Product category:
Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: Kasto | Subject: Rohbi RKA72 circular sawing machine
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 14 July 2000
Circular saw simplifies endoscope
production
By being able to cut tube to within 10 microns squareness tolerance, a Rohbi circular sawing machine from Rivers Machinery has taken over from parting-off in a lathe and subsequent lapping
By being able to cut tube to within 10 microns squareness tolerance, a Rohbi circular sawing machine from Rivers Machinery has taken over from parting-off in a lathe and subsequent lapping for the production of industrial endoscope spacers at KeyMed, Southend-on-Sea, part of camera giant, Olympus Optical Co, Japan The Swiss-built saw was delivered in March 1999 with special form jaws to avoid marking or distorting the brass tube, which has a wall thickness of just 0.15 mm
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 14 Jul 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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There was previously a danger of crushing the delicate tube in the jaws of the lathe so great care had to be taken, added to which rotating the stock in a bar magazine risked further damage.
Six different diameters from 4 to 8 mm OD need to be processed and other form jaws are on order as the production of all the spacers is brought in-house.
Previously, each component was parted-off and lapped by a subcontractor from free-issue material.
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Now around 80,000 spacers are produced annually using the Rohbi saw, resulting in significant cost savings.
A further economy results from eliminating a deburring operation.
Before they are cut-to-length, the tubes are 'reeced' to generate a spiral form along their length which improves the internal optical characteristics.
The reecing often caused a pip to form when the parting-off tool broke through the tube.
The new sawing method produces no burrs whatsoever.
Said Alan Player, machine shop manager at KeyMed's Southend-on-Sea production facility, "We looked in detail at three sawing machines before opting for the Rohbi RKA72.
The company was unique in its ability to demonstrate that it could cut our tube to the required 0.01 mm squareness as well as to a total length tolerance of 0.03 mm and to guarantee this in production." One and a half metre lengths of tube are placed on an infeed table and fed into the machining area of the saw using a twin vice system.
The 100 mm diameter, 200-tooth, solid carbide blade travels down through the middle of the right hand vice, which thus clamps the material on either side of the blade during the cut.
The whole cycle is 10 seconds owing to the need for great care to be taken when feeding and cutting the stock.
Normal coolant is used which is filtered and recycled within the machine.
The Rohbi saw currently operates a single eight-hour day shift although the manufacturing machine shop runs two day shifts and unmanned overnight.
Hence there is plenty of spare precision sawing capacity to cope with increased demand for spacers, including from other Olympus Group factories should the need arise.
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