Detecting breaks without breaking the bank

Unnoticed tool breakage increases scrap and wastes precious production time and costs. To quickly sense tool breakage during use within a machine tool, Heidenhain introduced the TD 110 tool breakage detector for contactfree inspection of drill bits and end mills. The detector can determine whether a tool is broken o by more than 2 mm as it passes within a machine tool, yielding significant time and money savings.

The TD 110 can be placed in the work envelope so that it is fast and easy to reach during the tool change. Its inductive sensor detects tools as they pass by while spinning at operational speed. With rapid scanning technology, it even detects small tools made of HSS steel and carbide.

The breakage sensor can then generate either a floating or an HTL switching signal, and the machine control can evaluate it via standard instruction sets. These signals/outputs can connect to a Heidenhain TNC control, PLC, or any other IOs of nearly every CNC control manufacturer. In addition, an LED signals whether a tool has been flagged.

Overall benefits of the new TD 110 tool breakage detector include a maintenance-free sensor for reducing nonproductive time for breakage inspection; cooling lubricant and tolerance for lightly contaminated tools; and universally retrofittable with standard interfaces for tool touch probes. DW

Heidenhain