91ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ÎÛ

The company developed The StuderGuide hybrid guideway system to ensure the machine takes full advantage of the linear drives’ benefits. The guideways are molded directly into the machine bed, which is constructed of Granitan S103 mineral casting (Granitan is a the 3rd generation mineral casting designed by the Euro project EPOC under the management of Studer, to absorb grinding forces and damp vibration). The ways are also finished with wear-resistant Granitan S200 surfacing material.

Linear drives are also employed on the machine’s B-axis turret wheelhead. The company says this provides quick indexing among as many as four different external grinding wheels or three internal grinding spindles to a resolution of 0.00005 degrees.

These measurement results show that the S41’s axis slides are capable of travelling across a distance of 1 micron in 0.1-micron steps. According to the company, the combination of linear drives and the StuderGuide hybrid guideway system makes this level of precision possible.

In addition to faster positioning, linear motors help reduce the effect of backlash by eliminating the need for mechanical elements, such as ballscrews, to transfer rotary motion to linear motion. Mr. Ueltschi says this is proven by circular interpolation tests--this shot shows the results of one such test.