CGI Motion Factory Floor
As the leader in the motion control industry, CGI Motion (http://www.cgimotion.com/) consistently innovates with exceptional craftsmanship and technical capabilities. These abilities are rooted in a constant effort to use the latest technology in manufacturing the company’s precision components and sub-assemblies. The latest update to CGI’s manufacturing capabilities is in their gear shaping department with a new machine that provides several competitive new features.
Precision gear boxes require precision gears, and CGI’s product offerings fit this description, demanding the latest CNC machining capabilities. CGI’s gear components also fill a wide range of sizes and types, such as ultra-fine-pitch (e.g. 120 DP) internal and external gears, helical gears, and segment gears. Consequently, the company’s machine tools must be flexible enough to handle these parts. To meet this challenge while investing in a shaping machine for the future, CGI chose a CLC 100-SZ CNC gear shaping machine from Koepfer America.
Said Tim Pirie, Director of Manufacturing Systems and Technology at CGI, about the machine, “We’ll be producing higher-volume runs of several thousand parts at a time, but we will also use the machine to output low-volume prototype parts — thanks to the ease of setup and programming of this machine.” CLC worked with CGI to customize the input screens to ensure programming was as intuitive as possible for their setup personnel.
“We’re happy for the success of the machine and how it has improved CGI’s ability to serve their customers from prototyping through final production,” said Adam Gimpert, Business Manager at Koepfer America. This flexibility is not only due to the friendly operator interface, but also the machine’s unique features. This Multirun CLC shaping machine has two work spindles, which allow easy loading and unloading of a part simultaneously with the shaping of another work piece. Because loading / unloading occurs during cutting, machine idle time is drastically reduced, allowing CGI to maximize productivity for large-volume work. The machine also has a moving saddle, which allows CGI to move the cutter stroke to the work piece. This eliminates complicated fixturing, allows easier and faster changeovers, and enables cutting multiple gears with multiple cutters on a single setup.
We’re happy for the success of the [CLC 100-SZ Multirun] machine and how it has improved CGI’s ability to serve their customers from prototyping through final production.
Adam GimpertThe machine has advanced CGI’s gear manufacturing, which includes nearly 20,000 parts per year cut on the CLC shaper. These parts cover a wide range of sizes and types, so the CLC shaper’s flexibility is a large benefit. CGI utilizes the machine for gears as diverse as an 18 DP, 6-inch pitch diameter part to a fine pitch, 96 DP, 0.125-inch pitch diameter part. Compared to previous shaping methods, CGI’s productivity has increased in two ways: first, the CLC shaper has roughly halved cycle times to shape a gear; and second, the machine’s Multirun feature has significantly reduced machine idle time, which consequently results in greater throughput. An additional and unanticipated benefit is extended tool life. Where previously a cutter needed to be sharpened every 150 parts, with the CLC shaper, sharpening has been extended to 1,500 parts or 10x the previous requirements.
The CLC 100-SZ CNC gear shaping machine from Koepfer America is just one example of CGI’s commitment to utilizing the latest gear cutting technology. CGI is a testament to innovative manufacturing happening within the gearing industry. Learn more about the company at cgimotion.com.
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