Automatic Ball Cage Punching Machine with Servo Drive

An automatic, servo-driven punching machine improves cutting quality and increases output by more than 40%, with shorter tool

Ball cages are used in vehicle CV joints.

Source: Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia entry “Homokinetisches Gelenk”

“Ball cages are made in over 80 different versions. Automobile manufacturers often outsource variants with low unit quantities and lot sizes to suppliers,” says Robert Keller, Director of Stamping Technology at Karl Klink GmbH. That presents a great challenge to these companies .“For one thing, these suppliers have to do tool changes, significantly lowering machine availability and rising costs,” reports Keller .“For another, the flywheel drive used so far by most punching machines results in fixed slide kinematics, yielding in relatively low cut quality and output .”

The problem was brought to the attention of Karl Klink GmbH by discussions with an automotive supplier at the Blechexpo fair in Stuttgart a few years ago. Based on this feedback, the company developed a high-performance automatic ball cage punching machine that meets users’ advanced requirements for high cut quality and shorter retooling times.

Ball cages come in many different varieties. They differ in shape, size, and number of windows.

The RT-HLKK1000 automatic punching machine launched recently is based on the prototype presented in 2015, but with many new improvements. The power source sets the Klink machine apart. Instead of a flywheel, it uses a servo drive which improves the cut surface quality by increasing the cutting speed. Thus, it has been possible to combine higher quality with higher productivity.