Page 19 - Industrial Technology EXTRA 8th June 2020

perfectly flat. In addition, the guide rails were and constant load, with a long rail length, minimal
heavily worn due to the loads they had seen,” maintenance and that could be installed on the
explains Becker. existing machine without interrupting production (a
This caused not only the drive motors to particular challenge).
regularly fail but also meant that the seams were This is where HepcoMotion came into play:
not neat. In addition, dirt particles made their way Becker was familiar with the British linear guidance
into the recirculating ball bearings in the guide systems manufacturer from his previous
blocks for each welding robot – a common issue in employment at a specialist machine builder. “Our
this type of environment. This accelerated wear and plan was to swap the existing guides one-by-one
also contributed to the frequent blocking of the with a more appropriate system.” Becker worked on
motors. the project for over four months to ensure
everything functioned correctly, so that he could
HepcoMotion’s GV3 system convince his manager and customer of the
“For us, the question arose of how to obtain a feasibility and profitability of the project.
smooth-running and reliable system without having “Due to the very special requirements of this
to change the entire machine. This would incur high application, only HepcoMotion came into
costs, probably in the region of 2 million Euros, and consideration. To my knowledge, they are the only
extended production down-time,” says Becker. A company that offer the flexibility to adapt to
linear guidance system was required that could different sizes and lengths whilst coping with
operate in a very dirty environment, under extreme mechanical stresses and loads of the welding

June 2020 • INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY EXTRA! • p19