Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

BIEMH 2010 (2)

Report on the machine tool that is usually carried out every two years at the Barakaldo Trade Fair, BEC. The biennial appears to be accompanied by Asier Gandarias of Danobat and the journalist Beñar Kortabarria.

According to B. K.:We sat down, let's see!

According to A.G.:Let’s see how we get out of here!

According to B. K.:These are other applications of robotics.

According to A.G.: Some applications, that's it! A little closer to what we’ve seen so far, we’re getting into completely different elements. They are elements related to machine tools, but in the end they would be automatic systems that would replace people’s hands. At the end of this hand, as the hand takes the tools, different things can be placed on the hands of the robots. In this case, it is for a playful application, a show that would be in the amusement parks. There are two of them in Europe today: In Futuroscope and Eurodisney. As there are chairs here, if a milling cutter, another tool, a spider's hand to pick up the packages, or, the system would work exactly the same.

According to A.G.: In the last pavilion that we have been in, we have seen machines that mainly eat fish or material, and in the pavilion that we are now entering, the processes have more to do with deformation. The previous one was to eat and from here give shape to the plate. This would be the world of sheet metal, and this other would be the environment that has something to do with machining. Here we will find presses, bending machines, punchers, and what we have left behind have been machines for cutting, drilling, milling, lathes, grinding, etc.

According to B. K.: All right, let's go see him.

According to B. K.:A press, Asier.

According to A.G.: As we can see, we have a fixed bench and, above it, another mobile that goes up and down. In fact, this press would lack the tools: the mold and the counter-mold that would fit into it. We’d put the plate in the middle, and with the force that the press exerts, we’d get the final piece, which we’d then take out. The peculiarity of this machine is that the conventional system, the crank crank system, has been modified. They have implemented a system that controls how much to go down, when, etc., which gives the machine great flexibility.

According to B. K.:What would a machine like that be used for?

According to A.G.: A machine like this costs an incredible amount of money, as well as the molds and countermolds that are placed in it. From an investment point of view, this only makes sense when there are long series involved, and at the moment only two sectors have this characteristic: the automotive and the electrical appliances.

According to B. K.: You said before, Asier, that a machine like this costs a lot of money. You may not know, but how much can it cost?

According to A.G.: That would be around $500,000. The machine itself has about 90 tons, so the material that is only included in steel would be around 500,000 euros. And for relating a little to the vertical lathe that we have seen before, that, seen in the big one and taking into account the client’s whims, we would walk around 3.5/4.5 euros.

According to B. K.: Measurement, essential in machine tools.

According to A.G.: Essential in the machine tool, both during the process, so that if there is any change or need to be made in the process, the hand can be inserted, and after the completion of this process, to know if what we have done is right or wrong. We have several systems here. This is in particular a laser measuring system.

According to B. K.: This whole measurement thing has changed a lot, hasn't it? The laser, the x-ray systems... they're all new.

According to A.G.: Yes, many of the operations that were previously carried out manually, today, from existing systems, especially lasers, have just begun to be implemented at the industrial level. And the benefits that come from it, both in terms of productivity and quality, are much better.