Blum, the measuring technique company was one of the sponsors at the "technical synergies" exhibition last week in La Neuveville ([see our news here->http://eurotec-online.com/2010/06/2...). I discovered a new probe system. The new probes allows fast, precise and automatic tool setting and breakage control in turning and milling centers. All the data are automatically transmitted wireless to the control of the machine, there is no risk of any manual wrong information feed. Through the (…)

Small, precise and extremely fast! Maxon presents the sterilizable 50 Watt drives "EC Size 5" and "EC 13" For the use in high speed medical applications of up to 90’000 rpm. Stand-alone, or as motor/gear combination, the drives stand out by high power, extremely low-noise and low-vibration operation, marginal heat generation and minimal size - welcome characteristics particularly in medical handheld power tools. . . All models are designed the same way and comparable in terms of (…)

In the modern industrial world, we tend to talk of “custom-made and time-consuming” or “standard and available as of now”. Watchmakers G&F Châtelain have discovered an ideal alternative, combining flexibility and rapidity, for all its assembly-mounting, sandblasting, polishing and colouring-off operations. We talked with Messrs Kamel Hadjadji, head of Methods, Patrick Oudot, mass production advisor at G&F Châtelain, and Vincent Dormoy, head of Sales for French-speaking Switzerland at (…)

The booming market is setting new kinds of production challenges. The aim is now to rapidly increase quality standards to satisfy discerning Chinese buyers in a highly competitive marketplace, whilst delivering the volume to meet the demand. Automation and the latest technologies are a part of that. But so too is low labour cost. This is why the right blend of man and machine in the Chinese context is the overall theme of the first, eagerly anticipated AMS China conference. This unique (…)

The traditional show dedicated to high precision turning, machining and tools just closed its door at La Roche-sur-Foron (France). Official figures are not available yet, but the general feeling gathered through the alleys is very positive. Even if the show was a little bit smaller than last issue and that some players didn’t want to go there to exhibit, the result is surprising. A lot of exhibitors actually did business on their booth… and the ones that didn’t come will never know if they (…)

The Körber Schleifring GmbH group recently announced a world premiere to be seen at Grindtech in Augsburg. The new Ewag insert grinding machine will be proudly presented for the first time to the public on the show. There is no picture of the new machine available yet. We will publish more information as well as pictures as soon as we get more. According to the manufacturer, with its new grinding technology and huge grinding wheel diameters the Ewag Insert Line operates 50% faster than (…)

Second day of the Micronarc Alpine Meeting just finished and there was again some very high-level presentation on how to actually manufacture parts. One of the technology presented was lithography electroplating molding. This technology is now perfectly mastered. Let’s see an example with Mimotec. Small and precise The technology is quite simple, we use a UV source of light and attack a photo-sensitive material through a master that lets the light pass only where we want. Then we have a (…)

The Micronarc Alpine Meeting carries on, this morning after seeing the way to produce chips, we discovered that actually the microsystems directly benefits from the watch industry know-how. Let’s see how. Obviously parts can be done by different technologies and if dry etching is good enough to produce electronic parts, it can also be used to do something else, for instance parts for the watch industry. With the technology, we can then produce new parts that would have been impossible to (…)

Micronarc organized the Alpine Meeting and guess what? It’s a high-end meeting that just started. First afternoon saw us enjoy the tutorial given by Prof. Ivo W. Rangelow on micro and nano fabrication. A very passionate lecturer to give us a fascinating presentation for a quite difficult topic (for me that is not a scientist). Nevertheless, there are lessons to learn for everyone. There was 10 people reunited in the nice Eurotel Victoria of Villars-sur-Ollon to start the three days (…)

Next issue is being prepared and for the "point of view" article I’ve just met Philippe Fischer, head of the FSRM (Swiss Foundation for Research in the field of Microtechniques). In the interview we discussed about historical reasons to be good in microtechniques and innovation (amongst other things). Innovation, engine of success Obviously innovation is not the only reason to win on the market and the link between research and industry has to be helped (the main aim of the FSRM in fact). (…)