Up-to-date system guards CNC gear hobber

Bespoke guarding system combines maximum operator flexibility with highest safeguarding protection on a rebuilt hobbing machine.
Nelsa have designed and manufactured a bespoke guarding system that provides ultimate ease of use and maximum safeguarding on a precision hobbing machine recently rebuilt by precision engineers Holroyd. The Nelsa guarding system is part of a re-engineering package that Holroyd has applied to update the mechanical hobbing machine. CNC based, the package enables DIN 5 levels of precision to be achieved at a cost up to 60% less than that of an equivalent new machine.

Holroyd, based in Rochdale, is a world leader in the design and manufacture of specialist milling and grinding machines for helical components.

The company also has a long and successful history of producing mechanical gear hobbing machines The company manufactured them for approximately 25 years, up until the late 1970's.

At that time the hobbers produced were mechanically superb, they were constructed using all cast components and were manufactured to a degree of accuracy that compares favourably with the most accurate machines currently on the market.

Today, the highly stable cast base and structure that was routinely provided on the mechanical hobbers provides the ideal platform for updating the machines to achieve the highest levels of accuracy at a fraction of the cost of buying new.

Holroyd is exploiting this potential with a re-engineering package that includes servomotors, ball screws and CNC.

Also included, as part of the package is a specially designed machine guarding system from Nelsa, part of EJA.

Nelsa designed the bespoke system, following in-depth discussions both with senior development engineers on the project and also with the machine operators.

As a result, it is easy to use, ensuring minimal disruption to the operator while, at the same time, providing maximum safeguarding against entrapment by moving cutters, chippings, swarf and even coolant.

The guarding system is also interlocked to inhibit machine operation when the operator is setting up or needs to enter the hazardous machining area for any reason.

The increasing complexity and automation of machines means that Nelsa is always being called upon to provide bespoke guarding arrangements which, like the Holroyd system, provide maximum operator protection, without, at the same time, hindering the production process.

These features are essential because experience shows that they are the best possible way to guarantee that when a guard is fitted, it stays fitted.

As evidence of this, the removal of awkward safety guards has been shown to be one of the most common pre-conditions for an industrial accident.