tion is to pay off for Edscha, a level of flexi-
bility to match. This is why the Remscheid
production and process planners, in collabora-
tion with a special-purpose machinery maker,
devoted as much love of detail to the develop-
ment of the new machining equipment as the
hinge designers did to the hinge.
UNTIRING OPERATION
Featuring pallet systems, short tooling times
and flexibly usable machining stations, this is
the most complex modular CNC machine (out
of many others) ever to be ordered by the
Edscha Group – and the biggest to boot. Its
sheer size – 27 meters long, eight meters
wide and four meters high – called for deli-
cate maneuvering when it was delivered in
June: with the aid of huge cranes and com-
pressors, the colossus was bedded on an air
cushion, about one millimeter thick, in front
of the Hauzenberg production hall, and then
floated on that cushion with great precision to
its destination. Eight employees of the
machinery making company then spent about
five weeks setting up and testing the highly
sensitive equipment.
Large-scale operation of the facility is
scheduled to begin in October: in 18 machi-
ning steps and across 28 CNC axes, it will
simultaneously machine raw forgings, two for
the left, two for the right (provided only with
punched screw holes), into Notch Stop pillar
or door parts. Every single step on these
very latest carbide cutting tools – starting
with milling, continuing with drilling, coun-
tersinking, reaming, and ending with thread
cutting and deburring – takes only eleven
seconds, including transport and adjustment;
one part therefore takes about three-and-a-
half minutes to pass through all stations. Then
the finish-machined parts have to be galvan-
ized, paired with their counterparts and
assembled on two equally modern and newly
acquired assembly lines – four Notch Stop
hinges are then complete.
The young generation is growing quickly:
in Hauzenberg it will soon be possible to
machine eight parts simultaneously. In order
to cover the highest capacities for all vehicle
series already on order, another identical
machine has already been ordered. Properly
treated and maintained, both have a life
expectancy of over ten years. But the next-
but-one hinge generation is sure to be on the
horizon by then.
Rafael Zelek
COLOSSUS ON
CUSHION
Delivery and assembly of the
new metal-cutting system
required the greatest care to
ensure that roads, bridges,
buildings and the machine
itself were not damaged.
edwin 02
|
2003
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