Linear motor drives incorporated in wire EDM

Incorporating additional functions requested by customers - ease of operation and maintenance - wire EDM machine offers highly responsive and reliable servo-system accuracy.

Sodick is maintaining its blazing pace of innovation with the unveiling of the new space-saving AQ327L wire EDM solution.

This new machine is a direct development of the best-selling AQ325L and incorporates many additional functions requested by customers, particularly with regard to ease of operation and maintenance.

Designed to satisfy the requirements of middle to high-end users, the AQ325L will be equally at home in the automotive, aerospace and medical sectors.

Available with two travel sizes, either 350 x250 x 220, or 370 x 270 x 250mm, the extended X, Y and Z travel delivers a stroke mass 30% larger than other similar sized machines, while the increased U and V travel also significantly extends taper capability, all within a very compact footprint of 2100 x 2200mm, or 2250 x 2200mm for the larger machine.

The X, Y, U, V 4-axis linear motor drive system delivers superbly responsive and reliable servo-system accuracy, providing high efficiency with high speed, due to its contact free, linear-to-linear direct construction.

The linear motor drive eliminates back-lash, thus increasing positioning accuracy, as well as increasing cost effectiveness due to the reduced number of mechanical parts, which in turn reduces deterioration of performance over time.

* New features - the AQ325L's highly rigid and progressive design was developed using the most advanced CADCAM engineering technologies.

New functional enhancements include a three-face vertical slide tank to improve operational performance for ease of loading, set-up and maintenance, as well as providing built-in readiness for future automation.

There is also an automatic fluid level controller, an essential pre-requisite for automation.

A further development is the redesign of the tank area, where the EF-Box and sensor have been place outside the tank, to ease maintenance and cleaning operations.

The new-style filter also enhances performance and maintenance through the increase in filtration capacity, eliminating the 'unit filter' for HSP area and allowing customers to deal with only one type of easy-to-replace filter.

The addition of an extra pump improves dielectric circulation to provide more stable flushing, clean water circulation to the chiller and slide/seal plate flushing.

* Low maintenance - designed to reduce maintenance, the AQ325L offers slide plate flushing, so slide plate seals and pipes never dry out, increasing the lifespan of the seal parts, maintaining accuracy and reducing maintenance costs.

In addition, the new wire ejection unit quintuples the life of the rollers, with five different, selectable roller positions, longer roller life and increased rigidity of the unit ensures increased reliability while the air aspirator results in longer resin life.

The use of ceramic parts, which have been incorporated in Sodick machines for many years, also ensures optimum performance for the longest period of time, as they are light, provide high insulation, high rigidity and are not affected by changes in temperature.

The AQ327L is also equipped with 'leading-edge', intelligent NC control to extract data from 3D solid modelling systems, including the ability to automatically add taper data.

The system maximises the potential use of solid model data for production, including cutting edge and pocket machining, as well as providing a large15inch LCD screen, to improve ease of operation.

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