Fast assembly due to a pre-assembled energy chain in a machining centre

Profile

• What was needed: Energy supply with pre-assembled readycable® cable
• Requirements: High flexibility, short-term delivery, long-term system partnership
• Industry: Special machine construction
• Success for the customer: Energy supply system was designed to minimise the number of interfaces and at the same time ensure a clean supply of all components; cost- and time-saving assembly thanks to pre-assembled overall solution; chainflex® special cables guarantee a long service life

Problem
The product range of the machine tool manufacturer Dörries Scharmann Technologie GmbH (DST) in Mönchengladbach includes machining centres of various designs: Turning, drilling and milling centres as well as grinding machines. One focus is on the machining of complex components.
The development of the multifunctional gantry machining centre "DBF 630" was driven by the machine manufacturer's realisation that there is a high demand for small part machining in the automotive sector, among others. It fulfils the increased customer demands for accuracy and unit costs. Complete machining with concentricity and axial run-out accuracies of 5 to 6 µm on pump and valve housings, fittings, sealing flanges and rockbits are among the typical applications of the new machining centre. The turning, drilling and milling head (DBF) guarantees its success. The rotating turning tool can be moved radially +/- 35 mm (servo axis) for turning the stationary workpiece. Speeds of up to 1,200 rpm are possible for turning operations. For drilling and milling, a 35 kW spindle accelerates up to 3,500 min.¯1. The compact machining centre with 
630 x 630 mm pallets and payloads of up to 600 kg has a chain magazine with a capacity of up to 60 tool positions.
Very high demands are placed on the availability of the machining centre during operation. It usually runs 24 hours a day in production mode. All components used, as well as the entire cable routing, must be correspondingly durable. Also important for the power supply: it was important for the machine manufacturer to install a complete system that was delivered ready for use on the specified date. This is because assembling the system in-house costs a lot of time and money. There are not only bearing costs, but also ordering costs. Each individual part has to be handled several times and expensive assembly times are not worthwhile for the machine specialist.

Solution
DST has been using energy supply systems from igus® for a number of years. In close co-operation with igus®, the design engineers at Dörries Scharmann have developed a concept for connecting the energy supply system to the machine in such a way that, on the one hand, there are few interfaces and, on the other hand, a clean supply of all components is guaranteed. It was also a major concern to make the assembly of the machining centres as simple and planned as possible so that no problems could arise.
Specifically, the machining centre "DBF 630" now relies on two energy supply systems, which are sold with ready-made chainflex® cables under the name "readycable®" . The ready-to-connect cables can be installed in a time-saving manner. From the actual energy supply system to every chainflex® special cable, the machine manufacturer has opted for high-quality parts: All bus, servo and control cables are equipped with integrated strain relief elements. There are also additional internal partitioning elements to increase the service life of the individual cables. Connectors, connections and steel components specified by the customer round off the complete pre-assembled system.
As Dörries Scharmann only manufactures customised products, the difficulty lies in precisely defining the respective length of the supply cables. It was therefore important for the machine specialist to have a supplier that could provide technical support, react flexibly to the different requirements and, above all, realise the order at very short notice. Stefan Nethövel, Head of Materials Management/Logistics at Dörries Scharmann, adds: " "Once the machine concept has been finalised, the delivery of a completely pre-assembled energy supply system must be guaranteed within ten working days."