Machines

Angular contact ball bearings in many variants

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Depending on the application, IBC provides a variety of high-precision angular contact ball bearings in various sizes and with different design features.


Angular contact ball bearings are offered by IBC in various designs.

The high-precision angular contact ball bearings from IBC have been developed for all kinds of rolling bearing applications. Either individually or in combination, they are reportedly produced to meet the highest requirements placed in the areas of reliability, stiffness, rotational speed and running accuracy.

The large number of types allows spindle manufacturers from different branches or special machine builders to optimize their spindles according to the aspects most important to them. The angular contact ball bearings can be supplied with contact angles of 15°, 25°, 30°, 40° and 60° and with different rolling element diameters as well as with rolling elements made of steel or ceramics. According to the manufacturers, this kind of bearing has raceways in the inner and outer ring, which are displaced with respect to each other in the direction of the bearing axis. This means that the products are suitable for radial and axial loads.

The German company points out that it offers a broad spectrum of other bearing series to meet specific needs. This wide range of products enables the bearing user to achieve higher performance at a lower cost.

www.ibc-waelzlager.com

Tooling

Milling cutter for perfect stainless steel surfaces

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Crazymill Cool is a new kind of carbide ball mill from Mikron Tool for finishing operations in titanium and nickel-based alloys.

Crazymill Cool is a new kind of carbide ball mill from Mikron Tool for finishing operations in titanium and nickel-based alloys. The coated end mill with four teeth is available in a diameter range from 1 to 8 mm for the milling depths 2xd, 3xd and 5xd, each with a cutting depth of 1.5xd.
 

Two further versions are available with usable milling lengths of 3xd and 4xd especially for medical applications like implants. The common features for the different models include a special geometry with progressive flutes from 30° to 40° that enable a vibration-free milling. According to the Swiss exhibitors, this ensures an excellent surface quality when milling in the radius area as well as in the cylindrical area. Integrated cooling channels continuously provide the cutting edges in each position with coolant to prevent overheating and help achieve maximum cutting speed performance as well as to flush chips out of the work zone. The result is claimed to be a surface finish in grinding quality.

www.mikron.com

Companies

Witschi Electronic AG remporte le Grand Prix des Exposants 2017

Grâce à son ingénieux système de mesure WisioScope, la société bernoise Witschi Electronic AG a été élue par ses pairs pour soulever le trophée du Grand Prix des Exposants 2017.

Ives Soldati, société Witschi Electronic AG, reçoit le Grand Prix des Exposants 2017

 
Créé depuis 6 ans pour récompenser le projet le plus innovant de l’année présenté au Salon EPHJ-EPMT-SMT, le Grand Prix des Exposants a rassemblé pour cette édition un nombre très important de dossiers de candidature qui ont été transmis à un Jury d’experts.
Ce Jury a sélectionné 6 nominés : Witschi Electronic AG, Techniwatch, Rifft, Precitec, Enovasense et Coat-X. Les projets de cette liste de 6 nominés ont ensuite été soumis au vote des exposants juste avant l’ouverture du Salon.

 
A l’issue de ce vote, c’est la société Witschi Electronic SA, basée à Büren, dans le Canton de Berne, qui a recueilli le plus de suffrage et qui a donc reçu le Grand Prix des Exposants 2017 ce 20 juin, lors de la soirée d’ouverture du Salon EPHJ-EPMT-SMT. « C’est une très belle reconnaissance pour notre produit, le WisioScope, déclare Ives Soldati, responsable des ventes de Witschi. Mais c’est avant tout le résultat de nombreuses années de recherche en collaboration avec le CSEM de Neuchâtel. »

 
Le WisioScope est un appareil de mesure très innovant dédié à la manufacture et à la maintenance des oeuvres horlogères. D’une part, les mesures acoustiques et les mesures optiques de la marche et de l’amplitude se font avec une simplicité d’utilisation et une précision inégalée. D’autre part, la caméra et l’écran tactile intégré permettent de visualiser le mouvement grâce à une utilisation de l’effet stroboscopique. Grace à une collaboration avec le CSEM à Neuchâtel, un système optique de faible taille a été conçu. La miniaturisation permet de coupler étroitement la mesure acoustique et la mesure optique sur un seul microphone. Pour l’utilisateur, des nouvelles applications deviennent accessibles, telle que la mesure des oscillateurs à haute fréquence.

A propos de Witschi Electronic SA
Witschi Electronic SA développe et fabrique depuis 70 ans des appareils de test et de mesure de haute qualité. Le but initial de l’entreprise consistait à fournir la meilleure technologie de test et mesure pour l’industrie horlogère. Witschi Electronic a déjà atteint ce but par le passé. Il garde toute son actualité pour une clientèle plus diversifiée. À partir de son siège principal de Büren an der Aare, Witschi Electronic gère une filiale à Hong Kong et des représentations dans plus de 30 pays du monde entier. Witschi Electronic emploie environ 80 collaborateurs au total.

www.witschi.com

Lubrication

Motorex: 100 years of success based around the green barrel

Customised products, approachability, and innovative capacity: The long-established Bucher AG Langenthal celebrates its 100th anniversary in June. The lubricant manufacturer with the green barrel has had an eventful history – one that has always been focused around meeting customers’ requirements.

