Montronix has emerged as a game-changer in the machining industry, providing advanced solutions to enhance precision, safety, and efficiency in manufacturing processes. With a strong focus on real-time monitoring and prevention, Montronix is actively addressing some of the most critical challenges faced by the industry.
Here’s how Montronix is making a difference:
- Real-Time Tool Breakage Detection
Montronix plays a pivotal role in preventing fire hazards during deep-hole drilling operations. These processes, often involving synthetic oils as coolants, are prone to fire hazards if machining continues with a broken tool. By detecting tool breakage in real-time, Montronix prevents excessive friction, heat buildup, and potential disasters.
- Preventing Component Miss-Load and Loose Clamping Issues
In operations like automotive wheel turning, improperly loaded components or loose clamps can cause severe machine damage or injuries. Montronix’s systems detect imbalances caused by metal chips, oblong forgings, or improperly clamped components, halting operations before full-speed spindle engagement. This proactive approach safeguards machinery, prevents collisions, and eliminates costly scrap.
- Precision in Tool Breakage Detection for Micro-Tools
Montronix has achieved exceptional accuracy in detecting breakage of tools as small as 0.25 mm in diameter. For industries like meat processing, where finely perforated drums require precision drilling of up to 100,000 tiny holes, real-time monitoring ensures operational efficiency and eliminates costly rework.
- Monitoring Rough-Machining Tools Before Finishing
Undetected breakage of rough-machining tools can lead to significant damage to expensive finishing tools. Montronix prevents such scenarios by detecting damage in real-time, ensuring high-value tools like broaches and reamers remain intact. This capability is critical in industries where tool replacement costs can soar to $50,000 USD.
- Advanced Tool Torque and Thrust Force Monitoring
Montronix turns tool holders and spindles into instruments for measuring torque and force signals. This technology identifies tool damage, wear, thread issues, and alignment errors, qualifying holes in real-time. Aerospace manufacturers, for instance, leverage this solution to optimize tapping processes and prevent component failures caused by incorrect torque levels.
- Enhancing Cycle Time and Tool Protection
For machining operations over rough surfaces or where fixed references are unavailable, Montronix reduces cycle times while protecting tools. Applications such as crankshaft balancing and drilling large power-generation castings greatly benefit from this technology.
- Optimizing Grinding Operations
Montronix brings efficiency to grinding operations by automating dressing frequency and ensuring positive dressing. Its ability to detect wheel breakdown during dressing minimizes material waste, enhances wheel longevity, and maintains quality.
- Advancing MQL Drilling Processes
In environmentally conscious machining setups using MQL drills, Montronix ensures proper coolant flow, preventing drill breakage and safeguarding expensive forged components like crankshafts.
- Monitoring Deep Fillet Rolling in Crankshafts
Montronix has partnered with OEMs to develop real-time monitoring technology for deep fillet rolling operations. By detecting roller damage instantly, it prevents irreversible crankshaft defects, saving time and resources.
- Spindle Health and Collision Monitoring
A miniature tri-axial vibration monitoring system from Montronix ensures spindle health and prevents collisions. The system detects rotational imbalances caused by swarf or chips on tool tapers, protecting spindles from damage. It also logs crash data, helping manufacturers analyze and improve operational safety.
Empowering the Machining Industry
Montronix’s innovative solutions address critical challenges, from ensuring tool and machine safety to optimizing processes and reducing waste. By integrating cutting-edge technologies like sensor-based monitoring and real-time diagnostics, Montronix is empowering manufacturers to achieve unparalleled precision and efficiency, revolutionizing the machining industry for the future.
Montronix is actively assisting the Machining Industry in the following areas:
Detect tool breakage in real-time to prevent a fire hazard
Some deep hole drilling operations such as oil-hole drilling of cylinder blocks use synthetic oil as coolant or lubricant. These oils are highly flammable and if machining is continued with a broken tool, intense heat from friction can lead to a fire-hazard!
Detecting component miss-load, loose clamps and locators
Detecting a loosely held component in time can prevent a major breakdown from collision, or an expensive scrap; examples: In automotive wheel turning robots are used for loading & unloading of parts. Metal chip / swarf in the chuck jaws or an oblong forging can cause imbalance. Montronix system detects this in real-time and stops the machine before the spindle picks up full-speed. If undetected, part could be thrown off the chuck causing severe machine damage and even injury to operators.
