Application stories: How HEIDENHAIN customers find success

Thunderbike uses 5-axis machining centers with TNC controls from HEIDENHAIN to manufacture incredible custom bikes in Germany.

“Most people would be afraid to do this,” says Patrick Meyer, founder of Carbomill AG. But he is not afraid of machining complex workpieces, including those made from carbon-fiber reinforced plastics. In order to deliver perfect results from the start, the young entrepreneur invested in a Fooke ENDURA 711 gantry-type milling machine, equipped with an iTNC 530 from HEIDENHAIN. His customers are very demanding, and come from motorsports and the automobile and aerospace industries.

Two HEIDENHAIN controls are an integral part of an unusual deep-hole gun drill machine now in place at Dieffenbacher North America hydraulic press manufacturer. This deep-hole drilling machine has three spindles that can operate simultaneously over a 12000 mm table, enabling not only the manufacture of deep holes up to 2500 mm in very large press plates but to also machine the necessary pockets all at the same time.

CT systems with rotary tables and angle encoder modules with roller bearings In the domain of non-destructive materials testing, computed tomography (CT) is a technology that provides a unique three-dimensional view of inspection items. For example, it permits precise geometrical measurement of the inner structures of components, comparison with CAD data and the detection of […]

Schüssler-Technik in Pforzheim, Germany, is divided into two divisions. The first division manufactures primarily milling, bending and laser soldering machines for the manufacture of eyeglass frames. The second is occupied with the R&D and sale of direct drives.

The trend in the semiconductor industry to ever higher levels of integration and, with it, to continuously finer structures, calls for measuring devices with high resolution for positioning to the nanometer in the manufacturing process and in measuring and inspection technology. Measuring error due to guideway influences and thermal expansion, which at present cannot be compensated by computation, can be ascertained by a new measuring device and therefore significantly reduced.

Italian manufacturer Comau places its trust in encoder solutions with EnDat-2.2 interfaces from HEIDENHAIN for its new robot control and 3-D laser system.

AQ Mekatronik in Bollnäs has made the new high-speed train master controller. The model is called MC 400 and is used to control the train’s speed and braking. It is a redundant system with two custom-made absolute encoders from Leine & Linde in each unit which produce a digital output signal pattern. Micro-switches were previously used for the signal pattern.

Did you know that HEIDENHAIN components are within the new Discovery Channel Telescope (DCT) that has recently seen its first light at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona? As part of the DCT’s mount and control system developed by General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies (GDST), four HEIDENHAIN tape encoders and an EIB interface system are used inside to assist with its important positioning and speed functions.

With its postage-stamp size scanning unit and very high accuracy, these encoders are of special interest to stage manufacturers or anyone using linear motors in their machine design.

The manufacturer from Sinn in the Central Hessen region of Germany was the first company to successfully use linear motors with PCB drilling machines. This technology was also implemented for the DRB 610 1+1 PCB drilling and milling machine shown at the Productronica 2013 fair for the highly dynamic positioning of its two spindles (Figure 1). The machine producer also places its trust in LIC 4100 absolute exposed linear encoders from Heidenhain to achieve precise position measurement and control of traversing velocity.

The word “vacuum” is used to describe an empty space, meaning a volume not filled with air or any other gas. A vacuum is classified as a low, medium, high or ultrahigh vacuum, depending on its purity. ‘ Vacuum technology plays a significant role in many modern production procedures and research tasks. Procedures using vacuum technology have become indispensable in the electronics industry and biotechnology, in thin-film deposition technology, in the development of new materials, and in medicine and analytical technology.

Precision is the be all and end all in modern production, and continuous compliance with this is an art in itself. Manufacturing companies invest in finest measuring technology to achieve this, implemented on so-called measuring islands in the immediate vicinity of their production plant.

HEIDENHAIN’s IK 5000 QUADRA-CHEK serves as the metrology and motor control system in a video measurement machine (VMM) that is currently inspecting extremely thin film solar panels on flexible plastic substrates? These flexible solar panels, inspected on an Acu-Gage Systems (New Hampshire) VMM, can be used in a myriad of applications such as on backpacks/travel gear, siding for houses and retractable awnings, providing a source of transportable, renewable energy.

Did you know that a HEIDENHAIN angle encoder is a vital component in Adcole’s Model 1200 measuring machine known worldwide as the standard for measuring engine crankshafts and camshafts? Adcole Corporation headquartered in Massachusetts, takes great pride as the market leader and asserts its ability to provide the highest accuracy cylindrical coordinate measuring machines (CMMs). “No other company can better measure critically important reciprocating engine components,” said Steve Corrado, Adcole’s Engineering Manager.

Modern medical laboratories are characterized by highly automated processes with a high degree of repeatability. Their task is the analysis of very small individual samples in large charges within a very brief time.

Inaccuracies in the positioning or guidance of the therapy instruments can have far-reaching consequences.

Medical technology is an extremely sensitive industry, in more ways than one. People are in difficult and exceptional circumstances, since their health—one of the most precious goods humans have—is under attack.