of digital technologies and aiding real-time cost-effective manufacturing decisions.

For further information
www.gknaerospace.com

Remote sign-off

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inability of customers to travel, Guyson International – an industrial finishing equipment manufacturer – is having to remotely pass-off a number of machines destined for export markets. However, thanks to the co-operation of customers and use of the latest video conferencing software and hardware, the company is able to go through rigorous Factory Acceptance Trial (FAT) procedural checklists and pass-off its machines. In the first half of August alone, Guyson shipped well over £1m worth of export equipment using this strategy.

For further information
www.guyson.co.uk

Standard solution for non-circular grinding

New software from NUM provides manufacturers of CNC cylindrical grinding machines with a means of adding non-circular grinding capabilities to their products, without incurring significant development time and cost.

Non-circular grinding is used in a variety of automated manufacturing applications, such as the production of camshafts, crankshafts, cams and eccentric shafts. However, the process is extremely complex because the non-circular contour leads to constantly changing engagement and movement conditions between the grinding wheel and the workpiece.

NUM has now added non-circular grinding functionality to its NUMgrind cylindrical grinding software, which forms an application-specific element of the company’s Flexium+ CNC platform. The new function is fully compatible with other Flexium software, from release 4.1.20.00 onwards.
NUMgrind is specifically designed to simplify the creation of G-code programs for CNC grinding machines through the use of an intuitive graphical HMI, conversational-style ‘fill in the blanks’ type dialogues, or a combination of the two.

Unlike conventional CADCAM workstation tools for generating CNC machine-tool programs, NUMgrind is intended for use in the production environment. The software enables shop-floor personnel to handle every-day machining tasks quickly and efficiently – and the work can be easily shared among several employees and machines.

Operators simply determine the sequence of the grinding process via the HMI and enter the necessary data for the grinding operations, grinding wheels and dressing in the dialogue pages. Programming is further simplified by the fact that the HMI is supported by a library of predefined shapes, which includes eccentric circles, hexagons, pentagons, polygons, Reuleaux triangles and rhombi. A CNC program is then created completely automatically and stored in an executable form.

For further information www.num.com