Heavy Lift Crane Works With CNC Roll Grinder

Voith Paper's Manchester manufacturing plant has installed a 120-tonne crane from Street Crane to ensure efficient and safe loading and unloading of the grinding machine. The machine will grind and produce perfect geometry and balance in paper machine rollers of up to 115 tonnes. The crane will be used for loading and offloading vehicles and positioning rollers onto a CNC controlled Waldrich Siegen roll grinder and up-rated IRD balancing machine.

This requires precision movement and an auxiliary 10-tonne hoist is provided to permit rotation and final manoeuvring of the load. Major structural elements of the crane include twin box-beam girders for rigidity with eight-wheel carriages to spread the load. Hoisting is achieved via a heavy-duty crab unit based on a twin scrolling open barrel hoist design that ensures the hook follows a true vertical lifting path.

Programmable microprocessor controllers, along with digital frequency inverters on the motor drives, provide smooth acceleration and deceleration for safe transport of the load with no load swing. The overhead crane features a range of safety systems including audible alarm, flashing amber light and an anti-collision system.

Like all cranes from Street Crane, the brake operates on the first reduction shaft in the gearbox so that the load is held securely even in the unlikely event of a motor failure. A wire-free radio remote control allows the operator to adopt the best position for safety and visibility. A conventional pendant control is also provided as a back up.

Rosa Surface Grinder Has Linear Motor Drives

NL Machine Tool Consulting has announced that Rosa Ermando has introduced the linear motor drive for the table of its grinding machines, series Steel Linear and R46. The linear motor is said to reach high speeds and accelerations, where during grinding a traverse speed of approximately 65m/min and accelerations of 2G are feasible. This increases the output capacity and/or reduction of machining times. It also generates high forces, where the thrust of the motor easily reaches up to 10,000N.

The linear motor has no mechanical components with power transmission components and avoids many disadvantages such as friction, mechanical backlash, and mechanical resonance due to elasticity. It is also said to be precise as it is controlled by a linear optical scale, which means positioning of table within micron precision is possible. The linear motor drive is claimed to be a flexible solution that allows creep-feed grinding, with slow table motion, interpolation between table and vertical axis, high-speed grinding till 65m/m. The machines are controlled through a Siemens Sinumerik 840 DiE CNC control unit and can be supplied with fourth and fifth axis for complicated components.

MX7 Grinder Makes Tools With Up To 16mm Diameters

Anca's MX7 CNC grinder, which the company recently exhibited at the EMO Exhibition, can manufacture a variety of tools up to 16mm in diameter. Adam Wallace, the MX7 product manager, said: 'The MX7 offers high output, enhanced flexibility and rapid changeover for high-efficiency and support for lean-manufacturing principles.

'The MX7 provides superb flexibility and quick changeovers to accommodate smaller batch sizes yet high output for production houses. 'That's where the ten-second wheel-and-tool changeover capability really makes its mark.' The MX7's permanent-magnet spindle produces superior performance across the entire spindle working range; it operates to a maximum of 10,000rpm with a spindle power rating of 20kW/27Hp (S1).

Because of a lower current draw, less heat is generated and therefore less system expansion takes place, which further aids precision. Although applicable to a range of materials, the MX7's higher torque at lower RPM characteristics are particularly suited to efficient carbide grinding.

The inclusion of a standard wheel-pack changer increases the machine's productivity and flexibility. The MX7 has a speedy 10-second wheel-change time and six HSK wheel packs. MX7 productivity can be further enhanced with the use of the MLX Loader, designed for maximum productivity, minimal set-up time and a 10 second tool-change time.