Preparations are running at full bore for the fourth edition of DeburringEXPO as a live in-person event at the Karlsruhe Exhibition Centre in Germany on 12-14 October. There is no substitute for personal contact and the real presentation of products and solutions at a specialised trade show. Face-to-face discussions with customers and trade visitors create trust when initiating business and make product presentations tangible.

Exhibitors at DeburringEXPO are therefore already looking forward to holding the trade fair for deburring technologies and precision surface finishing as an in-person event. With good reason, because around 94% of show visitors are involved in operational investment decisions. And with a rising IFO Business Climate Index for Germany, which recently reached 99.2 points, the highest value since May 2019, investments are picking up again in sectors such as automotive, mechanical engineering, sensor, medical and pharmaceutical technology, tool and mould making, metalworking, aerospace, and environmental and energy technology.

Attention is focussing on solutions with which companies can meet stricter, as well as new, requirements for deburring and surface finishing quality.

“Among other factors, this requirement arises from stricter specifications for products and their surface finishing, for example due to downstream processes such as joining, coating, sealing and assembly,” reports Hartmut Herdin, managing director of fairXperts GmbH & Co KG, organiser of DeburringEXPO. “Changing production technologies and materials, such as workpieces made of material combinations, also necessitate optimised solutions for deburring, rounding and the production of precision surface finishes, as well as the cleaning of components after these processing steps.”

The exhibition will also feature an integrated three-day expert forum. Simultaneously interpreted presentations (German <> English) will provide information concerning solutions to current problems covering all exhibition segments.

For further information
www.deburring-expo.de

The Mirka AIROS, the first smart electric sander designed for robotic sanding applications, is now joined by new models: the Mirka AIOS sanding heads and the Mirka AIROP polishing head. In addition, the AIROS is available in a new small size.

Industry automation is a growing trend, and various sectors – including automotive, transportation and woodworking – are seeing a clear need for a complete package for automated processes. As a specialist in surface finishing technology, Mirka says it is at the forefront of innovation, introducing new robotic solutions for manufacturing.

When a square sander is needed, Mirka offers the AIOS 353CV with an 81 x 133 mm pad suitable for surfaces and corners alike. In the wood sector, such as in manufacturing furniture, doors and windows, the AIOS 353CV can be used to drive up productivity and finishing quality with robotic precision.

The new AIOS, AIROS and AIROP versions are engineered for robotised finessing; for ensuring consistent quality while saving time. For sanding, Mirka is aiming its AIOS 130NV at spot repair work in an automated process, such as those in automobile and transport manufacturing. The Mirka AIROS 150NV is the smallest AIROS sanding head yet, meant for more confined spaces, detail work and the sanding of small areas where manufacturers need workpiece de-flashing or deburring.

Mirka’s AIROP 312NV is a random orbital polisher with an electric polishing head for robot usage. Featuring a 77 mm pad, the AIROP 312NV is a robotic alternative for Mirka’s cordless polishers, and is well matched with Mirka’s polishing pads and compounds.

For further information
www.mirka.com

The services offered by Murr-based B+S Metallbearbeitung GmbH include operations like deburring, polishing, shot blasting, part cleaning and packaging. B+S handles a broad range of workpieces with different shapes, made from different materials, requiring different finishes and coming from all kinds of industries. To ensure ongoing quality and on-time deliveries in a cost-effective manner, this progressive service company utilises modern equipment and consumables from Rösler.

Mustafa Sahin general manager explains why he selected Rösler machines: “I was impressed by the broad equipment range and the engineering of the high-performance machines, which can be utilised for all kinds of finishing tasks. Another important consideration was that Rösler produces all of its mass finishing consumables in-house. This means that equipment, media and compound can be perfectly adapted to our requirements and that I can resort anytime to the experience and know-how of the Rösler test lab.”

In 2008, Sahin decided to purchase a Rösler R425/6600 DA linear, continuous-flow mass-finishing vibratory tub. In subsequent years, the company purchased two additional continuous flow machines, 14 rotary vibrators and three centrifugal disk finishing machines, all from Rösler.

Again in 2008, the entrepreneur invested in a Rösler shot-blast machine to expand his service package. Through continuous expansion of its shot-blasting job shop services, B+S Metallbearbeitung has since purchased six additional shot-blast machines from Rösler.

“Generally, shot-blast equipment is subject to significant wear, so we sell our machines after 3 to 5 years, which allows us to remain up-to-date and offer our customers the best possible results at competitive prices,” says Sahin, who also takes advantage of Rösler workpiece cleaning solutions.

For further information
www.rosler.com

Wheelabrator has launched new digital tools to help customers reduce cost around three key areas of the blast process: abrasive consumption, energy use, and maintenance and downtime. The tools were built using Norican’s Monitizer software and NoriGate hardware, both already proven on equipment at sister companies DISA and StrikoWestofen, and are available for many existing and all new Wheelabrator machines.

Heinrich Dropmann, senior VP – global wheel at Wheelabrator, says: “Digital technologies allow us to make the blast process more transparent than ever before and optimise it accordingly. We’ve been working with a select group of pilot customers to identify the applications that would make the biggest difference to their productivity and profitability, and quickly zeroed in on these three. The digital tools we’ve developed enable customers to pinpoint the parameters that drive abrasive consumption, energy use and wear in their specific operational setting – and then do something about it. They can very quickly get a much better handle on their blasting cost, without impacting the volume or quality of their outputs.”

The three tools can be deployed as stand-alone solutions or plugged into a wider Industry 4.0 system – be it from Norican, customer-built or from another supplier. The NoriGate data gateway extracts data from each machine – from the control system and from sensors – while the Monitizer software collects, visualises and analyses it in customisable dashboards.

“This is not about collecting data for the sake of it,” states Dropmann. “As experts on the blast process, we can select the right data points to track, so we can combine them meaningfully and in a way that gives us insights into what’s running at optimum and what isn’t. It gives customers the data they need to continuously improve the process and save some money along the way.”

For further information
www.wheelabratorgroup.com

Sulzer, a fluid engineering technology specialist that manufactures pumping, agitation, mixing, separation and application technologies, has committed to a three-year contract with MSC Industrial Supply Co (MSC). The company originally switched to MSC during the pandemic and, within weeks of signing the contract, MSC had identified hundreds of thousands of pounds of potential savings.

For instance, with six-figure savings already identified on both rough-turned Inconel and Super Duplex shafts at Sulzer’s Leeds facility, MSC turned its attention to the remaining +0.3 to +0.5 mm of stock left on the shafts for finish grinding; a process conducted on an 8 tonne Churchill BX cylindrical grinding centre.

The first step was to introduce Tyrolit, so MSC could apply grinding wheels better suited to Inconel and Duplex. The Tyrolit grinding wheel technology runs at identical parameters to the previous wheel, but is 30% less expensive and allowed Sulzer to double the depth of grind from the existing 0.05 mm, to 0.1 mm on plunge-only diameters – saving a huge 119 minutes per shaft by reducing the grinding cycle time by 7%.

In addition, when grinding various shafts from 2 to 4 m long, each of the 23 journal diameters on the shaft previously underwent three rough-grind dressing cycles, followed by a final finish-grind dressing cycle. In total, Sulzer was incurring 114 minutes of non-grinding time during the full process for all 23 journal diameters.

The solution was to design a dressing station that could position no more than 700 mm from the grinding wheel to reduce this non-productive time. As a result, non-grinding time from the wheel dressing cycle is now just 58 minutes per shaft.

For further information
www.mscdirect.co.uk