New Product Article

The Nidec Minster Corp. unveiled its FlexNotcher system in full operation at EuroBlech. The customizable, integrated system features a Minster notching press coupled with robotic automation equipment. At EuroBlech, Minster’s technicians introduced our staff to a FlexNotcher sporting a 25-metric-tons notching press and articulated robot, able to produce three rotors and three stators from the same parent 870-mm blank, every minute. The press was operating at 1100 strokes/min.; peak speed is 1200 strokes/min.

The robot’s magnetic and pneumatic end-of-arm tooling is designed to have blank picking and stacking hardware on one end, with finished rotor/stator picking and stacking hardware on the other.
The FlexNotcher at EuroBlech also featured a patent-pending indexing system integrated in the tooling via a laser eye. Regardless of orientation on the staging stack, blanks are picked and oriented by the tooling so that the keyway position matches the driver key of the notcher indexer. This eliminates spacious external indexing stations, reducing floor space and cycle time.

A precision centerline-adjustment mechanism allows for the production of stators and rotors in the same part setup. The direct-drive servo indexer rotates the blank 360 deg. to notch the rotor, then the centerline-adjustment mechanism repositions the frame to match the stator notches and, in a second cycle of 360 deg., the stator is notched and separated from the rotor.

Minster: www.minster.com/