March 2008 Edition

quality

High precision laser tool wins sought-after checkered flag

When world-class motorcycle racer and Austrian native Martin Gopp realized that his days as a competitor rider would be numbered, he decided to resume his former livelihood as a toolmaker. It proved to be a brilliant and farsighted move for it culminated in the Kawasaki Team, with Gopp as technical manager, winning the Supersport 600 World Championship in 2001.

Gopp since has left Kawasaki, and has established his own company, Martin Gopp Tuning. He's putting into use his engineering skills to fine-tune the racing bikes he had raced as an international competitor, and to further enhance them through product development.

His guiding objective was "precision, precision, precision."

Determined to further provide customers with the highest standards of technology available on the planet, Gopp decided to establish a very close working relationship with leading-edge, international measurement and inspection specialists, Blum-Novotest. Headquartered in southern Germany, Blum-Novotest has subsidiary companies around the world. Gopp says what attracted him in particular was Blum's laser tool measuring technology.

His operation is in his home town, Feldkirch, situated in one of Europe's most beautiful areas, the western tip of Austria, within sight of the majestic Alps. The outcome has been an outstanding example of inspirational entrepreneurship and extraordinary technological achievement not only for the good of the sport, but also in numerous other areas of high-precision engineering.

To succeed in GP1 and Superbike racing at world-class level, the technical design for machining cylinder heads, carbon fiber molds, chassis parts, steering parts for Formula 1, etc., must be provided by engineers. They must be not only dedicated to the sport but to uniquely high levels of accuracy and precision. It is to this small band of perfectionists that Gopp belongs.

Starting point

Now suitably fitted out with advanced machining equipment installed in temperature- and humidity-controlled premises, the company specializes in prototype manufacturing for an ever-increasing number of high-profile companies seeking his help with their own product development.

The Blum laser system provides a measuring accuracy of less than 5 microns for the length, radii, and wear of all the tools used and is the starting point for virtually each machining task, Gopp says.

Anyone familiar with the importance of the swirl patterns within the combustion chamber/cylinder head of an internal combustion engine will know that constant experiments with and improvements to such components are sought by top racing teams.

Apart from the ability to provide a rapid response while working under intense pressure, the manufacture of such complex shapes calls for nearly unbelievable level of geometrical intricacy — that has to be carried out with great precision.

A four-cylinder light-alloy head, for example, took about 40 hours to fully machine. The 38-tool capacity of the vertical machining center employed could not even hold all the different tools used in the operation.

Anyone familiar with the importance of the swirl patterns within the combustion chamber/cylinder head of an internal combustion engine will know that constant experiments with and improvements to such components are sought by top racing teams. The manufacture of such complex shapes calls for nearly unbelievable level of geometrical intricacy
— that has to be carried out with great precision.

Gopp Tuning meets such special requirements through the aid of a specially-mounted Blum LaserControl NT Micro Compact System with 0.5 microns repeatability, on a Heidenhain iTNC 530 CNC-controlled, Hermle C40U five-axis machining center.

The nature of Gopp's work has resulted in an exotic collection of both standard and valuable special purpose and form tools. These are all measured and then checked for wear and breakage using the Blum laser system with the data stored within the Blum-supplied computer program.

In-process measuring

Held in Gopp's extensive tool racks, the tools range from drills as small as 0.3mm diameter up to the nine-insert tool that is 125mm diameter and is used for cutting large, thick, tooling plates to size. A tool like this exemplifies the benefit of the Blum system's ability to measure tools while actually rotating in the spindle at working speeds.

Blum's patented NT technology eliminates the effect of coolant in the measuring operation, using a microprocessor integrated into the machine control only when the effective radius (the longest cutting edge) completely leaves the beam. There is no interruption of the beam through an entire revolution of the tool. This overcomes the problem posed when the beam passes through the gap left by two cutting edges as they rotate, which might otherwise cause a measuring error.

Tool lengths at Gopp Tuning also show unusually wide variations, the longest being deep boring tools on cylinder heads to produce the internal camshaft bore. Gopp proudly recounts that, when used from opposite ends of the component, they meet showing an axial displacement of less than 0.005mm.

Team spirit

To some equipment suppliers Gopp might be thought of as over-demanding in his quest to reduce measuring errors to near zero, but Blum is happy to cooperate. As Blum's Lothar Halder points out, "Gopp looks for extreme accuracy and his pioneering work in this field is a two-way street. He is an extremely capable engineer and helping him to solve his problems provides us with valuable feedback that we can put to good use in the future."

An example of this strong cooperation has been the way all parties have worked together to overcome the influence of temperature differences within a machining process that can significantly affect, or even exceed, the specified work-piece tolerances.

A development of this work, using the Blum laser system to measure and calibrate tools in combination with active Hermle sensors in the machine tool, has enabled the high accuracy of finished work to be maintained by automatically compensating for the natural temperature drift of machine axis and spindle. Gopp declares himself highly delighted with the results.

Easier access

Most Blum users are, inevitably, concerned with productivity, albeit allied with reliability, precision and ease-of-use. So they are naturally attracted by the many advantages the laser system offers. Gopp Tuning, however, is rarely called upon to produce more than one or two of any one component before making changes but, nonetheless, always needs to keep the machine tool working hard if it is to pay its way. Hence, most machines of this type have the laser unit sited at the rear, as close to the automatic tool changer as possible to minimize time lost in positioning the spindle for tool measuring checks.

Gopp, however, is always looking for that extra minute improvement in accuracy and so he likes to physically clean each tool when in position before checking. Therefore, he made the unusual request that Blum reposition the unit on to the front of the trunnion-mounted table in order to afford easier access for this purpose.

A typical example of how Gopp's expertise from the world of GP motorcycle racing can be applied to other, totally unexpected applications, is the attractively sculpted Pelton bucket style component produced for a water turbine manufacturer.

Clearly there is a similarity of thought and design between the machining of this and meeting the swirl pattern demands of the previously mentioned cylinder head. The tool positioning accuracies secured through the use of the Blum system enable not only a superb surface finish to be achieved, but bring with it subsequent efficiency gains in the energy supplied — and thus a superior end-product.

With justification

Undoubtedly, the majority of Blum laser technology users are looking for productivity improvements and timesaving as major components of their return on the investment justification calculations.

Gopp, however, makes the point that the system has only to avoid a single severe collision situation to have paid for itself. Like many experienced machinists, he knows that it is a "fact of life" that tool mix-ups can occur, but he says that with the Blum laser system installed, he now works with a far higher level of confidence than was previously possible.

On a more mundane but very practical level, he records the details of each tool on a magnetic strip that stays attached to the tool while in the rack. When loading the tool carousel for a job, the strip is then removed from the tool and placed on the appropriate tool position space marked out on the machine guard in order to provide a complete reference as to which tool is in each position in the carousel.

Speaking of his satisfaction with the high level of positive support he has received from Blum Novotest, Gopp says he is now looking to add a touch-probe system from the same supplier to his armory. He believes that this, with its superior measuring accuracy and high measuring speed, will be invaluable to his operation because it will enable him to carry out in-process measurements of parts.

Blum-Novotest

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