Anca joins fight against COVID-19

Tool and cutter grinding machine manufacturer Anca has joined a consortium that aims to rapidly manufacture invasive ventilators within Australia.

The company’s experience in advanced manufacturing means it can guarantee micron precision, a capability which means Anca could pivot and utilise its machine shop to produce parts for the ventilators. Anca is utilising a cross-functional team comprising manufacturing, supply chain, project management, stores logistics and safety to support this work. Around the world it is predicted that the total demand for ventilators could run into the tens of thousands.
For further information www.anca.com

Renishaw expands encoder family

Renishaw has launched the latest addition to its RKL linear encoder scale family.

The new RKLA substrate mastered encoder scale is designed to adopt the thermal behaviour of the underlying substrate, and is compatible with Renishaw’s Resolute absolute encoder series.
In terms of design, the RKLA substrate mastered encoder scale is a narrow, low cross-sectional area, stainless steel absolute tape scale with 6 mm width and a thickness of just 0.1 mm (0.15 mm with adhesive). The scale is graduated with a 30 µm pitch absolute code, which offers ±5 µm/m accuracy.
Available in lengths up to 21 m, the new scale can be used in both linear and partial arc applications. The robust stainless steel tape scale design offers immunity to solvents, along with the ability to be coiled for easy storage and cut-to-length convenience. RKLA scales can be installed on to the axis substrate by a self-adhesive backing tape, while the scale ends are rigidly fixed by means of adhesive-fastened end clamps, eliminating the need to drill holes. A simple applicator tool is available for quick and easy scale installation.
The RKL family of solutions extends the range of capabilities offered by Renishaw’s encoder scales, allowing the customer to choose an appropriate thermal behaviour for their application. A purpose-designed narrow form factor enables installation in applications where space is limited.
In partial arc applications, RKL encoder scales can be conveniently cut to the required length and mounted on a simple cylindrical substrate with no requirement for complex mounting features or tight-tolerance alignment surfaces.
For further information www.renishaw.com/rkl

Clean air from just 26p per worker per day

Industrial air-cleaning specialist Filtermist Systems has launched its Atlas service programme, which aims to make it as hassle-free as possible for UK manufacturers to ensure their employees are breathing clean, safe air.

From as little as 26p per employee per day, Filtermist can provide a bespoke service that includes routine and reactive maintenance, and thorough examination and testing (TExT) for local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems. As a result, employers can be confident they are protecting their workforce from hazardous airborne contaminants, and operating in compliance with relevant HSE regulations.
For further information www.filtermist.co.uk

Talking about innovation at METAV

METAV organiser, the VDW, is inviting all those interested to take part in its METAV Web Sessions – entitled ‘Let’s talk about innovation’ – from 15 to 19 June.

“METAV 2020 has had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and so now we want to offer visitors and exhibitors an alternative in the form of the METAV Web Sessions,” says VDW executive director Dr Wilfried Schäfer. In good time before the rescheduled METAV in March next year, the METAV Web Sessions will provide a platform which allows users from the metalworking industry to keep abreast of the latest innovations in production technology.
For further information www.metav-websessions.com

Robotic cell highlights work holding

At this year’s MACH exhibition at the Birmingham NEC, which has now been postponed until January 2021, Schunk had planned to demonstrate its expertise in gripping systems and clamping technology with live demonstrations of a robotic cell co-ordinated with a machining centre featuring robotic loading, unloading and measuring.

The automated machining cell would have seen components loaded into a FANUC RoboDrill machining centre from a racking system via a FANUC robot, and subsequently removed from the machining centre and loaded to a Renishaw Equator gauging system. On the bed of the FANUC RoboDrill would have been Schunk’s Vero-S zero-point clamping technology, clamping components for the machining process.
The base table of the Renishaw Equator was due to be fitted with a Schunk NSL Mini 100-2 clamping station, a compact stationary clamping system that has an area of 199 x 99 x 30 mm. Despite the compact design, the Schunk NSL Mini offers a clamping force of 1000 N, which is extended to 3,000 N with the Schunk NSL Mini Turbo variant.
The multiple components in the automation cell would have been clamped in pallets all fitted with Schunk NSR robot modules. NSR is a maintenance-free robot coupling system for pallet handling that provides easy adaption to robot arms of all kinds. The compact, quick and easy-to-integrate pallet-handling system allows automated loading extremely close to the machine table, robot module and loading station. NSR robot modules can be operated with a system pressure of 6 bar, which ensures that additional pressure intensifiers are not required. From a positional and repeatability perspective, the NSR has been designed with an easy joining process that ensures a repeat accuracy of 0.005 mm.
For further information www.schunk.com