Renishaw's latest product range on show at Metalex

Renishaw's latest range of products introduced at EMO Hanover will have their Asian premieres at the Metalex 2005, which is being held in Bangkok, Thailand, on the 17th to 20th November.

Renishaw's latest range of products introduced at EMO Hanover will have their Asian premier at the Metalex 2005, which is being held in Bangkok, Thailand, on the 17th to 20th November.

This will be the 19th edition of Metalex 2005, and is being billed by the organisers as ASEAN's largest International Machine Tools and Metalworking Technology Exhibition and Conference.

Renishaw will exhibit in Hall 102, stand number Q19.

The main focus at Metalex will be Renishaw's new products for CNC machine tools, including OMP60, a compact touch probe for machining centres and mill-turn machines and the new TRS1 tool recognition system for high-speed tool breakage detection.

Other products to be shown, include Renishaw's QC10 ballbar system for the fast analysis of machine tool performance, the ML10 laser interferometer measurement system for machine calibration, and a new angle encoder for precision position feedback on rotary axes.

Visitors also will be able to see Renishaw's revolutionary enabling technology that will allow highly accurate, ultra high speed five-axis scanning measurement on coordinate measuring machines (CMMs).

Renishaw's OMP60 touch probe is the first of a new generation of optical transmission products designed for compatibility with all current Renishaw optical receivers and next generation optical systems.

It brings the benefits of probing to a wide range of machine tools, offering users set-up time reductions of up to 90%, reduced scrap, reduced fixture costs and improved process control.

For visitors to Metalex sourcing a device for tool breakage detection, Renishaw's TRS1 system projects a beam of laser light at a tool and monitors the scattered light that is reflected to determine if the tool has been broken.

This new tool recognition technology distinguishes between the tool and coolant or swarf, while it is also fast and reliable under real machining conditions.

More reliable than conventional non-contact systems, the TRS1 comprises a single unit containing the laser source and detection electronics, enabling it to be mounted outside of the working envelope, safe from collision and saving valuable space on the table.

Since its launch some 10 years ago, the Renishaw QC10 ballbar has established itself as an industry standard system for rapid machine tool performance analysis and diagnosis.

Metalex visitors will learn that the QC10 ballbar test typically takes about 15 minutes.

The ballbar attaches magnetically between the machining centre's spindle and table, and tracks machine movement to +/-0.5um.

A simple CNC circular program is run which allows the ballbar software to calculate machine circularity error, servo gain mismatch, vibration, stick-slip errors, backlash, repeatability and scale mismatch, as well as machine geometry.

Renishaw's ML10 laser interferometer measurement system is used by some of the largest OEMs and end users in industries such as metal cutting, semiconductor processing, flat panel display production and biotechnology.

The ML10's unique properties ensure that the system provides a linear position reading resolution of just 1.24nm, a range of up to 40 m and accuracy better than 1ppm.

This combination of resolution, accuracy and range makes the laser interferometer an ideal tool for characterising the performance of motion systems, both large and small.

For visitors to Metalex requiring precision motion system analysis, QuickView is a new software package from Renishaw designed to make the ML10 laser an even more flexible and powerful analysis tool.

For years, electronic engineers have relied on oscilloscopes to study high-speed variations in voltage or current.

Now, QuickView software provides mechanical engineers with a similar capability, allowing them to study minute variations in linear or angular displacement, velocity or acceleration.

With a simple graphical interface QuickView allows very flexible operation, avoiding the need for predefined measurement targets and sequences - just point and measure, ideal for ad-hoc system investigations.

Offering high speed, non-contact performance, combined with advanced features including the In-Trac auto-phase optical reference mark, Renishaw's new Signum range of encoders, includes the high accuracy RESM optical angle encoder.

The RESM is a one-piece stainless steel ring with 20um graduations marked axially on the periphery, offering accuracy to +/-0.5 arc second and resolution and repeatability to 0.02 arc second.

It is highly suitable for visitors to MACTECH involved with precision applications, including machine tool rotary axes.

The In-Trac reference mark is repeatable in both directions at speeds over 3600 rev/min and up to 85C.

The introduction of Renscan5 technology allows the development of a range of breakthrough five-axis CMM scanning products that will measure at speeds of up to 500mm/s, and virtually eliminates the measurement errors normally associated with existing three-axis scanning systems.

A five-axis system achieves this by allowing the lighter measuring head to perform most of the motion during inspection routines, minimising the dynamic errors caused when moving the larger mass of a CMM structure.

Visitors to Metalex will be able to hear about the first product to take advantage of the new Renscan5 technology.

Revo is the first in a family of revolutionary measuring head and probe systems that will maximise inspection throughput, whilst maintaining a high-level of system accuracy.

Revo uses synchronised motion when scanning to quickly follow changes in part geometry, without introducing its own dynamic errors.

This allows the CMM to move at a constant velocity along a constant vector while measurements are being taken, removing the inertial errors that result from acceleration of the machine during conventional three-axis scanning.

Metalex 2005 is being held at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition centre (BITEC).

The organisers are expecting 2100 exhibitors from 48 countries worldwide, including eight national pavilions from China, the Bavaria Pavilion from Germany, India, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and the UK.

Occupying all of the space at BITEC, a total of 38,000m2, the show will include a wide range of metalworking and related technologies, such as factory automation, pumps and valves, material handling, metrology, tooling, machine tools, sheet metalworking and welding.

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