When processing gears for applications such as industrial robots, powerful turning tools such as Sandvik Coromant CoroMill 178 can increase productivity, precision and flexibility. #casestudy #gearproduction

Sandvik Coromant’s powerful scraping tools have now become a proven solution for automotive gear production, as well as an effective solution for robotic gear manufacturing. Image source: Sandvik Coromant

According to the "World Robot Report 2020" of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the total number of industrial robots operating in factories worldwide increased to 2.7 million units in 2019. This is an increase of 12% over 2018, a record high. Robots are now involved in a range of industries, from automobiles and aerospace to the food industry and pharmaceuticals-but all of these industries have common requirements.

Today's industrial robots must not only adapt to smaller and smaller spaces and use as much "manufacturing space" as possible for production, but they must also be lighter, have less inertia, and be able to perform more precise movements with optimal speed and efficiency. . This puts pressure on manufacturers to process smaller, more precisely designed components and increase design flexibility.

Manufacturers must meet these requirements cost-effectively, while maximizing machine uptime and reducing cycle time. Scenarios like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic also pose challenges for the workshop, such as unpredictable demand and the need to maintain productivity with fewer workers at all times.

Faced with all these challenges, Sandvik Coromant recommends the use of powerful turning technology, which is particularly beneficial to gear manufacturing in the automotive industry, and recommends its PrimeTurning concept.

By combining gear hobbing and forming, powerful scraping enables manufacturers to use a single multi-tasking machine to combine multiple operations performed on a dedicated machine. This change has improved machine utilization - and gross profit margin. Image source: Sandvik Coromant

Power turning is a continuous rotation cutting technique in which the tool meshes with the gear in production. The intersection angle between the tool and the gear shaft affects the speed and greatly improves productivity. Because the process combines gear hobbing and forming, powerful scraping can machine the entire part on a multi-task machine instead of multiple machines. One-time setup greatly improves machine utilization and total profit. According to Sandvik Coromant's own findings, a 20% increase in machine utilization can provide a high gross profit margin of 10%. Manufacturers can also benefit from greater design accuracy and flexibility.

A Sandvik Coromant customer in the automotive sector reduced machining time by 90% by using powerful scraping tools. In this case, the customer chose Sandvik Coromant's CoroMill 178 for power scraping, which reduced the time-consuming forming process used to manufacture gear parts with low alloy 16MnCr5. According to Harish Maniyoor, Sandvik Coromant Automotive’s global product manager, customers have reported improved process stability and significantly improved component quality.

In another case, a robot manufacturer in South Korea asked Sandvik Coromant for help to help the manufacturer produce an internal gear reducer that the manufacturer will use for precise motion control of one of the robots.

A Sandvik Coromant customer in the automotive sector reduced machining time by 90% by using powerful scraping tools.

It takes up to 60 minutes for the customer's existing production equipment to process a part. The customer used Sandvik Coromant's powerful turning solution in DMG Mori's NTX 1000 machining center to fully increase productivity, and each part can be processed in just 8 minutes.

In addition to powerful turning tools, Sandvik Coromant said the PrimeTurning process will also benefit manufacturers who need more precise engineering of robotic parts.

PrimeTurning technology enables the machining shop to use a single tool to complete longitudinal (forward and backward), end face and profiling operations. The method is based on the tool entering the part at the chuck and removing material as it moves towards the end of the part. This will prioritize the metal removal rate to achieve faster and better quality production and conversion.

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