Making use of specialist monitoring equipment from partner OTT-Jakob and components from its own tool-holding inventory has allowed Corsham-based Gewefa UK Ltd (www.gewefa.co.uk) to develop a new ‘kit of parts’ for use by those involved in machine tool maintenance and servicing.

The need for precision and repeatable accuracy puts a great onus on the performance of key machine tool components — none more so than the spindle and turret.

The degradation of internal components such as spindle bearings and the spindle pull-back mechanism will — over time — affect the precision of the workpiece being machined, making the monitoring of spindle performance vital.

This can be either a regular routine performed by the operator or one undertaken by third-party servicing
experts.

Gewefa says that by combining the latest OTT-Jakob Power Check spindle-pull-force measuring gauge with its high-precision test bars and alignment kits, spindle performance monitoring and servicing is now a straightforward operation that offers guaranteed precision.

Power Check can be used as a portable service tool (or it can be permanently located in the carousel in larger machine shops) to supply on-going data on spindle condition.

The connection to the hand-held data collector is wireless, so an operator can monitor data collected at the machine from up to eight different machine locations.

Furthermore, over 8,000 readings can be stored on the hand-set (these are easily downloaded to a USB for transfer to a lap-top or network computer system).

The other components of the monitoring kit are from the Gewefa product range.

Gewefa offers an extensive range of test bars (all precision-ground and supplied with test certificates) covering sizes in DIN, HSK, VDI or BT spindle formats.

In the monitoring process, they are used to check the spindle run-out and can be supplied with a flange or in plain format.

The third component is the ‘ATC’ alignment kit, used for accurately aligning the tool change arm to the spindle.