INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Wenzel to spotlight latest products at Innoteq

As a content and community platform, Innoteq earlier this month served to connect the main players of the Swiss manufacturing industry as a hotspot and relevant industry meeting point – live and digitally.

At the event, Wenzel delivered a number of live demonstrations, including those for the company’s compact tomograph exaCT S; its LH 108 co-ordinate gantry measuring machine with rotary table; the CORE optical measuring device; and the optical X-press shaft measuring machine.

On the LH CMM, Wenzel had integrated a rotary table and provided insights into the latest solution for measuring gears on a conventional co-ordinate measuring machine. As a point of note,it is possible to configure all measuring machines of the LH series with an integrated rotary table. This enables precise four-axis measurement of rotationally symmetrical components, as well as reliable measurement of the entire spectrum of prismatic components.

Further innovations were available at Innoteq in the area of optical high-speed scanning. With WM Quartis it is possible to configure the CORE measuring device and operate it with tactile sensors, as well as with optical double-eye sensors. To increase speed in production, the CORE offers a flexible measurement solution for demanding tasks. According to Wenzel, WM Quartis measures up to four times faster compared to tactile CMMs. For customers whose environmental conditions do not require an automated light shield (CORE S LP), the company has developed the CORE S E (Essential), at a lower price and with a smaller footprint.

Also demonstrated at the booth were computed tomography solutions. The desktop CT exaCT S supports applications in a wide range of industries where internal and external structures of components require capturing completely and quickly.
For further information www.wenzel-group.com

TIMTOS 2023 draws to close

TIMTOS 2023 concluded earlier this month, attracting over 45,000 visitors, including nearly 6000 international visitors from more than 100 countries. The online exhibition will continue to run until 6April and has already reached 7000 visitors from nearly 15 countries.This year’s TIMTOS was hailed as a tremendous success by major exhibitors such as FFG, Goodway, Takisawa, Heidenhain, HIWIN and Keyarrow. “Far beyond our expectations”; “we’ve taken enough orders at TIMTOS to keep the whole year busy”; and “TIMTOS 2023 is even more dynamic than pre-pandemic times”, they said.
For further information www.timtos.com.tw

ABB expandsrobotfactory

ABB is strengthening its commitment to one of its largest customer markets – the US – with construction starting on the expansion of its existing North American robotics headquarters and manufacturing facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The project is expected to be complete in November 2023 and represents an investment of $20m, leading to the creation of 72 highly skilled new jobs.Close to 90% of robots delivered to customers in the US, Canada, Mexico and South America will soon be made at Auburn Hills. The plant utilises flexible, modular production cells that are digitally connected and networked.
For further information www.abb.com/robotics

Trumpf to expand smart factory

Trumpf Group will add 55,800 sq ft to its production building for the manufacture of laser cutting, bending and welding machinery at Farmington, Connecticut. The project is part of ongoing recovery efforts related to damage sustained after an aircraft crashed into the production building in September of 2021. Trumpf will invest an estimated $40m into the project, which will include a smart factory that demonstrates advanced automated and connected precision sheet metal production. Completion is expected in May 2024.

“North America remains our most important business market outside of our domestic market in Germany,” says Nicola Leibinger-Kammüller, CEO of the Trumpf Group. “This project is an important step toward the next generation of manufacturing for Trumpf and our customers across the United States.”
For further information www.trumpf.com

Blum touch probes prove their long service life

Employing measuring systems in the working area of a CNC machining centre is still an unfamiliar idea for some quality experts. With its probes in use at German company Scherzinger Pumpen, Blum-Novotest is demonstrating that automated measurement not only works effectively in this harsh environment and in two-shift operation, but does so reliably and accurately over many years.

“Our core competencies in manufacturing are in milling, turning and grinding, as well as logistics and assembly,” reports Mario Maier, head of process planning at Scherzinger Pumps. “We machine metal as well as plastic and, in so doing, achieve a high level of quality and reliably tight manufacturing tolerances. Blum touch probes and laser light barriers, which we use in many machining centres, help us to accomplish that. The probes have an astonishingly long service life.”

At Scherzinger, the Blum TC50 infrared probes primarily find use for measuring bores and for workpiece zero-point detection. The company machines housings for brine pumps, for example, from two sides by rotating the clamped components in the machine tool. As a point of note, the drive is located on one side, while the two gear wheels of the actual pump are located on the other side. Scherzingermachines the through-hole of the drive axis from the drive side in the first set-up. After finishing one side – there are five housings per set-up – the housings swivel by 180°to allow machining of the pump side.

To ensure that the two machining operations align precisely with each other, the probe (mounted in the machine spindle) measures the position of the through-hole on all five housings after swivelling. The measured positions are then taken into account during the second machining operation so that, for example, the threaded holes for the cover can be precisely aligned, drilled and cut.
For further information www.blum-novotest.com