Automated Thread Wheel Grinding Boosted by CNC Solution

A second aim of NUM’s development required that the gear grinder CNC control should generate gears as accurately as possible. The latest machine from NUM’s Asian customer produced gears with a tooth profile quality of DIN class 7. During the development process, NUM found that the diamond plated dressing wheel did not come up to specification.

To overcome this problem without incurring major tooling costs, the firm decided to support their customer by helping to modify the technology programs. The positive results of this action far exceeded expectations, and NUM’s solution can help a machine to consistently grind gear teeth profiles to within 3.5 microns, comfortably achieving DIN class 3 – an improvement of four class levels.

The latest gear grinding development is an example of one of the major principles underpinning NUM’s business philosophy: a willingness to customize its CNC technology for machine makers. NUM supports this with a decentralized R&D structure which locates engineering staff around the world to allow it to work closely with machine builders. In this case, the new gear grinding solution was jointly developed by NUM’s HQ in Switzerland and the company’s technology centre in Chanzhou, China, which is close to many major gear manufacturing machine builders and is currently undergoing major expansion.

“NUM is committed to helping its customers develop market-leading machines through close partnership”, according to Peter von Rüti, chief executive officer of NUM Group. “Our local presence and willingness to work directly with customers to resolve technical issues very quickly provides both parties with a key competitive advantage.”

Von Rüti points out that the European market for NUM and its partners is also promising. “NUM’s ability to create individual solutions for different machines provides medium-sized companies with a huge competitive advantage. The open and flexible nature of our products, and our decentralized development structure, combined with the know-how of our customers, provides unique market opportunities. We welcome the chance to become involved in new projects.”

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