While detecting tool-breakage in real time on machining centers for brake-parts (rough forgings) Montronix detects chatter originating from loose clamps & locators to prevent scrap parts.
(larger tap-drill from tool whipping) leads to shallow threads and threads could fail in operation.
Tool breakage detection for very small diameter tools
Montronix can now detect tool breakage with great precision for tools as small as a 0.25 mm drill! Thanks to the technical advancements in the areas of Sensor-Technology, Digital Gain and Signal Processing Techniques. Example: Meat processing industry uses finely perforated drums for mechanical deboning process. These perforated drums call for drilling 0.25 to 0.5 mm holes ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 holes in each drum. Machining centers are used for this operation and cycle times are generally of the order of 15 to 20 hours per drum. Detecting tool breakage in real time is very essential to prevent missed holes and expensive re-work.
Monitoring tools for rough-machining prior to expensive finishing tools
If a broken drill prior to a broaching operation is not detected in real-time, part with a broken drill will enter the broaching machine and it can damage the broach or render it completely useless; some of the broaching tools can be as expensive as $50,000 USD. We may loose an expensive reamer in a machining-center if preceding drill / rough boring bar is not Monitored in real-time for damage detection.
Tool Torque & Thrust Force Monitoring for drilling and tapping tools
Put your hole making problems to bed on a single spindle or a multi spindle machine! This technology makes the tool holder or spindle itself an instrument for measuring torque / force signals! Wireless transfer of power to sensor electronics (no battery). Detection capability: tool damage, thread damage, tool wear, in correct thread depth (radial), drill or tap misalignment, tap grind quality, missing tools, broken tools, feed errors with rigid-taps and incorrect thread depth (axial), i.e. missing or partial tap-drill; basically, with this technology machined hole can be qualified in real time. Using this technology, aerospace component manufacturer in France qualifies tapping process (engine mounting holes) for optimal torque in real time. Over-torque (smaller tap-drill) leads to stress concentration and the engine frame could develop cracks. Under-torque
Tool touch point and End-machining detection
While machining over rough surfaces and in areas where a fixed reference is not available, significant cycle time reduction while ensuring tool-protection is achieved from Montronix implementation. Some examples are balancing of crankshafts and drilling large castings in power-generation equipment.
Optimizing dressing frequency and confirming positive dressing in grinding operations
Grinding Monitoring can yield effective wheel loading detection and we can automate dressing frequency to optimize wheel consumption. Montronix has the ability to confirm positive dressing for enabling minimum dressing allowance; if the wheel breakdown during dressing is less than expected, we automatically detect that and initiate a secondary dressing cycle or re-dress.
Drilling with MQL drills
Minimizing drill breakage results in substantial savings in tooling cost, time & cost involved in the laborious EDM process for removing broken drill bit from forged parts and salvaging them (MQL drills are very expensive in comparison to standard drills; factories are moving away from water soluble coolant / cutting oil toward MQL tooling due to environmental hazard & coolant disposal issues). Proper coolant flow to the point of drilling is very critical to the life of a crankshaft as research has shown poor surface finish on oil holes in journals and pins lead to stress concentration and a possible premature failure of the crankshaft. Montronix is very efficient in detecting crippled coolant supply to the drilling zone.
Deep Fillet Rolling of crankshafts
While deep fillet rolling, rollers are subject to severe dynamic loading and often they get chipped or crushed and stop rolling. As these rollers are hidden deep in a holder they are not visible unless the roller-cage is dismantled from the machine and inspected. Once a crankshaft is rolled using a damaged roller, it is very difficult to undo the damage done via re-work; most cranks get rejected. In partnership with an OEM we have developed a highly reliable technology for monitoring various duty cycles such as rolling-pass / straightening-pass / ride-along and detecting roller-damage in real time.
Spindle Health Monitoring /detecting Tools or Parts out of Balance / Collision detection
A miniature tri-axial vibration Monitoring system for Monitoring the health of Machine Spindle or a gearbox in real-time and predicting a possible failure.
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Automatically detecting rotational-imbalance of tools caused by swarf / metal-chips on the locating taper (CAT / ISO / BT tapers) in a machining station and preventing possible spindle damage / component scrap.
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Detecting collisions in real-time for minimizing machine damage & operator safety. It generates a command within 1mSecond of a crash to stop the machine. Date, time and extent of impact (in m/sec sq) are stored in a non-erasable sensor memory (event-log). Tri-axial Monitoring capability helps in detecting collisions from any direction with equal precision.
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