Digital readouts upgrade bevel gear cutting
A
Heidenhain (GB) product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Dec 1, 2006
Having been advised that it was not possible to fit digital readouts to Gleason bevel gear cutting machines, Smiths Aerospace of Wolverhampton was pleasantly surprised when it called Imek Precision.
Having previously been advised that it was not possible to fit digital readouts to its Gleason bevel gear cutting machines, Smiths Aerospace of Wolverhampton was pleasantly surprised when it called Heidenhain specialist DRO retrofitter Imek Precision.
Following an inspection of the machines by Mike Perkins, Imek's Managing Director, Smiths Aerospace was advised that it was possible to retrofit a DRO to the existing machines in its Wolverhampton manufacturing plant.
The eventual solution was due to a combination of Mike Perkins' 20 years experience in the DRO and encoder business and Imek's long-standing and successful association with Heidenhain and knowledge of its extensive product range.
The requirement was driven by Smiths Aerospace's desire to reduce setup times.
Alex Phelps of Smiths Aerospace highlights the problem: "Setup of bevel gear cutters has always been time consuming and involves setting up to six axes, including rotary axes, linear axes and axes that move in an arc".
"Even with experienced operator/setters, set up times could often be up to two days".
The solution provided by Imek was to make use of Heidenhain's Positip 888 multi-axis display in conjunction with a mix of rotary and linear encoders.
Linear and rotary encoders were fitted to the top and bottom offsets, top and bottom space angles, cutter cones, and root angle.
"The nonlinear motion between machine elements of the top and bottom space angles required a unique mounting solution that involved mounting linear encoders free to move about a fixed pivot point", says Mike Perkins.
"This was combined with the scaling capabilities within the Heidenhain Positip 888 display to provide repeatable setting capabilities".
A second Heidenhain readout, an ND780, aids the setting of the root angle and depth.
"It took a great deal of understanding of the application and machine movements to come up with this solution", says Mike Perkins.
"Our experience in dealing with this type of application and our highly experienced engineers puts Imek in a unique position in being able to tackle nonstandard machine retrofits".
Following the success of the first installation a further two machines at Smiths Aerospace have received the same upgrade.
Furthermore, the word is now spreading and other end-users are commissioning similar retrofits, along with orders from Gleason itself to fit the system to brand-new machines.
A combination of linear and radial axes posed a particular problem that was overcome thanks to the vast experience of Imek's Mike Perkins and the scaling capabilities of the Heidenhain DRO.
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