Maximum flexibility - minimum operating costs

Special marking tool for multispindle lathes

The integration of marking into the chipping process offers an enormous saving potential. The marking of work pieces with production data, supplier data or with batch identifications is precondition for the placement of orders in nearly all industrial branches. Marking, done as a separate process step, causes additional preproduction and handling costs and thus unnecessarily inflates the unit costs.

Hommel + Keller offers various tool systems, which allow the marking to be effected directly on the turning lathe respectively on the machining centre. This integration into the production process brings about enormous advantages:

No manual production step is necessary
Complete machining of the work piece
No additional preproduction cost
Shorter production and handling time
Uniform and precise marking
Prevention of holding and transport time
No danger of confusion
Reduction of unit costs

Specifications:

In this special case the demands, however, were extremely high:

The manufacturer was looking for a marking tool that should be applicable to all of the machines within his production plant. These are very different multi-spindle turning lathes (clockwise + counter-clockwise, various brands, different dimensions).
The requested tool should be able to mark all work pieces, irrespective of their different dimensions.
It was an additional challenge to design the tool in a way that the marking could also be done within a groove (maximum radial machining depth: 8 mm).

A challenging assignment for our experts: They designed a customized marking concept that exactly meets the user´s requirements and that exceeds all expectations with regard to flexibility, precision and quality.

Result:

A special tool zeus® 431-S was designed for this application. Based on a spring return system, it is qualified for the marking of work pieces of different dimensions (contrary to the conventional continuous roll process).
The special design of an extremely flexible special holder made sure that the tool matches all multi-spindle turning lathes within the user´s production plant.
We used marking segments which can be changed as and when required. This allows a very fast and easy modification of the marking text.
Another challenging aspect was to make sure that the same tool will also manage the precise and accurate marking within a groove. The solution of our experts was to apply special segments to bridge the gap (machining depth of 8 mm within the groove). To maintain the stability of these extra long segments during the marking process, we have especially tightened the anchoring device of the segments.
The work pieces are marked in split seconds. Thanks to our extremely strong mechanical stop we can guarantee first-class technical and optical quality even under these challenging circumstances.
As extremely strong forces affect the work piece during the marking process we applied a carbide metal pin as to avoid deformation and premature abrasive wear.

Work piece properties:

Material:	Basically brass and aluminium
Special characteristics:	Various types of work pieces with extremely different dimensions
Designated use:	Pipe connections for hydraulic systems, water and air piping
Type of marking:	Code no. for identification

Technical data:

Tool identification no.: 431-20L600606-S
Speed rate: 5 m/min
Feed rate: 0,1 - 0,15 mm/rev.

zeus® marking tool 431-20L600606-S

Conclusion

In spite of the high demands and odds we were faced to, we found the perfect solution and met the customer´s target 100%.

If you are also looking for a flexible solution for any special application and first-class quality and highest precision are exactly what you need, we should be your choice. Hommel + Keller has a longstanding experience in designing and manufacturing high precision tools and is specialised in finding and realising the best customized solution for any requested application.

Put us to the test!

User hotline: 07424 9705-343

Download application report