Calibration and machine performance testing news

The Renishaw QC20-W ballbar system is widely recognised as a preventative maintenance tool for new and installed machines. Aquasub Engineering (Coimbatore, India), part of the Aqua Group, one of the largest pump manufacturing companies in Asia, is using QC20-W ballbar to reduce maintenance costs, increase capacity and reduce scrappage.

Renishaw’s XR20-W rotary axis calibrator has proven to be a hit with customers since its launch in November 2011. Recognising the change in user requirements since the original RX10 was designed almost 20 years ago the new product promised easier set-up and use in a smaller and more compact package.

Spirax Sarco UK invested in a Renishaw QC20-W wireless ballbar to check the geometry of its high-end machining centres before and after they were transferred to a new, purpose-built facility. Spirax Sarco is the global leader in manufacturing high quality products for the control and efficient use of steam and industrial fluids.

Nemcomed, a medical device manufacturer, is showing how the latest Renishaw QC20-W wireless ballbar technology makes a big difference in doing fast capability checks on small machines, as well as establishing a benchmark on machines' volumetric accuracy.

The Renishaw XR20-W is the successor to the well established RX10 rotary axis calibrator which has been making high accuracy, high repeatability rotary axis performance assessment a possibility for over 15 years. The XR20-W is a completely new design that offers increased flexibility, ease-of-use and speed, plus the benefits of fully wireless operation.

Upgraded machine tool performance monitoring device receives worldwide acclaim. Launched in November 2009, Renishaw's QC20-W telescoping ballbar which incorporates Bluetooth® wireless technology has had a significant impact on CNC machine testing around the world. Many customers have found that that the new QC20-W ballbar offers significant advantages over Renishaw’s QC10 product, which was for many years the industry standard test for machine tool performance.

Dave Wigmore, a former time-served engineer at Mazak, runs a CNC maintenance company and considers a ballbar critical to operations. When Renishaw introduced the QC20-W telescoping ballbar system he was determined to the first UK user.

Haas, one of the world’s leading machine tool manufacturers, has boosted its Haas Technical Education Centre (HTEC) programme in the USA, with the opening of a dedicated HTEC teacher training centre at Vincennes University (VU), Indiana. To support the new facility, Renishaw, a long-term HTEC industrial partner, has donated a QC20-W wireless ballbar, which will be used to help train users of the new centre in the importance of regular machine tool performance testing.

Ballbar 20 (V5.09.04) is the current software shipped with all Renishaw’s QC20-W ballbar kits, allowing fast machine tool performance testing and analysis. This latest version has been enhanced to give even greater flexibility for testing and reporting and is available free of charge to existing users of the QC20-W and QC10 ballbars.

NC Service, a Swedish machine tool calibration and maintenance company, who work with key CNC machine users, was one of the first users worldwide to take delivery of Renishaw's QC20-W ballbar. The new design eliminates issues with the previous QC10 when used on large machines or where its data cable had to be fed through machine guarding.

Renishaw has extended its market leading range of machine tool testing and calibration systems, with AxiSet™ Check-Up, a new cost-effective solution for checking the alignment and positioning performance of rotary axes. In just a few minutes, users of five-axis machining centres and multi-tasking mill-turn machines can now identify and report on poor machine alignments and geometry that can cause extended process setting times, as well as non-conforming parts.

Renishaw has announced the launch of a successor to its well established QC10 ballbar system; a tool adopted worldwide for the assessment of machine tool positioning and servo control performance. The QC20-W ballbar is a completely new design featuring a Renishaw developed linear sensor and Bluetooth® wireless technology. This design offers benefits in ease of use and enhanced durability and allows the QC20-W to be used for testing even in “closed door” manufacturing...

HAAS Automation Inc. used to fine-tune every one of its VF vertical machining centres through a mechanical fore-and-aft loading test, with results entered into the CNC as a compensation value. Recently HAAS enhanced this test with backlash compensation using Renishaw’s QC10 Ballbar System. By measuring position errors throughout a complete circle, the Ballbar isolates effects often missed by the mechanical test, including the influence of friction, and problems in the motor/ballscrew connection.

Binns & Berry is one of the few remaining family-owned machine tool manufacturing companies in the UK. It manufactures CNC lathes to individual customer specifications as well as providing a refurbishment service for existing machines. The company is renowned for its large, rigid machines, supplied with axis swings of between 0.7m and 1.4m. Currently, over half of the company’s business is exported, with major markets including the USA, India, Germany and Hong Kong.

In 1989, Leeds-based Dana Spicer needed a large, heavy duty CNC machining centre, to mill, drill, and bore the ends of 2-metre long axle beams, for heavy off-road vehicles. The ideal machine, with a bed length of 5-metres, would allow pendulum machining, thereby increasing production.