A South African original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of standard machine tooling centres, such as vertical turning CNC lathes, has recently developed a new machine with the assistance of Tectra Automation.
Based in Cleveland, Johannesburg, the manufacturer has been sourcing technical advice and components such as heavy-duty linear guides and ball screw spindles from Tectra for over 12 years. The newly developed QT42 and VT500 machines represent cooperation between the OEM and automation specialist that reflects their long-standing, mutually beneficial partnership in producing cost-effective South African made products which they claim outperform imported counterparts in areas like reliability, ease of use and durability.
"We keep stock specifically for this client in terms of types and volumes, partly so that they do not have to keep large amounts of stock components, and to ensure high availability so as not to restrict their ability to offer quick turnaround times on new orders," says Tectra Automation's Kevin Lombard. "They also value the fact that we are there to offer technical advice during design when it is needed."
A Rexroth ball rail system and pre-loaded ball screws accurately drive the counterbalanced X and Z-axis in the VT500 vertical spindle CNC lathe. This allows for high-precision heavy duty turning and machining over sustained periods of use.
The OEM also manufactures a range of CNC broaching machines. Six of these machines have been built and sold to date, each with a Rexroth roller rail system from Tectra Automation and two matched ball screws to ensure an even load for accurate performance. In some of its existing machines, the company has opted to replace ball rail designs with the new roller rail system from Rexroth for increased stiffness. This translates into better accuracy and less vibration.
The Tectra product range provides complete automation solutions to a host of industries from food and beverage to heavy engineering. The range encompasses pneumatics, linear motion, assembly technology, robotics, electric drives and controls, and photo electric sensors.
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