As the largest independent clean-oil refinery in Switzerland, Motorex develops and produces innovative lubricants and technical chemicals. The internationally operating family business with locations in Germany, Austria, France, Sweden, and Poland is active in a wide range of industries, from agriculture through construction to motorsports. Motorex products are constantly being enhanced and tailored to meet special requirements – right down to those of the smallest customer. Together with outstanding quality products and a comprehensive range of services, the SME’s ability to occupy know-how-intensive market niches has proved key to ensuring success on the international market, despite facing stiff competition. Or, as the founding family Regenass-Bucher likes to put it: “The family firm gives the multinationals a run for their money.”

Rex becomes Motorex

The start was modest enough, however. On December 3, 1917, the company was established under the name of “Rex”, specializing in the manufacture of leather and floor-care products. The owners, with cofounder Arnold Bucher among them, drove the company’s growth with great skill, adding motor oils to the range in 1947. A milestone in the company’s history that saw Rex become Motorex. The company went on to focus on highly promising lubricants and care products, continuously expanding its range.

Today, Motorex boasts the biggest storage tank capacity in Switzerland. The company is able to store up to eight million liters of oil, allowing it to provide lubrication solutions for any application, from wheels, to motors, to watches. Motorex is everywhere, and has become our constant companion.

The long-term challenges of quality and s ustainability

Today, Motorex is the largest lubricant manufacturer in Switzerland, employing over 350 highly qualified people, and distributes its products in over 80 countries. The brand’s worldwide success has been achieved and consolidated thanks to targeted research, remarkable innovative capacity, and a typically Swiss penchant for perfection. The company boasts various ISO certificates and aims to achieve systematic quality management across all process stages – placing the requirements of customers at the center, as always. “We pursue quality and leadership in our products with unswerving continuity, and attach great importance to constantly improving our customer service,” says Motorex CEO Edi Fischer. “This maxim is of course also reflected in the laboratory in Langenthal, which recently benefited from extensive renovation work. In addition, we are currently adding new production and administration buildings at our headquarters. With first-class Swiss-made products in Langenthal, Motorex is ready for the future.”

“Given the nature of our business, it goes without saying that the scarcity of fossil fuels is an issue for us.” It is of vital importance to the company in general to operate sustainably and have as little impact as possible on the environment: “Motorex takes responsibility for constantly optimising safety, health, and environmental protection, without being required to do so by laws and regulations.”

EPHJ-EPMT-SMT 2017, Genève, Stand C97

www.motorex.com

Trade show

The future of technology at your fingertips: Register for Micro Nano MEMS now

Visitor registration is now open for Micro Nano MEMS 2017, which will take place at the annual Sensors & Instrumentation show in Hall 1 at the NEC, Birmingham on Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 September 2017. Visitors will benefit from access to innovative and exciting feature areas, the latest technologies and products from the line-up of exemplary exhibitors and CPD accredited seminars. Plus, the first 200 visitors that make it through the door before 10am on each day will be treated to a complimentary breakfast, sponsored by Keller.

Micro Nano MEMS offers attendees the opportunity to explore market-leading solutions in the micro and nano technology field. The event will cover the full spectrum of technologies, from laser micromachining through to micro injection moulding, and from MEMS fabrication, through to assembly, inspection and test equipment.

What’s more, visitors will also be able to attend expert-led, CPD accredited seminars taking place during both days of the event and covering a range of intellectually stimulating topics. Event manager Jacqui Henderson comments: “The seminars are of great interest to visitors, offering a wealth of knowledge and expertise on some of the most significant findings and progressions in the micro and nano manufacturing field.”

As a part of Sensors & Instrumentation, Micro Nano MEMS also has access to the brand new and fully interactive feature area Connecting Industry L!VE, featuring Stanley Qubit, a fully autonomous NAO-25 humanoid robot as seen on BBC 1. Visitors will be able to see new products live and in action as exhibitors take to the stage to showcase the latest developments in the industry; a unique opportunity to learn how such products can be beneficial to business progression.

Also new this year is the Drone Zone Demo Area, hosted by UK Drone Show. The Drone Zone features demonstrations of the real life applications that are possible with advancing drone technology, incorporating intricate micro technologies, and the obstacles that will need to be overcome for this vision to become a reality.

Returning for 2017 is the popular Formula 1 Simulation Car, sponsored by PR Electronics, guaranteed to bring a competitive and entertaining edge to the event while providing the perfect networking opportunity. Also returning is the Innovation Showcase, which has been expanded to allow even more exhibitors to display their products.

For more information and to register visit

www.micronanomems.com

Additive manufacturing

AM industry asks the EU to support research and education

For the third consecutive year, CECIMO organized the “Additive Manufacturing European Conference” (AMEC) on 7 June 2017 in the European Parliament in Brussels (Belgium). The event was a great success, gathering more than a hundred participants among industry leaders and policy-makers. Speakers at AMEC used this occasion to bring attention on the need of a deeper EU approach.

