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PRODUCT NEWS
Affolter Introduces Gear Machines for Watches & Medical Instruments
Affolter Technologies SA of
watch industry.
Malleray, Switzerland, has introduced
Affolter Pignons, which today
a new line of gear hobbing and micromilling
manufactures more than 30 million
machines for the manufacture
gear trains per year, created its own
of small gears, worms and similar
demand for new and updated machine
parts used in watches and medical
tools. So, in 1991, Affolter Pignons
and dental instruments.
started up a new, separate company
The Gear AF100 gear cutting center,
to develop its machine tool capa-
introduced a year ago at EMO,
bilities. That company is now Affolter
is an eight-axis CNC gear hobbing
Technologies SA. In the beginning,
machine for cutting parts up to 36
Affolter Technologies worked mainly
mm diameter and 50 mm length. The
on machine retrofits, working with
machine can cut spur, helical, tapered
lathes and gear hobbing machines.
or convex teeth on gears, shafts and
In 1996, Affolter entered into a
pinions, either by hobbing or toothby-tooth
partnership with Wahli to develop
using an indexed milling
an eight-axis CNC hobbing machine.
cutter.
That machine was the Wahli W100.
Parts are held between centers and are
direct-driven by two independent motor
spindles. The cutting tool is driven by a
third motor spindle. All three spindles are
electronically synchronized, with rotation
speeds of up to 16,000 rpm.
The Gear AF110 micro-milling center,
introduced in September at the AMB
show in Stuttgart, Germany, is designed
scales for positive feedback, with system
resolution less than 1 µm.
Affolter has developed and built
machine tools for more than 10 years,
says Raymond Graf, sales and marketing
manager. But until recently, those
machines were manufactured for the use
of sister company Affolter Pignons SA, a
manufacturer primarily serving the Swiss
However, about two years ago, Affolter
decided to redesign the machine and
begin marketing it under its own name,
Graf says.
Over time, Affolter Technologies
has developed expertise in a number of
areas of machine tool manufacture. The
company makes its own CNC controls—
including both hardware and software
for gear hobbing, screw cutting
development—as well as its
and micro-milling.
own spindles, “the most important
The AF110 is also capable
mechanical component of
of hobbing gears up to 36 mm
the machine,” Graf says.
diameter and 50 mm length.
“We wanted to master the
However, unlike the AF100,
whole technology,” Graf says.
the AF110 has no tailstock
“First we only did retrofits of
motor spindle, which allows the
existing machines, and finally,
cutting spindle to be inclined
we got all the know-how to
up to 90° for machining worms,
develop the machine completely.”
straight bevel or face gears,
bone screws and other medical
The company has two more
or dental tools and parts. With
gear machine models in the
the AF110, the part is colletclamped
works. The Gear AF90 will be
and may be supported
a high-productivity gear hob-
by a tailstock center, steady rest
bing machine. The first AF90 is
or guide bushing.
scheduled to be completed and
Both machines have mineral-cast
presented to a customer by the
frames, designed to
end of 2006, Graf says.
provide thermal stability and
In addition, Affolter is
vibration absorption. All linear
working on the Gear AF120, an
axes have direct measurement
eight-axis CNC micro-grinding
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