Posted to News on 6th Mar 2012, 00:00
Layered metal shims help to cut assembly times and costs
Wherever components are joined into functioning assemblies, layered sheet metal shims can help cut assembly times and costs. An example is Swiss press manufacturer Beutler Nova, which uses four pretensioned, vertically installed linear guide units for the twin-stand construction of their AZ 630 blanking press with a single connecting rod.
>When connecting the zero-backlash linear units to the press carcass during final assembly, the guide rails must be positioned very precisely in the press carcass with shims to guarantee a high-quality blanking result. Until recently, solid steel plates, painstakingly ground to the right size and thickness before fitting, were used as spacers. Because the processing time averaging two days was simply too long for Beutler Nova, an alternative was sought. It presented itself at a trade fair in the form of layered sheet metal shims from Georg Martin, available in steel, stainless steel, aluminium and brass.
>Today the press manufacturer uses only layered steel shims M-Tech L to fit the linear guide units. These highly durable shims with an overall thickness of 2.0mm can be reduced to the required size by simply peeling off layers of 0.05mm by hand with a knife, directly at the assembly location. This clearly speeds up fitting: once the required measurements have been taken, the shims are simply peeled off to their required thickness before being installed. Georg Martin supplies the shims as a ready-to-install and predrilled pressing.
