As automation continues to transform the manufacturing industry, gear deburring often remains an operation performed by hand. This burdens gear manufacturers in several ways. First, quality control remains a challenge because each technician’s skill impacts the final product. Second, as other processes become automated, deburring labor continues to grow as a portion of a finished part’s overall cost. Finally, deburring time is highly variable because of breaks, distractions, tardiness, sickness, and other human effects. Consequently, manufacturers both large and small are looking to automated deburring solutions to remain competitive in today’s market. The TM 200 R3 machine tool is such a solution.

Koepfer America now offers the TecnoMacchine (“TM”) model 200 R3 gear deburring machine, which benefits gear manufacturing job shops and other gear manufacturing departments with a wide variety of part types and sizes. Adam Gimpert, business manager of Koepfer America, said “The versatility of these deburring machines helps job shops and gear manufacturers keep a competitive edge into the future.”

The TM 200 series of gear deburring machines features 5 work stations that can be equipped with milling tools, cutoff wheels, and brushes to achieve the exact edge break, deburring, and/or chamfering operation required on multiple edges. These tools are easily adjusted for position, orientation, pressure, and speeds up to 24,000 rpm. The machine also includes radial CNC tool wear compensation. Lastly, work holding is flexible to accommodate most part types and sizes. Together, these features allow straight-forward, versatile gear deburring with changeovers in under 30 minutes.

The TM 200 R3 features a rotary-magazine-type (“carousel”) CNC loading and unloading system. This solution accommodates stackable work pieces up to 7.874” diameter (alternative TM models can deburr larger work pieces). The dual rotary magazines each comprise 8 easily adjustable towers. Each tower can hold parts up to 17.7” high. For example, 283 pieces can be loaded assuming a 0.5” face width gear. This allows the machine to deburr unattended for hours.

During operation, the machine’s SPC (statistical process control) station allows an operator to check quality mid-process. Additionally, for small lot sizes, the machine can also be used in manual-mode. In this case, the SPC station allows easy loading and unloading of a single work piece.

The TM 200 R3 produces finished work pieces in as little as 20 seconds for 3” diameter parts or 55 seconds for 7.8” diameter parts. This productivity combined with the machine’s flexible automatic loading and unloading system offers gear manufacturers a long-term competitive deburring solution. The TM 200 R3 provides an optimum balance between productivity and flexibility, which is perfect for job shops as well as gear manufacturing departments with a complex variety of parts.