Mikron's NRG-50 Creates New Wave Of Machining Technology Solutions
Within six months of its world launch at EMO 2005 machine tool exhibition in Hannover, four Mikron NRG-50 12 station rotary production machining cells have been ordered and more than 50 positive enquiries are being processed by the Agno, Switzerland machining systems solution provider Mikron Machining Technology.
The four installations, three in Germany and one in Italy will be delivered early in 2007. Two applications will involve ultra-high tolerance production of different fuel injection component families of five and three parts. The third machine will produce five different pneumatic valves and the fourth, a range of high precision housings in varying batch sizes for use in measuring systems.
The single cycle fuel injection production processes will involve precise small deep hole drillings, five-axis milling, complex grooving and internal recessing with push-button changeover for the different component types.
Meanwhile, the five different pneumatic valves and cylinders will be produced out of rectangular aluminium bar with the process involving turning, milling, slotting, drilling and tapping on all six faces of the components. In-cycle reduction of chucking forces to prevent distortion around critical holes will also be programmed into the cycle and some parts will be machined using the recent development of automatic tool change routines.
The Mikron NRG-50 broke totally new ground in production technology giving the combination of ultra-high accuracy, flexibility for batch or volume production, fast change-over and the ability to simultaneously machine with up to 30 tools on six faces of a component. As a result, the machine creates new orders of productivity in providing single hit cycles for very complex, multi-featured components with full deburring being carried out within the machining cycle using axis interpolation or special tooling applications.
The Mikron NRG-50 extends the solution provider capability of Mikron Machining Technology and sister company Mikron Tool to provide multi-axis, application developments in a single cycle machine. The flexibility of the machine, with up to 140 axes available under CNC control also provides greater freedom to component designers enabling them to focus on function and performance rather than be hampered by a limited machining capability.
SOURCE: Mikron Machining Technology