INTERNATIONAL NEWS

LNS keeps developing e-Connect

The LNS Group says that it is implementing e-Connect solutions to integrate its products, particularly barfeeds, into customer ERP and MES systems. “This will allow LNS customers to get full machining transparency at a glance, including the workload of each machine, cycle times and expected production completion,” explains Carlos Muniz, global product manager barfeed at the LNS Group.

LNS has been pushing innovation in the field of connectivity for more than 10 years. Together with major machine manufacturers, the connection between the peripheral and the machine tool was developed. A second major innovation was the connection between the LNS product and the humans controlling it. Monitoring production remotely from mobile devices saves time by knowing when the machining process will stop for a changeover, thus anticipating downtime in production planning. Thanks to e-mail or GSM notifications, overall production processes are more efficient. Additionally, the connection to internal or external technical support ensures downtime reduction.
While the e-Connect solutions to the machine and people are essential, another major step is the integration into customer ERP, MES and quality control operations.
“Until now, such systems and the machines were not efficiently connected, missing transparency,” says Muniz. “LNS is developing software drivers that will gather relevant information from the peripheral and, through middleware, feed it to applications or systems such as ERP, MES or quality control. These solutions are tailor-made for each customer software platform. The real-time monitoring of all processes will help clients to save time and resources.”
For further information www.lns-group.com

Latest Y-axis, sub-spindle turning centre

The next-generation Y-axis, sub-spindle Doosan Puma 2600SY Mk II turning centre series is now available from Mills CNC. Although the new machines are equipped with a 10” chuck, unlike Puma 2600SY Mk I models, they have a larger 81 mm bar diameter capacity. The machines are also supplied with built-in type spindles (as opposed to belt-driven spindles), which generate less vibration during cutting operations.

Further innovations include six strategically positioned heat sensors that automatically monitor and compensate for any thermal displacement during machining operations. In addition, the spindles feature a reconfigured bearing structure comprising two angular-contact bearings and two taper roller bearings to improve C-axis positional accuracy and spindle runout (less than 6 µm).
The Puma 2600SY Mk II uses high-performance NTN material (as opposed to Turcite) on its box-guideway axes, a move that is said to result in improved and more responsive movement, and reduced wear. Other performance improvements include a revised design of milling turret that incorporates a Curvic coupling piston structure delivering up to 12% additional clamping force; improved durability of the Y-axis carriageway; and a spindle air-purge function that helps prevent chip and coolant ingress.
The machine was exhibited for the first time in the UK at the recent Mills CNC open house, which took place in October.
For further information www.millscnc.co.uk

AM collaboration

Schaeffler Technologies, which manufactures roller bearings and owns the INA and FAG brands, has entered into a co-operation agreement on additive manufacturing with machine tool manufacturer DMG Mori.

Schaeffler is now using a DMG Mori Lasertec 65 3D hybrid machine to produce one-offs and small batches of bearing components, as well as spare parts in metallic functionally graded materials (FGM) to finished-part quality. The one-hit process combines the flexibility of additive manufacturing by laser deposition with five-axis subtractive milling.
For further information www.dmgmori.com

Measuring cogwheels at global press manufacturer

What can be done when the production machines for an essential component have been discontinued and the process simply takes too long? At Schuler Pressen AG, a manufacturer of pressing and stamping machinery, the decision was taken to find a new way of producing gears – using profile cutters. This is where Blum-Novotest’s TC64-Digilog scanning touch probe came into play. The probe enables the examination of the interlocking tooth and ensures that the process as a whole is consistent and verifiable.

At Schuler AG, gears for large press drive shafts were in the past produced with the aid of special gear-cutting machines. However, shaping the gears alone takes between 16 and 19 hours. Moreover, the machines are now obsolete.
The solution to this issue came in the form of milling the drive shafts on a turn-mill machine using a specially manufactured profile cutter. To reduce handling and improve quality and consistency, the company decided to carry out measurements on the machine.
The advantage of the Digilog touch probe is that it can perform both digital measurements as well as analogue scans. This means that it is possible to guide the probe over a surface and register measurement data continuously.
Complete cogwheel inspection consist of 144 individual measurements on a slanted track along the whole tooth flank. This includes 36 teeth with two flanks each in both halves of the double helical gear. The entire procedure only takes 13 minutes at a scan speed of 1.8 m/min. During this time, the Digilog touch probe records 570,000 individual measurement values. However, only the linear axes are used during the scan as this then excludes any errors of the rotary axes used for production.
For further information www.blum-novotest.com

Simplifying machine misalignment checks

Pinpoint Laser Systems, a manufacturer of precision laser measurement and alignment products, has launched its latest laser-alignment tool, the 90-Line-D, for monitoring and detecting misalignment and other errors in machinery and equipment.

The 90-Line-D is Pinpoint’s newest product innovation for aligning and checking planar squareness and parallelism on assemblies, machinery and equipment. No fuss, easy set-up, and fast, precise results ensure that users can now check gantries, web and roll equipment, presses and CNC machine tools for peak alignment and efficiency. The 90-Line-D is compact, portable and available in wired and wireless versions.
An accurate pentaprism, for bending the laser precisely 90°, redirects an incoming laser beam to a new ‘square’ laser reference line. By rotating the front nosepiece of the 90-Line-D, this laser reference line forms a laser plane for additional alignment and measurements. A fine-adjust feature is included to help direct the laser beam exactly where required, while a built-in detector monitors the incoming laser beam and actively corrects for any misalignments or small errors.
The 90-Line-D is machined from a solid block of aluminium with a durable anodised finish, and features stainless steel components and internal glass optics.
The 90-Line-D is fully compatible with Pinpoint’s Microgage PRO line and works well with a variety of laser receivers, mounts and software options for the Microgage PRO Smart Display and Capture software products.
For further information www.pinpointlaser.com