RELYING 100 PERCENT ON MAZAK MACHINE TOOLS – AVS

IT DOESN’T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS

When a company relies exclusively on one brand for both turning and milling, that is a clear statement. The Austrian manufacturer of hydraulic motors AVS relies on machine tools from Mazak for good reason. The latest highlight in the machine park is an Integrex i-250H S with AG package. This enables gears to be produced in a single clamping operation with the highest quality and shortest cycle times. Gear skiving is the keyword here and programming is done directly on the machine.

Arnold Sampl, owner of AVS Hydraulikmotoren GmbH (AVS), locksmith and steel construction companies (Arnold Sampl GmbH & Co KG) and a bicycle store (Radsport Sampl), already has over 40 years of experience with Mazak machine tools.

Throughout his career, the trained vehicle technician and master mechanical engineer has been involved in the mechanical processing of precision components, including with AVS from Sankt Margareten in Salzburg’s Lungau region since 2011. “We produce oil motors for excavators and cranes. Especially for applications where a load has to be lifted and rotated. That’s what our rotator does – it rotates 360 degrees without a stop,” says the dedicated entrepreneur, describing his high-end product, which works according to the Archimedes G-rotor principle (see info box).

HIGH VERTICAL RANGE OF MANUFACTURES ENSURE QUALITY

AVS supplies almost the entire world from Sankt Margareten, as the quality and reliability of Austrian hydraulic motors has already become established in the industry. “We have a great deal of expertise in the development and production of hydraulic rotator systems. In order to guarantee the highest quality and delivery capability, we have decided to do everything in-house – from development, design and production through to assembly,” says Sampl, explaining AVS’s high level of vertical integration, adding with a certain pride: ‘Our motors are 100% ’Made in Austria’!”

When you walk through the AVS production halls, one color clearly dominates – and that is Mazak orange. “There are not many companies of our size that have such a modern and young machine park,” continues the Managing Director. There are very clear reasons why he relies exclusively on Mazak machines – both for turning and milling. “Even as a young technician, I used the Japanese machines to manufacture precise components. In addition to the control system, I was particularly impressed by the service life and reliability. My experience has shown me that Mazak machines will certainly work reliably and precisely for 20 years. Provided they are properly maintained and cared for.”

STAYING AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF TECHNOLOGY

Part of AVS’s manufacturing philosophy is to produce components automatically and with as few tensions as possible. This is why the machine park also includes three turn-mill centers from Mazak’s Integrex series. “As we mainly manufacture high-precision components from different heat-treatable steels (note: 42CrMo4, 31CrMoV9), we always keep our machinery up to date and invest in the best possible technology when necessary and economically viable,” summarizes Arnold Sampl and his son John Schlick, who has been working in the family business for ten years and is now head of production, adds: ”Thanks to complete machining, we can finish components on six sides in a single clamping operation. This saves an enormous amount of time and improves precision.”

The mechanical engineer is following in his father’s footsteps and can well understand his love of Mazak: “I have now worked on all of our current nine Mazak machines and I am just as enthusiastic. The Mazatrol control is in a class of its own and its advantages can be applied to all machining processes. Our team programs exclusively on the Mazatrol control – we are fast and, above all, very flexible. Even with new machines, the training time is minimal and if an employee is ill, we can compensate for this very well as a team.”

GEAR SKIVING AS HIGHLIGHT

A good example of the advantages of the Mazatrol control system is the latest gear skiving function, which can be used on two of the three Integrex machines. “This was not even possible five years ago. And this function is perfect for us because it means we only need two and a half minutes to produce a gear, saving us an enormous amount of time. The gearing quality is also outstanding, as the component is turned, milled, drilled and geared in a single clamping operation,” reveals Arnold Sampl, for whom Mazak’s innovative strength is further confirmation of the many years of cooperation.

The latest machine in the AVS machine park is an Integrex i-250H S with the AG package. This is the gear cutting package with the aforementioned skiving function and other gear cutting options. “We benefit from time savings in the range of 80 to 90 % when producing gears using skiving alone. This is of course a clear competitive advantage for us – we can only survive on the global market by using the latest technology!” And this is where you can rely on your partner Mazak.

The gear skiving process was of course not invented by Mazak, but its practical implementation requires optimum interaction between the machine tool and the tool, as Area Sales Manager Silvester Gruber from Mazak explains: “In gear skiving, the tool is positioned at an angle to the axis of the workpiece to be machined. The gearing is formed in conjunction with a synchronous movement between the tool and workpiece axes and an axial feed. As a result, the two spindles must move exactly synchronously. We have therefore installed direct measuring systems in both the milling spindle and the main spindle, which deliver perfect results.”

A PARTNERSHIP OF EQUALS

AVS has been supported directly by Mazak Austria for five years now. The machining experts from Lungau enjoy this all-round support – from technical sales advice and support from application technology to after-sales service – to the full. “We are very satisfied with the cooperation with Mazak Austria because professional contacts are available for all topics. Speed of response is the key and problems are solved quickly at Mazak – for us, the time factor is essential in the event of a machine standstill. Here too, Mazak is absolutely the right partner for us,” John Schlick is full of praise and Silvester Gruber confirms: ”For me, AVS means partnership at eye level – that’s something special!”

During gear skiving, the tool is positioned at an angle to the axis of the workpiece to be machined. The rotation of the main and milling spindles is synchronized at Mazak up to the maximum speed of the two spindles, so that maximum accuracy can be achieved.