WORLD OF INDUSTRIES 2/2020
WORLD OF INDUSTRIES 2/2020
WORLD OF INDUSTRIES 2/2020
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Rotary tilting table on<br />
the milling center<br />
Swiss Precision Plus<br />
The Swiss maker GF Machining Solutions has equipped its 5-axis high-performance<br />
machining centers with the versatile IO-Link communication interface. Users will now<br />
profit from simpler handling as well as never before availability of process data for<br />
configuration, diagnostic and service purposes.<br />
Author: Wolfgang Zosel,<br />
freelance industry journalist,<br />
Reutlingen, Germany<br />
AUTOMATION<br />
The IO-Link technology is a communication system for connecting<br />
intelligent sensors and actuators to an automation system.<br />
In addition to simple handling, this also shortens the installation<br />
and start-up phase and makes it easier to meet individual customer<br />
requirements for cables and tool management. For this reason, the<br />
Swiss manufacturer GF Machining Solutions (GFMS) has equipped<br />
its 5-axis high-performance machining centers with the versatile<br />
IO-Link communication interface. The new Mikron MILL P 500 U<br />
thus meets the highest precision requirements and IO-Link has established<br />
itself at GFML as a real push technology for digitized and<br />
networked system concepts.<br />
Highest precision with accuracies<br />
of +/- 2 micrometers<br />
Stefan Fahrni, Milling Product Manager, puts in a nutshell what<br />
customers appreciate about GFMS machining centers: “With accuracies<br />
of +/- 2 micrometers we meet the requirements for the highest<br />
precision and consistently high quality. In order to ensure thermal<br />
stability, the machine bed is made of an especially heavy duty<br />
mineral casting. We use water-cooled components to ensure that<br />
heat sources cannot have an effect on the customer’s product.” As a<br />
member of GF Machining Solutions, Mikron Agie Charmilles AG<br />
with headquarters in Nidau near Biel is a globally active manufacturer<br />
of machines, automation solutions for mold and tool making<br />
as well as for the manufacturing of precision parts.<br />
The new Mill P 500 U is a 5-axis high performance machine for both<br />
precision part manufacturers active in the aerospace, machinery<br />
and defense industries, general mechanic industries and precision<br />
mold makers active in industries such as automotive and home appliance.<br />
The core of the machine is a base module for top or front<br />
loading. Depending on the customer requirement either partly or<br />
fully automated feed mechanisms as well as differently dimensioned<br />
tool magazines are available.<br />
The “Integral Connectivity 4” project<br />
The first stages of development of the Mill P 500 U go back several<br />
years. Most of the focus was on what customer requirements would<br />
look like in the future. Long before the term Industry 4.0 became an<br />
IO-Link by Balluff makes high-performance<br />
milling machine ready for Industry 4.0<br />
electrifying metaphor for an entire sector, the developers at GFMS<br />
had recognized the significance of increasing digitization and networking<br />
including the associated opportunities. “In addition to<br />
simple position values, intelligent sensors today offer a variety of<br />
process data right where the action is taking place. The question is<br />
8 <strong>WORLD</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>INDUSTRIES</strong> <strong>2020</strong>
Change language