Jones & Shipman switches to Heidenhain encoders

The wheelhead can be installed with up to four grinding wheels and is clamped into position pneumatically. It has an air cushioned lift to allow the operator to position it using the operator controls for the left and right hand wheels. As standard, the Fanuc motor-driven wheelhead has a graduated scale that the operator uses to achieve the required position manually.

The optional ROC 425F on the wheelhead provides positional feedback automatically to the operator control panel. The encoder interfaces to the Fanuc PowerMotion motion controller on the Suprema and Ultramat machines or to the alternative Fanuc 0i-TD CNC available for the latter machine. To date, Jones & Shipman has installed an ROC 425F encoder on six grinders and the company says that about one-quarter of its customers request this option.