Bourn & Koch Launches New "Composite Platform" Products |
(Archive News Story - Products mentioned in this Archive News Story may or may not be available from the manufacturer.)
Bourn & Koch, Inc.
2500 Kishwaukee St.
Rockford, IL, 61104
USA
Press release date: July 21, 2009
First Machine Slated for 3rd Quarter 2009 as Vertical OD/ID Grinding Machine
In 2007 Bourn & Koch Inc, Rockford, IL, USA, embarked on an initiative to bring to the global market innovative products to replace the legacy lines of Motch and Bullard turning centers, Springfield vertical grinders, Blanchard vertical rotary surface grinders, and Fellows mid range mechanical stroking gear shapers. Bourn & Koch acquired these product lines between 2002 and 2004.
Bourn & Koch was sensitive to the market competition for vertical turning, vertical grinding, hard turning, rotary surface grinding and shaping products in the 1000 mm size range. As the OEM of these lines they tasked their engineering design team to find a way to reduce and lower manufacturing cost, improve on the old line name brands by integrating the latest technologies, and produce the product faster. The result of researching through volumes of their OEM intellectual property, industry designs, and studying the market place was the creation in 2008 of the Bourn & Koch "composite platform" machine. For Bourn & Koch the "composite platform" machine is a basic, low cost common building block, with innovative, no or low maintenance technologies, and integral and linear motors with high precision feed back that could be
- a vertical grinding machine (to replace their OEM Springfield designs) with hard finish turning capabilities or
- a vertical turning center (to replace their OEM Motch designs) or
- a vertical gear shaper (to replace their OEM Fellows 36-6 design) or
- a rotary surface grinder (to replace their OEM Blanchard designs) or
- any combination machine of the above.
For the potential customer, the benefit is a lower purchase cost, since the new machine design build cost is less than the build cost of a new machine of the old legacy design. The new design has, in most cases, 40% or more fewer parts than the old legacy design.
Each process configuration of the composite platform has its own set of innovative associated optional features that enhance the basic machine, peculiar to its machining application. The composite platform incorporates functionality to enhance flexibility to incorporated optional features not available in present machine platforms.
Other specialty machine possibilities also presented themselves with this new composite platform. The first "composite platform" machines were specified to be 1000 mm capacity machines.
The first machine, a vertical OD/ID grinder with hard finish turning capabilities, was designed and put into manufacture. This machine will be available in the third quarter of 2009.
For Bourn & Koch, it allows the company to stock composite base units and columns - normally the longest lead and most expensive components of the old legacy designs. Stock base units and columns takes at least 6 weeks out the build cycle for any configuration machine. Further, it has the advantage of dramatically reducing the total assembled part count, composite components, less assembly time, no maintenance, and faster installation and startup times. From a customer perspective Bourn & Koch can offer simple composite connected machines for multiple machining operations - for example, turning, OD grinding, and gear shaping - all with connected individual machines which essentially share similar parts and technologies.
Initially, Bourn & Koch will offer a "composite platform" design in four application configurations:
1. B&K 1000VBG CNC Vertical OD/ID grinding machine with hard finish turning capabilities
2. B&K 1000VBT CNC Vertical turning center
3. B&K 1000VBS CNC Gear Shaping machine
4. B&K Combination VBT-VBS Work Center (one of many possibilities)
The initial build of the B&K 1000VBG CNC Vertical Grinder has a basic configuration consisting of
- Base: The base is a heavy, stress relieved steel weldment with Polymer composite aggregate for additional dampening.
- Column: The column is a heavy, stress relieved steel weldment with Polymer composite aggregate for additional dampening and supports the vertical and cross slides and grinding wheel head under maximum work load.
- Work Spindle: The work spindle is a self-contained unit mounted on precision ball bearings and has infinitely variable speeds.
- Cross Slide & Grinding Head: The cross slide is moved horizontally by a precision hardened anti-backlash type ball screw and nut.
- Complete "dry floor" machine enclosure with sliding doors for ease of loading and unloading parts.
- Lubrication: Lubrication for the linear guide ways and ball screws is automatic and controlled by the CNC.
- Coolant System: The machine is furnished with a complete coolant system including pump, motor, piping, valves, settling tank.
- Diamond Dresser: The machine is furnished with a single point dresser for dressing both the face and periphery of the grinding wheel only.
- Paint: Standard Polane colors (Swiss White, Steel Blue, Vista Green and Machine Tool Gray).
- Standard machine enclosure light.
- Control: Siemens 840D
Optional features, shown on the machine,
a) CNC contouring rotary table (C) axis
b) CNC rotary swivel (B) axis for positioning grinding spindles, hard turn tools and measuring probes
c) A SETCO grinding spindle, motorized, liquid cooled
d) Gear inspection software with circular geometry inspection system and software for inspection of roundness, runout, and basic roundness reports. For users who wish to grind ID's and OD's concentric to the pitchline of a finished gear.
e) Rotary dressing diamond dressing wheel.
The machine is manufactured to both domestic USA standards and to European CE standards.
Star SU LLC is the merged go-to-market enterprise of the Star Cut Sales Company of Farmington Hills, MI, SU America, Inc., the US sales and manufacturing unit to Samputensili, S.p.A, and Bourn & Koch Inc., Rockford, IL. The companies together represent the world's largest gear machine, gear tool and round tool manufacturing producers. The headquarters of Star SU is located in Hoffman Estates, IL (Chicago).
Bourn & Koch Inc., located in Rockford, IL, is a privately owned manufacturer and rebuilder/remanufacturer of gear hobbing, shaping, grinding and inspection machines and other machine tools. B&K owns Acme, American Tool, Barber Colman, Blanchard, Brown & Sharpe, Bullard, Conomatic, DeVlieg, Fellows, Ferguson, Jones & Lamson, Mattison, Motch, New Britain Machine, Springfield, Rockford Machine Tool, Roto-Tech, and White-Sundstrand. Bourn & Koch continues to supply replacement parts and service for all of the Fellows, Motch and Springfield product lines in addition to remanufcturing/ retrofitting and new machines.
For further information contact Brian W. Cluff, Vice President, Star SU LLC, 5200 Prairie Stone Parkway, Suite 100, Hoffman Estates, IL, 60192, Tel. 847-649-1470, Fax 847-649-0112; email: bcluff@star-su.com. Or contact Timothy P. Helle, President, Bourn & Koch, 2500 Kishwaukee Street, Rockford, IL, 61104, Tel. 815-965-4013, Fax 815-965-0019; email thelle@bourn-koch.com.
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