Product category:
Plastics and Rubber Moulding Subcontracting Services
News Release from: Protoform | Subject: Machining
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 01 June 2007
Subcontractor adds customised heavy-duty
robotics
Prototype and pre-production injection tooling company Protoform has invested in two Deckel DMC 105V Linear 5-axis machining centres and a rotary pallet changer, trebling plant capacity.
Prototype and pre-production injection tooling company Protoform has commissioned two Deckel DMC 105V Linear 5-axis machining centres, one of which is served by a custom-designed rotary pallet changer This installation more than trebles the capacity of the plant's existing range of high-speed CNC plant, which already included a Roders 5-axis unit
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 24 Aug 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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At the specification stage, only standard 120-piece tool-changers and basic 4-piece platen-changers were available.
These platens did not have the capacity in terms of weight or loading for protoform's projected usage, 250 kg being the limit, whereas protoform's requirement was for around 500 kg per platen plus the facility to load multiples of larger components.
Deckel and their linked suppliers EROWA, a leading robotics specialist for machine shop automation, worked in close cooperation to provide the answers, resulting in the present installation which extends the specification for timed automatic feed of heavy-duty platens beyond previous limits.
Also, this intensified 24/7 machining means that Space Puzzle tool designers can expect to see the results of their work created automatically overnight ready for assembly during the next work period.
Peter Hofmann, the driving force behind this major innovative investment and Protoform's MD, comments:- "We knew that our unique requirement would be pushing the envelope for our two suppliers, but they responded magnificently and came up with the technology to make it all happen.
We believe that it is simply a must to continue investing to the maximum in the very best technology in the interest of providing our customers with better lead times and lower costs without sacrificing quality.
These two new machines plus the robotics, together with our first 5-axis milling centre, move protoform powerfully towards that goal".
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