The word “flexibility” runs like a red thread through all areas of the company ASP Automation GmbH, D-91757 Treuchtlingen. Flexibility is ASP’s credo, referring to very creative complete solutions in production and assembly automation as well as in special machine construction. Furthermore the own products ASP aluminum profile construction kit and Vario buffer conveyor belts are characterized by highest application and use flexibility. Furthermore, the production of parts for customers as well as for ASP’s own products is organized in a highly flexible way, which of course also includes the efficient multi-machine operation by the highly qualified personnel. Founded in the year 2000 by the current owner and managing director Werner Schramm, a strictly technology-driven company has developed from small beginnings, which on the one hand deals with the development and construction of automation solutions as well as special machines on behalf of customers, and on the other hand with the development, construction and distribution of the already mentioned own products. In the meantime, ASP has 18 employees, 10 of which are skilled workers in the area of mechanical production alone. Contrary to the often observed trend towards a pure system integrator, which mainly uses components available on the market, Werner Schramm relies on a high degree of in-house production, which is currently around 90%. And there is a good reason for this: “As a special machine builder and manufacturer of our own products, we have to react very flexibly to customer requirements and are dependent on both the best quality and a high degree of deadline reliability for problem-free assembly of components and devices. In order to ensure this and to be able to act flexibly and quickly, we decided early on to manufacture construction parts ourselves whenever possible and sensible, and to commission efficient partners for the supply of standard or standard components.”
New CNC machining center vs. existing workpiece clamping technology
With increasing business volumes as well as the growing order volume, especially with the own product Vario buffer conveyor belts, capacity problems soon arose, which ASP met with the intensive evaluation and subsequent procurement of another new 3-axis CNC machining center. The solution considered, to upgrade a 3-axis CNC machining center with a large working range (X-axis travel = 1,000 mm) with a CNC rotary or swivel table as the 4th axis instead of purchasing an expensive 4- or 5-axis machining center, proved to be absolutely correct in retrospect, based on the range of parts to be machined. When purchasing the CNC, Werner Schramm had already foreseen that the performance of the CNC machining center would reach its limits with the conventional workpiece clamping equipment and therefore contacted, among others, the Swiss specialist for workpiece clamping technology, Gressel AG, CH-8355 Aadorf, already at that time. After a visit by Günther Hirschburger, Sales Engineer Germany South at Gressel AG, a solution was proposed which was completely convincing and on the basis of which the order was then placed for the supply of varouis components from the Gressel clamping technology modular system. In detail, these are several mechanical zero point clamping systems gredoc in square and round designs, several centric clamping systems C2 125 and finally several single clamps gripos.
With the Gressel modular system to individual, cost-effective solutions
With these clamping technology components, Werner Schramm and colleagues realized a highly flexible universal clamping system. Depending on the design, configuration and equipment, this allows both efficient 3-axis machining on the machine table equipped with an adapter plate and, after mounting the CNC rotary or swivel table, 4-axis (complete) machining. In order to keep the setup/changeover and assembly effort as low as possible, as well as the unproductive downtime caused by machine standstills, Werner Schramm and the machine operators came up with even more. Namely, they created the aforementioned machine table adapter plate and placed five gredoc square mechanical zero point clamping systems on it. These five zero-point clamping systems optionally accommodate the CNC rotary/swivel table mounted on a base plate or, if required, one to five gripos single clamps or up to five C2 125 centric clamps. In addition, it is possible to fit large workpieces with gredoc bolts and thus clamp them directly onto the adapter plate. But this is not enough for the flexibility of use and application, because four mechanical zero-point clamping systems gredoc angular are embedded in the swivel-axis base plate of the CNC rotary/swivel rotary table and, depending on the need or machining requirements, these also accommodate one or up to four C2 125 centric clamps as well as blank blocks equipped with gredoc bolts so that they can then be machined (completely) in 4 axes.
Summary
In conclusion, Werner Schramm commented on the possible applications and uses of the Gressel modular clamping system in his company: “With the support of Gressel and Günther Hirschburger, we have found optimal clamping solutions to be able to machine a very wide range of parts with high flexibility and increased productivity. Depending on the number of pieces, workpiece requirements and running time, we machine small to medium-sized individual parts, small and medium series or even large frames and base plates on 3 or 4 axes. And all this on the basis of one and the same compatible workpiece clamping technology in single or multiple clamping, which in many cases enables multi-machine operation and use. We virtually no longer need special clamping equipment and, thanks to the universal installation of Gressel’s zero-point clamping systems, we are always equipped to respond quickly to part requirements. We will continue to follow this path in the future, because we want to utilize the existing performance of the machines to the maximum and flexibly at the same time.”
The CNC rotary/swivel table mounted on the machine table with four flush-mounted Gressel gredoc round mechanical zero-point clamping systems. The workpiece block on the right is clamped directly on the gredoc zero-point clamping systems of the swivel table base plate via two gredoc bolts.
A mechanical Gressel zero-point clamping system gredoc flush-mounted in the swivel table base plate. The clamping/unclamping process is carried out by simply turning or opening with an Allen key through the hole located at the front.
The swivel table base plate can be equipped in different ways, for example with three Gressel C2 125 centering clamps; this allows short or long workpieces to be clamped and completely machined on 4 axes.
For successive 4-axis machining of identical or different workpieces, the swivel table base plate can be equipped with four Gressel C2 125 centric clamps.
Werner Schramm (right), Managing Director ASP Automation GmbH, Günther Hirschburger, Sales Engineer Germany South at Gressel AG, in front of the 3-axis CNC machining center from ASP Automation GmbH upgraded for 4-axis machining.
