DANOBAT develops a high-precision lathe for NBI Bearings Europe

•  The solution is integrated into a completely automated bearing production line.

• The system performs turning operations on hard materials with a high level of process repeatability and stability.

• It is a solution which combines the flexibility of a lathe with the precision and production rates of a grinding machine.

The machine tool and advanced production system manufacturer DANOBAT has developed a high-precision lathe for the bearing manufacturer NBI Bearings Europe, which forms part of the NBI industrial group.

The solution, which works alongside other units in a completely automated production line, can be used also for short series which require frequent modifications of the type of components produced, guaranteeing results of the same high quality as those obtained using grinding technology.

NBI Bearings Europe specialises in the design, manufacture and sale of custom-made bearings for the industrial sector. The company, which controls all the phases of the production process, is characterised by its ongoing commitment to technological investment as a means of guaranteeing the production of bearings which meet the very strictest quality standards.

The challenge

NBI Bearings Europe was looking for a technologically-advanced system for producing bearing rings, which are components with extremely demanding quality levels, since they must be able to withstand high working loads throughout the course of a long life cycle.

The solution also had to be integrated into an automated production line made up of various grinding machines, which meant that one of the main challenges was to develop a machine that would adapt perfectly to the manufacturing times of a consolidated system, without delaying production cycles. It also had to offer stability, repeatability and guaranteed high precision at the micron scale.

Another basic characteristic of the system was flexibility. NBI Bearings Europe needed a system capable of manufacturing different types of parts with the same productivity levels and tolerances as grinding solutions.

The solution

In order to respond to the aforementioned requirements, the DANOBAT team of specialists developed a high-precision lathe belonging to the LT-400 range, which was perfectly suited to the customer´s needs.

The solution has an automatic loading and unloading system consisting of a double-gripper robot and a conveyor belt. This system automatically inserts the bearing ring into the lathe and places it in the clamp.

The solution also has an automatic centring system in the machine, which requires no shoes or guides, a feature which guarantees the correct positioning of the part before the start of the turning process.

This advanced system, which consists of a pre-centring and a fine adjustment phase, is equipped with a measurement probe which checks and measures the positioning of the ring.

Since it is an automatic centring system, there is no need for mechanical adjustments every time the reference of the parts to be manufactured is changed. As a result, downtime due to clamping adjustments is eliminated, thus increasing productivity.

Thanks to this automatic centring system, the lathe is the ideal solution for turning the part of the bearing known as the rib, which has a wide range of different profiles, since there is no need for tool set up.

As well as guaranteeing ultra-precise roughness parameters, with an Ra of less than 0.4 microns, the solution also has a pneumatic air system which keeps the chuck completely free at all times of any chip fragments that may be generated during the turning process. Thanks to this function, there is no longer any risk of residue adhering to the part clamp and causing components to be produced that do not comply with the established quality requisites.

The solution includes a quality control area for the parts, which makes it possible to carry out measurements within the time frame established by the manufacturer, without affecting either the production rate or the work flow.

It is therefore a development which combines the capacity to adapt to different types of customer parts with the production and precision levels offered by grinding machines.

The system ensures process repeatability and guarantees that all parts manufactured are identical and comply with the dimensional, geometric and roughness parameters required by the customer.

In order to achieve this, the experts at DANOBAT who specialise in grinding and turning technologies worked in close collaboration with the customer in order to guarantee compliance with all requisites and the fulfilment of all goals, conducting a series of different tests in the machine tool manufacturer´s centre of excellence. It was here that all the machining trials were conducted, in order to enable the customer to choose the solution that best suited its needs and to provide it with a degree of security when making the investment.

In addition to its extensive experience in manufacturing innovative solutions incorporating the most advanced technology, DANOBAT also establishes alliances with its partners to enable it to provide services with a high degree of added value, in order to guarantee smart management of assets, improve maintenance strategies, optimise production and ensure that its machines continue to operate seamlessly throughout the entire course of their working lives.