What are the best solutions for managing fluids in spindles?
We asked Petr Vozábal - an engineer and technical manager of a company that for over 15 years has specialised in machine tool maintenance - who had no doubts; the answer is the rotary joints from Kadant Johnson
VOPSS Řepeč s.r.o. began as a company focused on the reconditioning and repair of machine parts for companies engaged in production mainly with machine tools. Today, after many investments and years of success in the Czech Republic market, it has become a true benchmark for the repair and optimisation of highly sophisticated spindles of leading brands such as:
Kovosvit MAS – Mazak – Chiron – DMG and DMG MORI – Fischer – GMN – Step-tec – Kessler – HSD – ZPS - and many others...
What is the positioning of VOPSS in the mechanical industry, what type of companies buy your services and solutions?
Our customers are European companies involved in the production of parts, especially metal parts for a wide range of industries; from the automotive to the railway industry, from woodworking machinery to glass, plastics and food & beverages systems... These companies usually have a large stock of machine tools for in-house production; Vopss is the ideal partner for maintenance, repair and optimisation services for these machines' spindles.
Why is the rotary joint considered a critical component in this application?
The operation of the complete spindle is directly related to the perfect functionality of the rotary joint. Under all conditions, the rotary joint must allow proper cooling for the machine tool spindle, which is the most stressed and worn part. In modern machines, a malfunction of the rotary joint could cause damage to the entire system, and completely repairing the damaged part can be very costly.
What are the main features of Johnson-Fluiten rotary joints provided by KADANT?
The main feature of Johnson-Fluiten rotary joints for us is reliability. As we have said, the component plays a small but crucial part in the economy of the whole machine, it has to be a guaranteed component, it has to inspire 'confidence' when you mount it on a modern spindle. We did a job on a machine that had a problem with the rotary joint, and repairing all the parts involved in the failure cost the customer between 14.000 and 40.000 EURO, according to the spindle / machine type.
A risk that is not worth taking since, in addition to the costs of repairing and restoring the machine, the cost of lost production must also be considered... How do you proceed with the customer when working on modern machine tools?
Mainly, our job is to restore the perfect functionality of the machine tool that the customer uses. But we do not stop there... very often our work also aims at raising the overall quality, in other words optimising the spindle's performance; in this way the customer can produce more, faster and with less machine downtime.
Which Kadant products do you prefer for spindle maintenance? And what specific benefits have you experienced by using them?
We have been working with KADANT for almost 10 years now, and the rotary joints we use most are the GFLA and GHP manufactured by Johnson-Fluiten. The choice of these two components has proven to be a winner in many ways; of course in terms of quality they represent the top worldwide, but it is not just a matter of safety and reliability:
The GFLA rotary joint, thanks to their adaptability, are able to be mounted on almost all machine tools within our competence, it is therefore possible to use the same rotary joint for a large number of applications, which greatly simplifies logistics and represents a tangible and measurable saving. In fact, these rotary joints are suitable for use with water, lubrication fluid, oil and even air, making them the best choice for normal maintenance work on spindles: they are the benchmark for us for this type of component and the first choice if we need to replace the part on the spindle.
But if the objective is an increase in machine performance, Johnson-Fluiten GHP rotary joints are the top-of-the-range products for this purpose: they are both for high speeds (being able to reach up to 32,000 rpm thanks to ceramic bearings) and also for high pressures up to 150 Bar. Fitting this component means an improvement in the efficiency of the entire machine tool that is translated into overall productivity; a real benfit that is truly appreciated by customers.
In your opinion, are these winning products enough to succeed in this competitive industry?
The quality of the product has a big impact, but in day-to-day work it is the service that makes the difference. This is why we work with KADANT; unlike many companies, the relationship between Vopss and Kadant is very open, everyone is very helpful and collaborative and works to 'find a solution'. There are many cases in which Kadant staff have helped us to solve a problem, which is why we now speak of a true partnership that we are sure will continue for many, many years.
The partnership with Kadant is so deep that at the MSV trade show to be hosted in Brno - Czech Republic - from 10 to 13 October, Vopss has created a live demo of a working spindle to demonstrate the benefits of these rotary joints.
Come and discover the full range of products and services that Kadant has for you at our booth Nr. 042 in Hall V.
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