Unique new Wenzel CMM and gear measuring machine has been designed specifically to measure the large gears and pinions used in the wind energy industry.
“Wenzel Geartec will be introducing a unique new hybrid gear measuring machine at the Gear Expo in Indianapolis September 15-18 2009”, says Keith Mills, president of Xspect Solutions, Inc. the wholly owned subsidiary of Wenzel GmbH of Germany.
Mills explains, “Wenzel has developed this machine to specifically meet the demand of the wind energy gear manufacturing community where large internal and external gears and pinions require highly accurate measuring as well as traditional CMM measuring of prismatic parts. Traditional gear inspection machines are typically mechanical bearing devices with horizontal arms holding the scanning probe. To simply expand this type of machine design concept, that was originally developed to measure 500mm diameter gears, and apply it to 2500mm diameter gears, doesn’t work. For that reason, Wenzel has developed this new hybrid machine design that uses an all-granite, air bearing structure, with a bridge-type construction so the probe can provide a much higher level of dynamics and scanning performance with no mechanical bearing wear over time. In addition, the machine requires no special foundation. ”
The Hybrid LHGT 2600 machine, Fig. 1, has a prismatic measuring volume of 1500mm x 2500mm x 1200mm with an imbedded hydrostatic rotary table flush-mounted inside an Impala black granite machine base. The table and fixture can measure and support gears up to 2600mm diameter and weighing up to 20,000lbs. A removable tailstock column can also be mounted on the base to measure and support pinion gear shafts up to 1900mm in length, Fig. 2. The machine uses Renishaw SP80 scanning technology.
Mills adds, “We have currently sold three of these new LHGT 2600 hybrid machines…one in Europe and two here in the United States.”
Xspect Solutions, Inc. headquartered in Wixom, Michigan, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wenzel GmbH of Germany. Xspect Solutions is the Number 3 supplier of CMMs and GMMs (Gear Measuring Machines) in the North American metrology market including; new Wenzel CMMs and GMMs, and is the world’s largest supplier of pre-owned CMM equipment. Xspect Solutions also supplies new Wenzel CMMs and GMMS with its OpenDMIS software to the North American markets.
Wenzel GmbH manufacturers its products intrinsically accurate, negating the need for the huge error compensation files to achieve quoted accuracies which have become the norm for most manufacturers in past years. The black granite used by Wenzel is processed in-house at their impressive manufacturing facilities in Germany, not imported from China
pre-finished…which in now the industry norm.
