TPT May 2007

Technology Update

Advanced workpiece drilling solutions

Applications requiring fast and accurate drilling of holes in a workpiece are becoming increasingly common. Conventional manual or semi-automatic drilling machines require drilling holes to be marked by hand, which is both time consuming and prone to error. Nevertheless, drilling by hand is still common, since automatic working is often uneconomical, due to high investment costs for X-axis length of more than 1,000mm.

J Neu GmbH, Germany, manufactures drilling apparatus with X-axis length up to 6,000mm and above. Using the apparatus, the tube is clamped and moved through the drilling machine. This provides advantages including protection of the surface of the workpiece, machining directly at both ends without difficulty, and the reduction of required floor space, since machine length is halved in comparison to pushing operation machines.

› The Alzmetall AB26 drilling unit

An additional pair of linear guides is mounted on the slide to carry out Y-axis movements of the drilling unit. By combination of the two possible movements, the coordinates for the drilling positions can be precisely determined. The drilling unit for the standard version is an Alzmetall AB26 SV with electromagnetic clutch. A microspraying device is supplied as standard, and full CNC drilling units with turret head are available on request.

The base of the drilling apparatus is a stable welding construction of hollow sections, providing stiffness and low-vibration. After welding, the bed is milled at the assembly zone for the linear guide, gear rack and material clamping, which guarantees the necessary tolerances. The welded and milled slide that carries the drilling unit is connected to the machine bed by two linear guides for movement in the X-direction.

fi J Neu systems clamp the workpiece in place, while moving the drilling machine

J Neu GmbH – Germany Fax : +49 6359 924 257 Email : info@neu-gmbh.de Website : www.neu-gmbh.de

46

M ay /J une 2007