Robust Plain Bearings at 170,000 Strokes Per Day in Revolutionary Wire Bending Machine

• What was needed: iglide® plain bearing
• Requirements: Combination of extremely high cycle performance with minimal stroke results in a particularly high load and requires particularly robust components
• Industry: Mechanical engineering, bending machine
• Success for the customer: Dry-running bearings offer high reliability with low wear; they permanently withstand the high weight and stroke load of this application; at the same time, the maintenance costs in case of replacement are comparatively low

Schmale Maschinenbau GmbH specialises in the manufacture of wire bending machines and tube bending machines. The SPEEDMAX is a machine series from the company that represents a revolutionary innovation in the field of wire bending technology. The combination of two proven bending technologies in a newly developed machine achieves unrivalled values in terms of speed, minimum set-up time, variability and energy efficiency. The Speedmax can produce bent wire parts with up to 20 bends per part at a cycle rate of up to 200 pieces per minute.

This is made possible by the combination of finger benders, as known from CNC wire bending machines, combined with a transfer, as known from slide-based bending machines. Designed as a rotary indexing machine, a total of around 90 servo-electric drives are installed in the Speedmax.

The main technical challenge here is the combination of an extremely high cycle line with minimal stroke. In some places, this results in a load of approx. 170,000 strokes of 3 mm per day. In this application, glide bars with ball bearings would quickly become worn and worn out. For the same reason, standard products could not be used for the plastic plain bearings in most places.

The mechanical engineering specialist ultimately decided in favor of using iglide® plain bearings, which can be found in 18 different places in the wire bending machine. The components are used on all linearly adjusted units such as finger benders, presses and the output.

The solution, which appeared to have no alternative for this special requirement, showed its advantages above all in the high reliability and low wear. Special plain bearings with a larger load-bearing surface had to be manufactured from iglide®-plate. These can also permanently withstand the high weight and lifting load of this application and offer sufficient accuracy.

At the same time, the maintenance costs in the event of replacement are comparatively low. The plate material could be customized for these special requirements. While other solutions would have a high manual lubrication effort or an excessive dripping effect with automated lubrication, the iglide® bearings work completely dry-running. This saves the customer operating costs for lubricants and maintenance. Finally, the plain bearings are also resistant to dirt and dust, which can be caused by material abrasion from the product during the bending process, for example.