Charles Murray

September 21, 2016

2 Min Read
Coupling Offers Greater Concentricity for High-Speed Spindles

A new coupling for high-speed spindle motors promises greater shaft concentricity and smoother running for milling and grinding machines.

Showcased at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS 2016) last week, the SP6 coupling from R+W America is aimed at users who want to customize their applications. "The advantage is better balance," Andy Lechner, sales manager for R+W, told Design News at the show. "It's for people who are looking for the smoothest running they can achieve at high speeds."

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The SP6 is capable of handling circumferential speeds of up to 80 m/s. Standard off-the-shelf ratings range from 18,000 rpm to 28,000 rpm, with higher speeds of up to 40,000 rpm available on request.

The new coupling distinguishes itself in that it allows users to customize the concentricity of their system. In contrast, the company's previous couplings used a fixed stop that determined the so-called runout. "Some customers wanted to have continuous adjustment so that they could tweak each screw and get exactly the runout they wanted," Lecher told us. "This allows them to do that."

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He said the company foresees the SP6 being used in machine tool spindle motors, mostly for milling and grinding. He added, however, that it could also be applied in centrifuges and specialty turbine testing.

"You can use this wherever you have high-speed spindles, and it will allow you to strive for the ideal concentricity," he said.

Senior technical editor Chuck Murray has been writing about technology for 32 years. He joined Design News in 1987, and has covered electronics, automation, fluid power, and autos.

About the Author(s)

Charles Murray

Charles Murray is a former Design News editor and author of the book, Long Hard Road: The Lithium-Ion Battery and the Electric Car, published by Purdue University Press. He previously served as a DN editor from 1987 to 2000, then returned to the magazine as a senior editor in 2005. A former editor with Semiconductor International and later with EE Times, he has followed the auto industry’s adoption of electric vehicle technology since 1988 and has written extensively about embedded processing and medical electronics. He was a winner of the Jesse H. Neal Award for his story, “The Making of a Medical Miracle,” about implantable defibrillators. He is also the author of the book, The Supermen: The Story of Seymour Cray and the Technical Wizards Behind the Supercomputer, published by John Wiley & Sons in 1997. Murray’s electronics coverage has frequently appeared in the Chicago Tribune and in Popular Science. He holds a BS in engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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