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REF300 - Inline wheel deflashing

Continuously growing demands in terms of quality and productivity in the alloy wheel industry require a flash-free rough casted wheel for automatic production flow.

During casting of alloy wheels, flashes occur most likely at the parting lines of the casting molds. Flashes on rough casted alloy wheels reduce transportability on the conveyor systems from the casting to the machining area and cause clamping faults at robots or in the chucks of CNC machines in machining cells. Casting flashes are also creating pseudo errors during the X-ray process, which ends up in wasted resources. In the heat treatment line, flashes can create vibrations during movement, and this results in distortion and unnecessary rejects. The REF300 inline wheel deflashing machine is designed and built to resolve this disturbing influence in the production of alloy wheels. The flashes at the inboard and outboard flange and on the parting line will be completely removed in order to make every single part identical for the automatic production. The inline concept of the REF300 does not require any additional manipulation, saves space and is easy and quick to integrate into existing processes. By using the well-known and approved NUMTEC barcode system and a flexible wheel clamping unit, the machine can operate in mixed production. All machining parameters can be modified, taught in and a completely flexible manner for each single wheel type. The teach-in process of new wheel types is done fully automatically by using a scanning system based on laser sensors to the wheel contour. A teached wheel will move into the machine, it will get pre-centered, the conveyor will lower down, and the wheel will be clamped on a special flexible conical fixture. After clamping, the wheel will start rotating for NUMTEC barcode scanning to identify the wheel type and, in tandem with that, to check the exact wheel rest position. When the clamping is finally approved and the full automatic calculation of machining parameters is done, the CNC-machining process will start with two simultaneous running milling units to reach a high productivity. The wheel will be machined according to customer requirements at the inboard and outboard flange as well as at the parting lines at the rim. Finally, the conveyor will lift the wheel back up and move the wheel out on the roller conveyor.

Your advantages:

  • Fully automated production: Wheels are fully deflashed to ensure a safe handling during the automated production process.
  • No X-ray pseudo errors: Flashes can cause pseudo errors during the automatic X-ray process.
  • Robot manipulation: Safe and repeatable gripping of the wheels with the robot during loading into the chucking devices of the lathe in the machining cell.
  • No chucking errors at the machining line: No disturbing flashes in the chucks. Especially in combination with the three-inch chuck, the flash on the outboard flange causes the majority of all problems during the first operation.

 

Contact person

Josef Polzinger

Josef Polzinger

Sales Manager Automotive

josef.polzinger@alpinemetaltech.comRequire information