Zaigler and JUARISTI: a large hydrostatic boring machine is the finishing touch to decades of successful cooperation

Zaigler, a German machining subcontractor, has a long history of projects with JUARISTI. It currently operates 5 JUARISTI brand machines at its headquarters. This year it decided to take a step upward and onward quality-wise with a large hydrostatic boring machine that is the icing on the cake after decades of successful collaboration.

Zaigler is a very relevant German machining industry subcontractor. With a more than 9,000 m2 production plant in Kulmbach, Bavaria, and a total of 120 employees, its clientele portfolio includes large multinationals such as ENGEL, General Electric, Man, Siemens and Voith.

Some of the work it offers its clients includes milling, boring and turning works. The diversity in its production makes JUARISTI solutions optimal for it due to the versatility, multifunctionality and high automation these solutions offer its users.

For this very reason, Zaigler and JUARISTI partnership dates back decades. In these years, the German company has purchased a total of 5 solutions, in addition to maintaining a very close relationship with JUARISTI in matters related to applications, consulting and equipment optimisation.

Last year Zaigler’s production managers decided to jump-start the quality of these equipment and get a large hydrostatic boring machine. They needed a very tough, powerful machine that would enable milling and boring operations on large engine housings. The complexity and sheer weight of the parts in the customer’s catalogue also required it to equip the boring machine with a large rotary table.

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After several technical meetings between the production manager and JUARISTI’s technical office, an agreement was reached on the design of a MP7 RAM hydrostatic machining center compatible with milling, boring and turning operations and adapted to its production requirements.

JUARISTI has more than 40 years of experience developing this type of solutions with hydrostatic technology, which is currently used by most heavy-duty machine manufacturers. It was precisely this proven experience that pushed MHWirth’s decision-makers to opt for the MP RAM.

A truly exclusive solution

The MP RAM is JUARISTI’s most exclusive solution. All structural components are made of grey nodular cast iron and all axes are hydrostatic, on large hardened and ground guides.

The hydrostatic guide, greased with a continuous film of oil that prevents contact between guide and counter-guide, reduces the friction coefficient and enables extraordinarily smooth movements, achieving very high precision in very heavy machines.

It has 3 automatic compensation systems for the bending of the RAM, rocking of the headstock and tilting of the column.

The X-axis stroke has a rack and pinion system with 2 pinions and 2 motors. In addition, the vertical stroke has a static ball screw with a rotating nut, which helps to achieve very fast feeds.

The model designed for Zaigler stands out for its wide run on all axes (X 10,000, Y 4,000, Z 1,500 and W 1,000) and for its turning table with a 3,000 x 3,000 mm surface area and its compatibility with parts up to 50 tonnes.

One of the most unique features is the table’s rotational speed, which reaches 110 min-1, a parameter that has never been achieved before on such a machine. This will permit Zaigler to turn with high precision and productivity, something it needed to machine turbine housings and generators.

The machine supplied to Zaigler included a 40 kW automatic bi-rotational milling head and a 70 kW orthogonal milling head. Finally, the unit is equipped with a robot- type ATC compatible with up to 200 tools.

Zaigler uses its new solution for precision machining of large metal parts. It will produce a wide range of components, including diesel engine blocks, windmill gearboxes or earthwork machinery components, among many others.