Manufacturing is about constant improvement. Just as machine shops work hard to improve the speed at which they get parts out the door without losing quality, OEMs have thousands of people dedicated to improving manufacturing equipment to make their customers’ jobs easier. In this flurry of innovation, the most common approach is to improve on existing solutions to problems: increase the rigidity of a five-axis table, get more tool life out of an end mill or otherwise improve on technology that is currently in use.
But then, sometimes there are attempts at entirely new solutions as well.
An example of the latter is the Eccentric Positioning System from Coventry Associates, an entirely novel grinding machine uses three circular rotary tables on top of each other rather than linear slide systems. These rotary tables have offset centers relative to one another, which enables them together to precisely guide both
the linear and angular position of the grinding wheel for ID grinding applications, as shown in the video. This design is all electric, eliminating the need for hydraulics and the maintenance costs associated with them.
Read more: New Grinding Machine Utilizes Unique Kinematics
