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MAXIMUM
STRENGTH
T

he marketing campaign for Fibros new

range of rotary tables shows an elephant
standing on top of one of the new pieces
of equipment. The message is clear, according
to Stefan Gaschik, director of technical sales
there is no table with roller bearings in the
market as strong as the new FibroMax.
These new rotary tables are able to hold
the biggest payloads without the disadvantages of a hydrostatic bearing, he stresses.
We have invested a great deal in their development and we are already seeing an
extremely positive response from our
customers.

A comprehensive range
Fibro is known across the world for its
rotary tables, automation and robotics and
standard parts. Rotary tables are used as
central units in rotary special-purpose
machines for transporting workpieces and
positioning them accurately in each
machining station as work holders in standard and special-purpose machine tools
for efficient, ultra-precise workpiece
machining.
They are also used as controllable and
highly versatile positioning devices for
machining workpieces from different

FIBRO: We have your rotary table.

High-quality rotary table

manufacturer Fibro, headquartered in Weinsberg,
Germany, has just launched a
new maximum strength range.
Abigail Saltmarsh reports.
Published in Industry Europe
angles and as tool holders for high-speed
tool changes on a wide variety of machine
tools. And the company was, in fact, the
first to launch a rotary indexing table with
face gearing onto the international market
back in 1962, under the name of Fibrotakt.
Today Fibros comprehensive range of
rotary tables offers users any number of
options for rationalising and automating
production processes, and of course for
enhancing production quality. Rotary
tables are available in any format or size
from 100mm to 2800mm and above.
The company serves the machine

info@fibro.com
www.fibro.com

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tool industry and metal working industries, its

products going into the building of machining and
metal cutting centres, as well as high volume
automation systems such as assembly
machines. End-users of the tables are often automotive producers and major global suppliers.

Heavy payloads
Over the past year, Fibro has strengthened its
research and development department, explains
Mr Gaschik, and one of the main results has been
the FibroMax programme. Only recently
launched, several of the large tables have already
been sold and demand from customers is strong.
We developed this new range of rotary tables
especially for heavy duty milling and drilling. We
have started with the size 17 model, the models
14 and 21 are already available too. The size 21
is able to manage a payload of up to 100 tonnes,
he says.
The FibroMax rotary tables are the result of
progressive, non-compromising design concepts, aimed at utmost versatility and operational
rigidity. These attributes, together with drive and
control elements of outstanding quality, enable
the user to achieve flexible positioning, high
repeatability,
high
precision
in

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terms of radial and axial and concentricity in the

micrometre range and safe handling of radial and
axial forces, owing to selected, preloaded
radial/axial combination bearings of the largest
possible diameter.
There is a hydraulic tabletop clamping for even
higher
tangential
forces
and
off-loading the gear as well as outstanding characteristics for rotary milling and simultaneous
machining by preloaded bearings and TwinDrive. The equipment offers operational safety
and long service life as a result of careful design
and requires low maintenance. Fibro offers
a wide variety of standard

models different types, configuration levels and

variants, multiple-axis executions and special
combinations with linear tables, executions with
pallet clamping facilities and workpiece pallets
and custom designs for special purposes.

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Investing in research and development

Extra staff were taken on to work within the newly
expanded research and development unit at Fibro.
The focus now is on long-term project development
as well as ensuring a fast response to urgent
demands from customers. We have invested
heavily in the research and development unit,
says Mr Gaschik. Another area they are looking at
is our standardisation projects, where they are
working on standardising our NC tables to make
them more competitive and to build modular systems. For example, we developed the FibroDyn NC
rotary tables, which started as customised equipment, into a highly standardised product line
with an increasing number of sold applications.
FibroDyn NC rotary tables with torque motors
are designed for highly dynamic and high-precision rotation and positioning in machine tools and
production equipment. Besides many other special advantages, they offer flexible positioning in
optional angular steps, zero backlash and high
performance as a result of no gearing and
extremely short positioning times. They also make
very high and very low constant rotational speed
possible, have high repeatability of less than 0.2
seconds of arc, high precision in terms of radial and
axial run-out in the micrometre range and offer
hydraulic tabletop clamping as a force-locking con-

nection between the table top and the housing compact design, with no protruding drive elements
above the housing contour.

Standard product lines

Well established on the market , Fibro also offers
the product lines Fibrotakt, Fibroplan NC and
Fibrotor. Fibrotakt, the original table, was
designed for precision divisions and high
working loads. Here an interlocking system in
the face gear ensures maximum precision and
rigidity long-term.
Fibroplan has a backlash adjustment worm
drive for use in machine tools for universal positioning and round and multi-axis processes (simultaneous operation).
High-precision positioning is achieved through the
special design with high-precision rigid bearings
and the use of high-resolution measuring systems. Hydraulic clamping in position allows high
load forces. Fibrotor EM and ER models come with
a cam roller drive for optimised rapid switching operations, also available as EM. NC and ER.NC version with worm roller drive of constant pitch . They are
used in welding and assembly operations, such as a
magazine tables and for handling and feeding applications in automated processes.

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FIBRO Inc.
Business Unit Rotary Tables
139 Harrison Avenue
Rockford, JL 61104
US
Phone
+1/815/2291300
Fax
+1/815/2291303
info@fibroinc.com
www.fibro.com

FIBRO GmbH
Business Unit Rotary Tables
Weidachstr. 41-43
DE-74189 Weinsberg
Germany
Phone
+49 (0) 7134/73 - 0
Fax
+49 (0) 7134/73 - 218
info@fibro.com
www.fibro.com

Years of experience

the beginning of this year, Fibro installed a

new machining centre with palette pool and
huge tool magazine, which allows the company to partially work skeleton shifts and
gives much more flexibility.
At the moment, we are having to plan
which machines need to be refurbished
or replaced but the new system will help
employees to work more efficiently on an
ongoing basis, he explains.

Founded in 1958 as a machine shop,

Fibro has grown extensively over the
decades, benefiting from its years of experience and know-how. Thanks to an indepth knowledge of the market, coupled
with a total quality awareness based on
the highest international standards and a
flexible, responsive structure typical of
Germanys globally renowned Mittelstand,
Fibro has become a sought-after supplier.
We have seen strong growth recently,
says Mr Gaschik. Between 2006 and
2007 this was particularly good and we
have a strong order book for the coming
months. At the moment, we are seeing a
growth rate of more than 10 per cent. We
are expecting 2008 to be a year of good
sales as well.
In order to achieve this, investment is
ongoing in production equipment and general manufacturing facilities, as well as in the
research and development department. At

Growing the export business

Ongoing challenges for Fibro include continuing to develop tables and to meet large
orders for customers in time when supplies are often erratic. Since 2002, getting hold of bearings, cast iron and blanks
has been a problem but we do ensure that
we come up with solutions by continuing
to source new suppliers. We look all over
the world for suppliers to ensure that we
have a steady supply of raw materials, he
says.

Direct export sales at Fibro currently

account for 40 per cent of all production.
Indirect exports, however (where customers themselves export Fibro equipment within their own machines), account
for more than 60 per cent of production.
At
the
moment,
business
is strong from countries in the Far East,
as well as the USA.
The economic situation in the USA
seems to be improving at the moment, and
we are seeing more demand from our customers based there, says Mr Gaschik.
We are focusing hard on strengthening our
export operation at the moment such as
sourcing new sales channels, new sales
partners and opening own subsidiaries in
export key markets. We would like to see the
levels of our exports rise and the percentage
of our export, compared to what we are
selling within our domestic market, increase
significantly.

180 rollover unit FIBROTOR with

trunnion and NC-Combination
with 2 C-axis.