ANCA CNC Machines and sister company ANCA Motion will be demonstrating its world leading technology at EMO Hannover 2017 in Germany next month.
Show visitors will see the world first Dual Robot technology in action and can learn more about ANCA Motion’s new linear motor.
They can also find out how ANCA’s latest software product Management Suite, is bringing customers into Industry 4.0.
ANCA, a global leader in CNC tool and cutter grinders, services a diverse range of competitive industries including cutting tool manufacture, automotive, aerospace, electronics and medical.
Pat Boland, joint ANCA Co-founder said: “Our customers have come to expect ANCA to lead the CNC industry market trends with our latest product releases. This year will be no exception and I am excited by how much more grinding flexibility and performance our latest products offer our customers.”
At EMO Hannover ANCA will also unveil its new custom designed and built industrial robot loader.
Low cost solution for tool loading
Pat McCluskey, ANCA’s co-founder and lead designer on the project says the new robotic tool loader has been fully designed and built in house by ANCA’s experienced engineering team.
“We recognise that as the market moves towards greater automation, providing a low cost solution for tool loading was something our customers would welcome,” he said.
"As the lead designer on the robot development project I've been asked by industry players 'how can ANCA develop its own industrial robot?' Basically, it's a logical extension for our company whose strength is having multi-disciplinary technical expertise and an intimate knowledge of the CNC market.
“It's actually a relatively simple task to develop the mechanical aspects of an industrial robot, but to make it function successfully you better be expert in designing your own CNC System, Digital Servo Drives and Core Software. These skills I believe are ANCA's unique strengths in the tool grinding industry.”
The ANCA robot does not use a separate free-standing controller. The control system software runs concurrently within the machine's CNC core software and uses the machine's operator panel and handheld pendant to perform the teaching.
Complete solution
“If you can use an ANCA Tool Grinder, you can use an ANCA robot as well and our service engineers can easily fix your ANCA robot,” says Mr McCluskey. “We pride ourselves on providing customers with a complete ANCA machine solution – that is why we have invested in developing our own industrial robot.”
EMO visitors can see a live demonstration preview of the new robot that is still in development.
Duel robot grinding cell
CNC grinders now have the capacity to integrate several manufacturing operations into a single production line in ANCA’s market first multi-robot production cell solution.
The single-base cell includes automated part loading, high precision grinding, and quality assurance, outproducing the previous multi-machine process while achieving part quality requirements.
Using a single robot, ANCA’s TXcell automated grinding cell can automatically load grinding wheel packs, and the work piece – a highly successful approach for ANCA customers manufacturing rotary cutting tools. And, with the addition of a second robot in the TXcell, the machine can complete secondary operations unmanned.
ANCA will offer visitors to EMO a demo of the latest features of its latest software such as tool balancing and next generation ball nose.
Launched earlier this year ANCA’s new Management Suite is a game changer for the CNC grinding industry. It provides customers the technology to monitor the performance of their machines no matter where they are in the world.
The new software also enables companies to run smart factories by providing live production information to make data based decisions on operational improvements.
Control solutions for all industries
ANCA’s motion control solutions have been powering ANCA CNC Machines for more than 40 years.
The company provides control solutions for all industries, including CNC’s, motors, servo drives, IO, EtherCAT®, user interfaces and software.
ANCA Motion, which is part of the ANCA group, will showcase its Laser Cutting product at EMO 2017.
The laser cutting package has been specifically developed to deliver best in class process performance on a variety of machine configurations.
ANCA Motion will also showcase flexible open CNC software packages that can be tailored to suit customer requirements.
ANCA will also launch its latest model TX Linear premium machine at EMO.
The TX model has flexible software and tooling combined with a large working envelope enables the production of more complex tools, heavy duty manufacturing and component manufacturing.
Powerful, versatile grinding machines
EMO visitors can also learn about the MX7 Linear and its superior grinding capabilities.
The popular MX7 Linear is a powerful versatile, next-generation CNC grinding machine designed to meet the rigorous demands for production grinding. The MX7 Linear is a high productivity system with unique features that make it capable of handling varied batch sizes with minimum set up time.
ANCA’s Radio-frequency identification (RFID) increases the flexibility of tool programming, automating the tool loading process and removing the need for an operator to program individual loader pallet pockets to a specific tool.
The product is ideal for regrinding or manufacturing a varied range of tools in small to medium sized batches and is available with the TXcell and MX tool grinders.
Also on display is the FX Linear that provides exceptional value for money and a wide range of options to increase productivity and accuracy.
This year it will be fitted with a Nachi loader, an affordable automation solution that has been optimised for the highest volume diameters and lengths. It has a capacity range of up to 380 tools and a load cycle time of 15 seconds.
The ANCA CNC Machines and ANCA Motion stand will be located at Hall 6, Booth K59.
EMO Hannover 2017 will be held from September 18-23.
