Cornwall-based Rigibore’s tooling automation technology generated major interest at the recent EMO 2019 exhibition in Hanover.

Reinforcing this event’s theme of ‘Smart technologies driving tomorrow’s production’, the company’s innovative product portfolio emphasised how automation can be the driving force to advance manufacturing processes.

Rigibore unveiled the ActiveEdge Apex to the fine boring market at EMO.

This is the world’s first fully integrated and automatically adjustable fine boring head, compensating with micron accuracy as part of a closed-loop control system in conjunction with in-process measurement and the machine control.

Company director Suzanne Bennett said (www.rigibore.com): “EMO provided the perfect platform to showcase our new product release, reaching an international audience searching for solutions to advance their production capabilities.

Innovations like the ActiveEdge Apex boring head can provide a continuous return on investment, allowing customers to be more productive and competitive.”

Rigibore’s ActiveEdge technology has the ability to control bore sizes as part of a closed-loop process over a range of diameters, making cutting tool automation totally flexible and autonomous.

Visitors also saw Rigibore’s ActiveEdge line boring tool, which can independently adjust multiple cutting edges automatically and with micron accuracy.

This is extremely valuable to automotive manufacturers, as many of those visiting the stand outlined their frustration with existing systems that require the individual adjustment of boring cartridges, or the limited automated adjustment by the same amount for each cartridge when machining crankshafts.

Rigibore has backed up its development of advanced setting and control of fine boring tools with a further innovation in the form of Smartbore, a digital cutting-edge adjustment system.

This patented technology electronically measures incremental movements of the insert slide, providing a diameter adjustment reading after confirming the movement.

Rigibore demonstrated the speed, simplicity and accuracy of this digital system at EMO, using a dial indicator to confirm that the movement displayed on the Smartbore adjuster screen was accurate to within one micron.