Skiving cutter focus 

With a 5-axis CNC grinder powered by LinX linear motor technology on X-, Y- and Z-axes, the GCX Linear comes with features specially designed for skiving cutters and shaper cutters.

Xiaoyu Wang, product manager at ANCA said: “ANCA is responding to the increasing popularity of skiving and resulting surge in demand for skiving cutters. We want our customers to have a complete solution for manufacturing and sharpening skiving cutters and the GCX Linear will set the new benchmark for skiving cutter grinding.

“Dressing the complex wheel profile is critical. ANCA developed the latest acoustic emission monitoring system (AEMS) which can be taught to pick up the harmonic ‘sweet-spot’ sound of optimum dressing even in a noisy production environment. Built upon supervised machine learning algorithms, AEMS ensures the wheel profile is dressed within micron accuracy in the least possible time while minimising the reduction in size.”

Tailored features of ANCA’s new GCX Linear include:

• Motor temperature control (patent pending), which minimises machine warm-up time and delivers optimal thermal stability during grinding


• Full process virtualisation on design station before grinding: design, optimise, 3D simulation, MRR estimation and more


• In-process dressing with acoustic emission monitoring system (AEMS) and supervised machine learning algorithm


• Dedicated gear cutting tool software package


• 5-axis CNC grinder with LinX linear motor technology on X-, Y- and Z-axes


• 37kW (49hp) peak power direct drive spindle with BigPlus arbor


• High accuracy headstock offers greatly improved index positional accuracy

Another patent pending ANCA innovation is Motion Temperature Control (MTC) which is built into the motor spindle drive firmware. A smart control algorithm actively manages and maintains the temperature of motorised spindles in the GCX Linear.

Benefits delivered by this feature include: dramatically reduced machine warm-up time, meaning users can start grinding tools sooner knowing the machine has reached thermal stability which improves productivity and machine utilisation; and consistent thermal stability of the spindle over time regardless of changes in spindle load or speed or spindle cooling coolant temperature. This greatly improves dimensional stability of grinding results.

The GCX Linear is powered by LinX which offers reliability and high performance through its innovative cylindrical design

LinX linear motor technology for axis motion (X-, Y- and Z-axes), in conjunction with linear scales, achieves high levels of precision and performance. Specially designed for a lifetime of operation in harsh grinding environments, the LinX motors have a cylindrical magnetic field which means there is no additional downforce on the rails or machine base.

With no temperature variations (meaning no need for a separate chiller unit), and being sealed to IP67, there is minimal wear and tear so that the machine accuracy remains over the lifetime of the machine. The LinX linear motor has high axis speed and acceleration, leading to reduced cycle times while maintaining a smooth axis motion.

ANCA https://machines.anca.com