Europe's largest trailer manufacturer, Schmitz Cargobull, has chosen a Thompson friction welding machine equipped with an innovative alignment system for producing axles at its factory in Germany.

Schmitz Cargobull is using the fully-automatic Thompson machine to friction-weld finished machine hubs with pre-machined brake disc flanges at its modern production facility in Altenberge.

The steel components are loaded into the machine, via a Guedel gantry system, where they are simultaneously friction welded at both ends and then unloaded on to an output conveyor. The machine is equipped with Thompson's computerised system for in-process weld monitoring and control.

Olaf Schuette, production manager at the Altenberge factory, said the machine's capabilities were remarkable, especially as production cycle time targets had already been exceeded.

In recent months, Thompson has supplied a number of Model 125 machines to commercial vehicle component makers around the world including the Far East.

Thompson produces a range of friction welding machines for making parts used in the aerospace, automotive, construction machine and oil exploration industries. Established for more than 40 years, the company has an annual turnover in the region of ВЈ20 million and employs around 100 staff at its UK head office in Halesowen, West Midlands.

The automation of sheet metal working processes, including CNC punching, CNC laser cutting and CNC press brakes will be emphasised for MACH 2008 visitors

The Trumpf stand at the UK's MACH 2008 machine tool exhibition will emphasise that there is no need to compromise on automation or unmanned sheet metal working. Trumpf will demonstrate its competence in automated punching, laser cutting and bending and the ability of its systems to accommodate changing production needs and still achieve quality parts at the lowest unit cost.

The machines accept flexible and expandable automation.

The choices range from simple productivity gains from features such as automatic laser nozzle exchange through to all the elements necessary for full 'lights out' production.

All Trumpf machines are designed so that the batch size, material and program can be changed with ease and with no detrimental effect on manufacturing cost.

Degrees of automation - many of the machines featured will demonstrate different degrees of automation.

For example, the single station punching or laser cutting head is a vital component of every Trumpf machine.

This remains a novel feature and one that significantly reduces set-up and machining times.

With this intelligent head system Trumpf said it offers the basis for true l'ights out' production.

In the field of 2D laser cutting, for example, the head works in tandem with another novel feature, automatic laser nozzle exchange.

The system makes it possible to process a variety of parts and materials using optimum cutting parameters, even during unmanned shifts.

Dependent on the machine model chosen, any sheet thickness from 1 - 25mm can be processed with the machine's single cutting head as the engineering beam guidance system automatically adapts to the material and adjusts the laser beam.

Automatic nozzle changing will be demonstrated separately at MACH 2008 to highlight its significance.

2D precision laser cutting will be demonstrated at MACH 2008 by the TruLaser 2030.

This larger format model is new to the UK and will be shown with the higher powered 3.2kW TruCoax laser that delivers exceptional beam quality.

This compact machine has fully integrated load and unload and is designed for high productivity.

Fully automated bending - the TruBend 5130 CNC press brake (brake press) will be converting the parts produced by the TruLaser or TruPunch CNC machines into finished components.

This press brake is characterised by its short cycle times.

Precise bending every time is assured by the Automatically Controlled Bending a system that has potentially up to eight sensors.

This press brake will be shown complete with BendMaster that will feed the machine blanks as well as sort and stack the finished parts.

BendMaster automatically selects a mechanical gripper for small parts or a vacuum gripper for larger ones.

As a result it can handle a wide product range up to a maximum weight of 40kg.

The TruBend and BendMaster are operated by a single control and jointly programmed by the dedicated TruTops Bend software.

CNC punching - Trumpf will also be emphasising another important point at MACH 2008 - don't dismiss punching.

Thanks to continuous development punching is the quickest and cheapest method of producing many parts, especially those that require additional operations such as forming and tapping.

The company's latest punching machine, the TruPunch 5000, will demonstrate this potential.

The high productivity of this machine has been achieved through faster processing and tool rotation, additional drives and faster acceleration thanks to lighter weight components, said Trumpf.

These developments have given the TruPunch 5000 a productivity boost of 15% on its predecessor.

In common with all of the Trumpf high productivity machines this model can be specified with automation to suit the need from semi-automatic loading through to a fully automatic manufacturing cell with warehouse interface.

Marking and welding - the TruMark Station 5000 performs a wide range of marking and microprocessing tasks on various metals, plastics and ceramics.

Its compact design allows its easy integration into a production line.

This model is also available with flow-through transfer allowing longer workpieces to be processed.

The stand-alone TruLaser Station 5004 is the last exhibit and is a compact and ergonomic workstation for deposition laser welding with wire.

It represents another first in laser processing with the inclusion of an electronic stereomicroscope that allows quicker and easier set-up.

Offering up to 8kW power, a disc-type laser has low running cost and 25% efficiency, and will weld almost all metals with ease and even highly reflective metals such as copper or aluminium.

The Trumpf TruDisk 8002 has an exceptional beam quality normally associated with an altogether less powerful laser. It is powered by four disks and 16 pump modules to be the first of its type to deliver 8kW of output power. With an electrical efficiency of 25% it also has a low running cost, said Trumpf.

Trumpf told that he application scope of this latest addition to the TruDisk range is almost limitless as a result of its characteristic high power and high beam quality.

It can process almost all materials with ease and even highly reflective metals such as copper or aluminium.

The laser is able to achieve a weld penetration depth of 10mm in mild steel at a speed of 1m/min.

At the increased welding speed of 20m/min a weld depth of 3mm can still be achieved, claimed Trumpf.

This high processing speed naturally allows shorter cycle times and higher throughput.

The Trumpf TruDisk 8002 is especially suited to the more difficult welding jobs on thick sheet metal.

Similarly hybrid welding and cutting thick sheet present no problem to this disc laser.

Typical applications are heavy duty welding of construction equipment, heavy machinery, ship building and vehicle manufacture.

The disk laser is one of the most important developments in the field of industrial material processing.

In contrast to the rod laser, the disk exhibits no thermal lens effect, which is why the beam source is extremely insensitive to adjustment.

Beam management with up to six laser light cables that receive laser light from switches or dividers is another important capability.

The modular concept of the TruDisk makes it very easy for the system to be modified or extended.

At the same time, the advantages of flexible laser beam guidance using the laser light cable in tandem with the Trumpf Lasernetwork control system bring significant production advantages.

As well as the beam guidance components, a heat exchanger can be integrated into the laser device eliminating the need for an external chiller.

All the necessary components for beam generation and guidance are therefore contained in a single compact housing.

Of particular customer benefit on Trumpf disc lasers is the 'user space'.

On the laser machine the plug-in connector for the laser light cable is separated from the optics by a sealed wall.

This means that when connecting or disconnecting the cable the laser does not have to be switched off.

The ability to uncouple components such as the pump diodes, resonator system and fibre optic cables ensure long term cost effectiveness and minimum downtime.

The Trumpf TelePresence Portal provides the additional option for service technicians to access the machines remotely and security for maintenance purposes.

Dr Kurt Mann, director of sales for beam sources at Trumpf Laser Technology foresees an excellent future for the disc laser.

He said: 'It has no performance limits.

Fundamentally it's just a question of connecting more and more disks to the resonator to suit the application so in principle any kind of material processing can be performed.