The technical closing report about EMO Hannover 2017 shows that exhibitors presented many innovations.
For instance, to enable large components to be flexibly and cost-efficiently machined irrespective of the component’s dimensions, the start-up Picum MT, created by the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools at Leibniz University in Hanover, Germany, is adopting fresh approaches. Instead of bringing the component to the machine tool, the Picum One, an intelligent tool robot weighing about a mere 100 kg with its own single-software solution and innovative metrology, is brought to the component. According to the startup, procurement and operating costs are thus avoided, as are inaccuracies increasing with the machine’s size. The Picum system docks with any desired component and automatically determines its position in the space to an accuracy of 15 µm. The prototype is fitted with 5-axis kinematics and a 7.5-kW milling spindle and handles tasks like drilling, milling and grinding. In future stages of development, expansions to the system will be able to perform additional jobs, like measuring, laser cutting and 3D printing.
Also, an innovation in the field of spindle manufacturing was showcased by Carbon-Drive GmbH from Darmstadt, Germany. The startup venture from Darmstadt University of Applied Science is the first manufacturer of full-carbon motor spindles for machine tool construction. High levels of specific rigidity and thermostability open up a multiplicity of advantages in the application concerned. Thanks to the reduced mass of the material used, the spindle is 50 percent faster in all acceleration and deceleration functions, thus reducing energy consumption, nonproductive times and costs. In particular, locally adaptable material properties are ideally suited for integrating metrological equipment to provide real-time monitoring of the metalcutting process.
And for vertical lathes, the tool manufacturer Vandurit from Leverkusen, Germany, in conjunction with the Swabian machine tool manufacturer Emag, offers an absolute innovation in the field of turning. In what is called a roll-feed process, the tool’s blade is rolled over a contour when the blade engages, enabling feed rates of f = 0.4 to 0.5 mm/revolution to be achieved in hard machining of 100 Cr6 (60 HRC+-2). In addition, these tools can be deployed for longer, since wear and tear on the blade is distributed over its entire cutting edge. For this process, two different cutting inserts are offered for roughing and smoothing.
For more information, visit the EMO Hannover website.
Related Glossary Terms
- feed
feed
Rate of change of position of the tool as a whole, relative to the workpiece while cutting.
- gang cutting ( milling)
gang cutting ( milling)
Machining with several cutters mounted on a single arbor, generally for simultaneous cutting.
- grinding
grinding
Machining operation in which material is removed from the workpiece by a powered abrasive wheel, stone, belt, paste, sheet, compound, slurry, etc. Takes various forms: surface grinding (creates flat and/or squared surfaces); cylindrical grinding (for external cylindrical and tapered shapes, fillets, undercuts, etc.); centerless grinding; chamfering; thread and form grinding; tool and cutter grinding; offhand grinding; lapping and polishing (grinding with extremely fine grits to create ultrasmooth surfaces); honing; and disc grinding.
- metalcutting ( material cutting)
metalcutting ( material cutting)
Any machining process used to part metal or other material or give a workpiece a new configuration. Conventionally applies to machining operations in which a cutting tool mechanically removes material in the form of chips; applies to any process in which metal or material is removed to create new shapes. See metalforming.
- metrology
metrology
Science of measurement; the principles on which precision machining, quality control and inspection are based. See precision machining, measurement.
- milling
milling
Machining operation in which metal or other material is removed by applying power to a rotating cutter. In vertical milling, the cutting tool is mounted vertically on the spindle. In horizontal milling, the cutting tool is mounted horizontally, either directly on the spindle or on an arbor. Horizontal milling is further broken down into conventional milling, where the cutter rotates opposite the direction of feed, or “up” into the workpiece; and climb milling, where the cutter rotates in the direction of feed, or “down” into the workpiece. Milling operations include plane or surface milling, endmilling, facemilling, angle milling, form milling and profiling.
- turning
turning
Workpiece is held in a chuck, mounted on a face plate or secured between centers and rotated while a cutting tool, normally a single-point tool, is fed into it along its periphery or across its end or face. Takes the form of straight turning (cutting along the periphery of the workpiece); taper turning (creating a taper); step turning (turning different-size diameters on the same work); chamfering (beveling an edge or shoulder); facing (cutting on an end); turning threads (usually external but can be internal); roughing (high-volume metal removal); and finishing (final light cuts). Performed on lathes, turning centers, chucking machines, automatic screw machines and similar machines.
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