MEDICAL MANUFACTURING
Out of the Lab, Into the Industry Microlution fi nds a (very) small niche
A
little more than 10 years ago, Microlution’s founders were graduate engineering students at IMTS 2004, and facing an endless stream of visitors curious about the prototype micro-machining center they brought to demonstrate. “We had many companies come by and ask if they could buy one,” said Andy Phillip about the machine he helped build in a lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with classmate Andrew Honegger. Soon after, the pair co-founded Microlution and set up shop six miles away from IMTS’ McCormick Place loca- tion in Chicago. “We’re very proud to be a part of the US machine tool industry, solving some tough manufacturing challenges,” said Phillip.
With its rectangular footprint, occupying just shy of 5 x 10’ (1.5 x 3 m) on the shop fl oor, the Kern Micro not only has a small footprint; the slim design also means several machines can be lined up like row houses with other Micros, for a highly automated work system. “In today’s economic climate, shop real estate is very ex- pensive,” said Zurek. “Doing more in a Kern Micro is a prized attribute, but if a machine is taking up a lot of shop space then that can be a negative factor.” If Kern’s Micro is small, its palletized toolchanger is just the opposite. The company has made the machine’s tool cabinet large enough to hold up to 209 tools, and convenient to use because of its glass front. Quick-change tool pallets can be assembled for individual jobs and stored separately. “For years now, the industry has recognized the advantages of modular fi xturing and management in automated situations,” said Zurek, adding that tool management can be a stumbling block in a highly productive environment. “Kern has applied this same technology to managing toolholders by palletizing them and managing them directly on the Heidenhain control.” The advantage is an easily managed and trouble-free sys- tem that contributes to the effi ciency of the entire production cycle by signifi cantly reducing setup times, Zurek said. If toolchanging is fast, so is setting up the Micro. It’s designed to be plug-and-play, with four connections
82
AdvancedManufacturing.org | June 2015
Microlution recently introduced its sixth machine line, has seen year-over-year sales percentage increases in the double-digits, and seems to have found its micro-niche in the global business of machine tools. Read their story at
AdvancedManufacturing.org.
required during setup for the machine, whose units are almost fully integrated: An optional water chiller is a stand- alone component.
“When the machine arrives, making it productive is a top priority for the company and its customers,” said Zurek. “Kern’s development team realized this important fact and made it pos- sible for a remarkably quick, trouble-free installation by using the same philosophy behind plug-and-play technology.” With its HSK 40 spindle with internal coolant lubrication, not only can shops achieve micron-level precision on micro- size parts, they can also cut more than 70 lb (31.5 kg) of steel in an hour. An HSK 25 spindle is available as an option. Further, due to an integrated fourth and fi fth axis table in a traveling column machine design, the Micro can handle workpieces up to almost 356 mm in diameter.
Horizontal Wire For ultraprecision machining and the surface fi nish capa- bility of small/fi ne wire operations, Makino offers the UPN-01 wire EDM.
The machine features the company‘s unique horizontal
wire drive system that enhances wire threading perfor- mance, and is capable of reliably threading start holes as small as 0.03 mm, and can operate with wire diameter sizes ranging from 0.1 mm down to 0.015 mm.
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