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Precision-machining of wave-shaped components to reduce roughness and friction as well as for structuring and increasing the functional surfaces’ contact area can now be carried out even more efficiently: Thielenhaus Superfinish Innovation offers a new self-loading tape finishing machine for machining shafts, bearing and sealing seats. The innovative CUBE evo is available from the Thielenhaus Swiss subsidiary company as a freely programmable unit and is designed to meet future Industry 4.0 standards.
A program with all the parameters required for the machining process, such as workpiece speed, machining time, oscillation, grinding pressure and tape speed can be stored and loaded for every workpiece that needs to be machined. This makes it possible to index to all tape finisher positions extremely precisely via the controller or manually using the positioning system. The self-explanatory user operation surface with its pull-down menus is ahead of the field in innovation. All settings can be carried out quickly and easily by the operator him- or herself, without special training.

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In virtually all technical fields, the requirements placed on the quality of individual components are increasing. As a result of this, surface-improving and geometry-improving superfinishing techniques are gaining importance. Today, even smaller suppliers must be capable of working to the finest tolerances in dimensional accuracy. For these applications or small batch sizes, Thielenhaus Superfinish Innovation, Swiss subsidiary company of Thielenhaus Microfinish, offers various, partially further developed attachments for base machines. The advantages of the microfinish process can therefore also be used on conventional turning, grinding or milling machines, so that the surface, roughness, waviness and contact area percentage of the workpieces can be improved in a manner that is reliable in terms of process.
For example, the new tape finishing unit KG50 S is equipped with servomotors which have a high oscillation frequency of 3,000 DH/min. Thanks to its modular construction, it can even be adapted to the stone finisher. Good accessibility ensures that it is quick and easy to change the tape. Due to the rotational independence of the workpiece, the device is also suitable for the machining of camshafts. The new design ensures consistent tape speed and tension. This facilitates reproducibility and increases the precision of the finishing process.
With the abrasion produced sinusoidally by means of the oscillation, the softening skin produced previously during hard turning or grinding is removed, and the roughness, as well as the contact area percentage, are decisively improved. This enables a surface roughness of Ra 0.01 μm to be achieved with rollers and Rz 0.3 μm with bearing surfaces. At the same time, the surface can be given a structure with defined, criss-crossing grooves to improve its tribological properties.

In virtually all technical fields, the requirements placed on the quality of individual components are increasing. As a result of this, surface-improving and geometry-improving superfinishing techniques are gaining importance. Today, even smaller suppliers must be capable of working to the finest tolerances in dimensional accuracy. For these applications or small batch sizes, Thielenhaus Microfinish presents various (in some cases) further developed attachments for carrier machines at the EMO 2017 in Hanover/Germany. The advantages of the microfinish process can therefore also be used on conventional turning, grinding or milling machines, so that the surface, roughness, waviness and contact area percentage of the workpieces can be improved in a manner that is reliable in terms of process.

The new tape finish device KG50 S is equipped with servomotors, for example, and has a high oscillation frequency of 3,000 DH/min. Due to its modular construction, an adaptation to the stone finisher is even possible. Good accessibility makes it easier to change the tape. Due to the rotational independence of the workpiece, the device is also suitable for the machining of camshafts.

With the abrasion produced sinusoidally by means of the oscillation, the softening skin produced previously during hard turning or grinding is removed, and the roughness as well as the contact area percentage are decisively improved. This enables a surface roughness of Ra 0.01 μm to be achieved with rollers and Rz 0.3 μm with bearing surfaces. At the same time, the surface can be given a structure with defined, criss-crossing grooves to improve its tribological properties.

High productivity is also possible in the precision-machining of wave-like components, bearing and sealing seats: At GrindTec 2016 in Augsburg, Thielenhaus Microfinish presented a new, extremely fast tape-finish machine. The four-spindle automatic PowerCUBE doesn’t reduce the duration of the tool action; instead, it reduces the machine’s non-productive time to one second and the set-up processes to an absolute minimum.

The spindles are integrated in a round table and can be sealed off from each other. Through 90° strokes, a completed workpiece can be removed and a new one can be loaded. In this way, two workpieces can be machined simultaneously, whilst the detergent wetting for the third spindle is centrifuged. Or, alternatively, a different machining operation can take place. The fourth spindle allows loading and unloading that is unaffected by the main time. Similarly, double-loading, multi-stage processes and combination machining with very short cycle times are possible. 

Thanks to a simplified tape and printing roll changeover system and a high level of accessibility in the working space, set-up times are reduced to a minimum. Optional NC axes support the set-up process with the most common kinds of changeover. With its speedily adjustable tape-finish units, the modular construction guarantees flexible, cost-neutral configuration for the most varied workpieces; in the standard working area, these can have dimensions of up to 50 mm diameter and 400 mm length.