 
AMEC III was organised by CECIMO and co-hosted by Brando Benifei (S&D), Anthea McIntyre (ECR) and Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (ALDE), Members of the European Parliament. The event highlighted Europe’s outstanding know-how in the development of industrial additive manufacturing and addressed the existing challenges for its adoption in Europe.

At a time of new competitors on the international stage, the conference pointed to the EU policy-makers’ role in advancing Europe’s position in the industry. Industrialists and decision-makers on stage converged on the provision of research funding, support to standardization efforts and creation of a large pool of talents for the industry as key issues for support from the EU policy community. As Filip Geerts, CECIMO Director General, said, “it is important to have a forward-looking approach, which will serve the EU in achieving its larger goals, like industrial policy, digitization but also e.g. circular economy”.

AMEC III elaborated also the CECIMO “European Additive Manufacturing Strategy”. The document provides an overview of the policy fields that deserve priority attention of EU authorities. It collects the inputs of several experts and details recommendations to speed up the AM uptake. The Strategy is available on the website at the following link: http://cecimo.eu/site/index.php?id=272.

About CECIMO
is the European Association representing the common interests of the Machine Tool Industries globally and at EU level. We bring together 15 National Associations of machine tool builders, which represent approximately 1300 industrial enterprises in Europe (EU + EFTA + Turkey), over 80% of which are SMEs. CECIMO covers 98% of total Machine Tool production in Europe and about 36% worldwide. It accounts for almost 150,000 employees and a turnover of nearly €24 billion in 2016. Approximately 75% of CECIMO production is shipped abroad, whereas around half of it is exported outside Europe. CECIMO assumes a key role in determining the strategic direction of the European machine tool industry and promotes the development of the sector in the fields of economy, technology and science.

 www.cecimo.eu

Trade show

Exhibitors affirm the successful concept of Moulding Expo

Second Moulding Expo attracts around 15,000 visitors from 52 countries to Stuttgart / Greater internationality

Even the première two years ago was a total success. And shortly after the end of the trade fair, it was clear that the second edition of the International Trade Fair for Tool, Pattern and Model Making at the Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre had made an impression on the over 760 exhibitors and around 15,000 visitors from Germany, Europe and many other countries in the world.

“I have never experienced a trade fair which has become established so quickly and at such a high level among exhibitors. I had the impression that the visitors wanted to really absorb the programme items. We have given the tool, pattern and mould making industry a home,” enthused Ulrich Kromer von Baerle, President of Messe Stuttgart. .

Intensive exchanges in the exhibition halls

Exhibitors at Moulding Expo 2017 praised, in particular, the quality and the unusually long duration of the discussions – which often lasted more than one hour. Internationality was another advantage: the visitors came from a total of 52 countries, primarily Austria (16%), Switzerland (12%), Italy (10%), Turkey (8%), the Czech Republic (6%), France and Portugal (5% each). Compared with the première of Moulding Expo, the proportion of international visitors rose from 11% to 15%.

The around 15,000 trade visitors represented every major branch of industry: automobile and automotive component supply industry (42%), tool and mould making (28%), mechanical engineering and plant construction (23%), plastics processing industry and production (16%), pattern making and prototyping (11%) plus various user industries.

The Buyers’ Forum of the Federal Association of Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics (BME) was also held concurrently with Moulding Expo at the Stuttgart Trade Fair Centre. The exhibitors responded positively  to the two guided tours of different exhibition stands for the Forum participants.

Other figures from the trade fair survey: 76% of visitors said that they were solely responsible, jointly responsible or acted in an advisory capacity in regard to purchasing and procurement in their company. 83% of visitors said they would recommend the trade fair to other people.

Live high-tech experience

The accompanying programme containing special shows on trend topics, international technical forums with first-class speakers and extensive career information for young people in the industry underlined the concept of Moulding Expo “from the industry for the industry“. In particular, the opportunity to experience the many different subject areas live and at close quarters went down very well with visitors. The trade fair give-aways produced live from high-tech moulds proved to be real hits: over 11,000 units of the eating cutlery “3-2-eat!“, which were injection moulded on the spot by students from Reutlingen University, were given to visitors. The “Polyman” learning component, which was also produced during the trade fair, also made a lasting impression.

High-ranking politicians as visitors

The visit by Winfried Kretschmann, Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg, was a clear indication of how important Moulding Expo has become in the political landscape in Baden-Württemberg. After his tour through the trade fair, he said he was very impressed with the quality of the event. Katrin Schülz, State Secretary in the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics, Labour and Housing, spent two days at the trade fair. The Minister-President and the State Secretary were especially interested in the large number of programme items for young people and school classes.

“The positive response from all participants and the visibly positive mood in the industry are reason enough for Messe Stuttgart to start looking forward to the third edition of Moulding Expo in May/June 2019,” said Ulrich Kromer von Baerle.

www.messe-stuttgart.de

Pierre-Yves Schmid, publisher