01.09.2019
Das UNISET-P im Einsatz
Taktiles Messen für weniger Maschinenstillstand
Ob Gehäuse für Antrieb, Getriebe, Elektropumpe oder elektrische Lenkung – die Alupress Berlin GmbH ist Spezialist für die komplexe Bearbeitung von Druckgussbauteilen. Alupress fertigt diese Aluminiumwerkstücke in der Großserie µm-genau. Damit das funktioniert, benötigt das Unternehmen hochpräzise Werkzeuge. Müssen diese Werkzeuge eingestellt werden, kommt dafür das neue Einstellgerät UNISET-P von MAPAL zum Einsatz.
75,000 parts, completely machined housings or flanges made of aluminium, leave Alupress Berlin GmbH every week. Over 80 percent of these parts are manufactured using tools from MAPAL. A reamer was the first tool from MAPAL used in the Berlin works over 20 years ago. Why? „In the area of fine machining, MAPAL‘s know-how is unique“, says Patrick Wittig, who is responsible for tool management at the works in Berlin.
The highest precision is required in many areas at Alupress. „To some extent we must manufacture bores in large-scale series production within a tolerance of 5 µm and achieve a surface roughness of Rz = 2 µm“, explains Patrick Wittig. The highest precision is therefore also fundamental for the tools.
During the machining of a flange, the required surface finish was not achieved with a tool with brazed cutting edges. „For this reason we changed to a milling cutter with adjustable PCD inserts“, recalls Burkhard Schimkat, fixture and tool technology at Alupress. However, the axial run-out on every insert on the milling cutter must be set to the µm to manufacture to the µm.
Challenge of setting to the µm
And it was exactly here that Alupress faced a challenge for a long time. „We only used an optical setting fixture“, says Patrick Wittig. „However, tactile measurement with contact with the cutting edge was indispensable in this case to manufacture to the required tolerances.“ The final accuracy had to be set directly in the machine. And that process was complex, susceptible to mistakes and time-consuming. The machine was stationary for up to two hours for this purpose.
For this reason Alupress looked for an alternative for this process. „It was only natural we approach MAPAL directly with our challenge for setting the tools“, says Patrick Wittig. After all the precision tool manufacturer has maintained a consignment store at Alupress for some time. Once a week a technical consultant from MAPAL is on site, among other things to ensure the tool stocks are correct, to check newly arrived tools or to initiate repairs. „We use the dispensing system UNIBASE-M from MAPAL for this purpose and in this context we became aware of the company‘s setting fixtures. The PCD face milling cutter that was the trigger for the search for a solution is also from MAPAL“, elaborates Patrick Wittig.