EPUCRET Launches High-Performance Machine Outfit In Its Own Grinding Centre

"How precisely a machine operates depends decisively on its machine bed", explains Dr. Utz-Volker Jackisch. By offering customers a new service, the CEO of EPUCRET Mineralgusstechnik aims to set whole new standards in terms of precision. The company now has the capability to provide all the grinding processes required on its own internally produced mineral casting machine frames as well as other components made of hard stone, steel or cast iron in-house. The newly opened EPUCRET grinding center in Bessenbach is impressively equipped with very latest state-of-the-art machinery.

From now on, EPUCRET will be able to produce machine beds and components to an extreme level of micron-range accuracy using its own high-performance machine outfit. Customers will benefit from reliable grinding capacity and consequently from the assurance of short delivery periods. Use of the tangential flat grinding technique allows the specialists from EPUCRET to now machine workpieces of up to seven meters in length with weights up to 25 tons in-house. The fully air conditioned production hall (20° +/-1K) centers on two precision grinding machines featuring universal grinding support with +/-90° swivel facility as well as angular and convex/concave grinding units. Small boreholes and threads can be produced directly at the machine using a drilling and milling head. A wide selection of grinding heads opens up scope for optimum machining of wide-ranging different materials including mineral casting, hard stone, ceramic, steel or cast iron. And to document the extreme levels of accuracy achieved, the parts are gauged outside the machine in an air conditioned environment using autocollimators and inclination scales.

Grinding workpieces of up to 25 tons
The Favretto CNC precision grinding machine covers a working range of five meters (L x W x H: 5,000 x 2,000 x 1,350 mm) and is accurate to tolerances of just 5 microns for workpieces weighing as much as 15 tons. To permit machining in a single clamping operation, a universal swivel head is used which can be adjusted if required in increments of just 1°. Use of an electromechanical drive system ensures extreme axis positioning accuracy. Other highlights of the Favretto machine are a convex and concave grinding unit, an automatic balancing system and dressing device. The WMW precision NC grinding machine offers the same impressive degree of flexibility with its working range of L x W x H: 7,000 x 2,650 x 2,400 mm. Retrofitted with state-of-the art drive and control engineering, this machine offers optimum conditions for the precision grinding of large machine components. Workpieces of up to seven meters in length and with a maximum weight of as much as 25 tons are ground on this machine with micron range accuracy. The WMW is fitted with a universal swivel head capable of adjustment in 1° increments and also features a 5-axis control system which permits convex as well as concave grinding. The hydrostatic table bearing guarantees an even film of lubricant even under differing table loads. The grinding wheels have a 700 mm diameter.

Comprehensive service from grinding through to assembly
"Our grinding center features a fully air conditioned production hall and fully air conditioned assembly and measurement stations spread over 2,400 square meters. This means that we can guarantee the optimum temperature conditions required for the achievement of extreme accuracy", explains René Maschlanka, Project Manager in the EPUCRET grinding center. The first machine beds for prestigious customers such as Deckel Maho Seebach GmbH have already been successfully machined, according to Maschlanka. But visitors to the inauguration celebrations on July 6th, 2010 will also have the opportunity to appraise an array of completed machined hard stone components. The new complete service provided by EPUCRET is part of an integral service concept ranging from technical and design advice through grinding to measurement, calibration and assembly. The target group it aims to reach are mechanical engineering firms from every sector – from machine tools to measuring devices.

Further information about the new EPUCRET grinding center and its services you will find on www.praezisions-schleifen.de.

For more information, visit: www.epucret.com.

SOURCE: EPUCRET Mineralgusstechnik