Sealed energy supply system for a milling and drilling machine encountering dust, dirt, and drilling oil

• What was needed: RX energy pipes
• Requirements: Use under aggressive environmental conditions such as abrasive and highly lubricating materials, continuous load due to three-shift operation seven days a week, particularly tight bend radius of only 100 mm, tightly tensioned hydraulic hoses mean high pressure on energy chain solution
• Industry: Machine tool construction
• Success for the customer: extremely robust energy supply system specially designed for the environmental conditions, absolute tightness of the energy tube with easy opening and filling, reduced maintenance and machine downtimes thanks to high accessibility of the cable

Auerbach Maschinenfabrik GmbH has been manufacturing machine tools for over 60 years. Today, the company specialises in combining conventional milling technology with modern deep drilling technology in one machine. In addition to tool and mould making, the resulting "AX-TLF" series is also used in the aerospace industry, general mechanical engineering, the solar industry, equipment manufacturing and the oil industry. The choice of materials is therefore broad, ranging from soft graphite, aluminium and standard steels to high-strength stainless steels and titanium alloys. The requirements for the machine and the components used are correspondingly diverse.
On the one hand, contamination plays a major role. Graphite, for example, is machined dry, is extremely abrasive and smears. Or the issue of deep drilling, where a lot of drilling oil is used. This creeps everywhere and is extremely aggressive. Another variant is minimum quantity lubrication. Here, high-pressure cooled, oiled air is used for deep drilling. The atomised oil then sends the particles flying through the working area before they settle everywhere. The energy supply system is also always in the direct chip area when supplying the main spindle and is directly exposed to the aggressive conditions. Depending on the order situation, the machines work in three shifts, seven days a week. In addition to the extreme external conditions, the bend radius is particularly tight at 100 mm. And tightly stretched hydraulic hoses, which are as hard as an iron bar, increase the pressure within the energy supply.

Due to increased milling performance, the machine manufacturer was looking for an even more robust solution for the energy supply as part of a retrofit with newly installed pressure hoses for a customer. Since then, only "RX" energy tubes from igus® in installation size 40 have been used in the combination machine for milling and drilling. Closed plastic energy tubes from igus® have been used for twenty years in all work areas where chips are produced. Dust, dirt, oil, aggressive environments, moisture and heat are no problem for the robust energy tubes.
The "RX" energy tube with its special rounded design and smooth curved outer contour simply bounces chips off.
The new energy tube has been extensively tested to ensure that it is one hundred per cent leak-proof. Despite its absolute tightness, the energy tube is easy to open and has a large filling space with an inner height of up to 52 mm, including cable-friendly, abrasion-optimised interior separation. The filling space can be subdivided so that cables and hoses can be laid separately and safely. As they remain accessible at all times after insertion into the tube, maintenance and machine downtimes are reduced to a minimum.
The tube is particularly suitable for short unsupported lengths inside machine tools, and applications with a reverse bend radius can also be realised.
Finally, the energy tubes are also supplied directly to the machine as a ready-chain, i.e. fully assembled with chainflex® -cable and hose, including a suitable guide trough on request.