Machine Tool Attachments & Accessories

Exclusive watches - "made in Australia?" Absolutely, thanks to Nicholas Hacko, a talented watchmaker who opened a small factory making high-quality timepieces in Sydney a few years ago. To be flexible and competitive, he invested in a high-precision 5-axis machining center from Kern Microtechnik, enabling him to reliably produce the micron-accurate parts, which are the basis for his business today.

Robb Hudson, chief executive officer of Mitsui Seiki USA, Inc., took time during IMTS 2018 to reflect on the company's 90th anniversary and discuss the industry factors that led to the development of its new family of Vertex 5-axis hybrid vertical machining/grinding centers.

Daren Manternach, sales executive for Halter CNC Robotics LLC, visited with Cutting Tool Engineering Publisher Dennis Spaeth during IMTS 2018 to chat about the Halter LoadAssistant and the role the load tending robotic cell has played in the company's growth within the U.S. market.

Dialight launched its new 72,000-lumen Vigilant High Output High Bay fixture, designed to deliver optimal illumination at mounting heights above 60 feet (18 meters).

SICK announces the launch of the deTec4 safety light curtain. The deTec4 is a new generation of safety light curtains. With protective heights of 300 millimeters to 2,100 millimeters and an IP65, IP67 and IP69K enclosure rating, the deTec4 is proven for use in harsh environments.

HEIDENHAIN introduces a new sealed angle encoder that can be used as an alternative to modular angular encoders for use in motion control machining applications that require a larger than usual through-hole. Called the RCN 6000 series, these new absolute sealed angle encoders with integral bearings have an exceptionally large hollow shaft diameter of 180mm (7.09 inches), allowing larger scale machines to take advantage of high resolution and signal quality that's expected from HEIDENHAIN angle encoders.

EXOR has taken the harsh environment eTOP500 series and updated it with the recently released eX700 series. This natural progression allows you to combine a high-performance sunlight readable display with state-of-the-art connectivity, such as OPC UA.

Harry E.M. Brandicourt, director of strategic partnerships and growth strategies at Up! LLC, discusses the Up! app, a free app that connects service requesters with service providers to repair industrial equipment. Version 2.0 has been released.

The XR3 6-axis drive rack with field replaceable, front-mounted, 3U plug-in amplifiers support both linear and PWM topologies. The XR3 can control any combination of brushless, DC brush or stepper motors at up to 320 VDC operating voltage and 30 A peak current capability. Both the current loop and servo-loop are digitally closed to ensure the highest level of positioning accuracy and rate stability. This processing capability allows the XR3 to provide loop closure rates up to 20 kHz and to handle both digital and analog I/O processing, data collection, process control and encoder multiplication tasks in real time.

Stopping moving parts in target positions and locking them into place is a common requirement for plant and machinery engineers. Their favored method for doing this is often the index plunger, with the cam-operated version being particularly popular. Engineering components manufacturer WDS Component Parts Ltd. offers a wide range of index plungers and is a leading authority on the technology.

Mencom Protocol Gateway series can provide an efficient and economical solution for the cumbersome network update by seamlessly integrating new protocols into the existing layout and connecting them to outdated protocols. The supported protocols are Modbus RTU, Modbus TCP, Profinet RT/IRT, DNP3.0 Ethernet, DNP3.0 Serial, IEC 60870-5-101, IEC 60870-5-103, IEC 60870-5-104, IEC 61850 devices, and PLCs.

JVL's newest additions to its portfolio is a complete, high-capacity MAC motor with rating of 3,000W. MAC motors are complete servo systems including a high-dynamic AC servo motor, hall-sensors, encoder, power supply, driver and positioning controller and Nano-PLC, as well as facilities for incorporating various control modules such as Bluetooth, WLAN, ZigBee, EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, CANopen, DeviceNet, Profibus, Profinet, Nano PLC, RS232/RS485/USB and Process Control.