chainflex cables in textile machines
service life target qualified & money saved
igu-blog-adm | 31. July 2020
Our customer from the textile industry manufactures knitting machines. To me, knitting a sweater never seemed like a great science. And even with the appropriate machines I had no high-tech devices in mind. Why does this customer need high-quality cables?
I learned that nowadays people knit much more than just scarves and sweaters. The opposite is the case! Today the most complex patterns are produced in the textile industry. Even sports shoes are knitted today to ensure a perfect fit. This was completely new to me. Also new for me was the fact that not only wool – as in grandma’s times – is processed, but instead high-quality yarns. This means that the end product can even be used in industry.
Special requirements for machines and cables
This is no longer possible with a standard machine. The machine needs the highest precision, repeatability and reliability. Moreover, these knitting machines are extremely fast, resulting in many double strokes. When choosing the right cable, the installation space, the abrasion behaviour of the jacket and of course the durability of the cores played an important role. In one of these high-end machines our TPE cable was finally used. Our CF9 control cable has been operating there for well over six years without any failure.
What can chainflex offer in simple applications?
The customer did not ask this question at first because he only knew us for the absolutely top product. For the start of a new machine series, we then received extensive homework:
Reduce price by at least 60% compared to today’s top machine
Proven service life information of 50 million double strokes
within a large radius
Oil resistance for the spray mist at the needle bed
At that time, we had just introduced our CF890 control cable series with the new jacket material iguPUR and proudly advertised it with a guarantee of 5 million double strokes. The price was exactly what the customer wanted. But should it now last 10 times as long?
We accepted this challenge and built a very special solution for our customer.
Designing is done quickly, but does not qualify.
The construction of the cable was completed very quickly. But when it comes to durability, customers don’t like to trust their gut feeling. They expect facts. We could understand that and decided to make a test rig. This provided the fast movements with the real e-chain. We procured a linear axis and the first step was to let it run and monitor it.
Today we can issue a clear statement about durability. We have successfully completed 50 million double strokes! So the installation in the first machines can start with a good feeling, proven by a clear test.
Do you also have machines with special requirements? Do you need facts instead of gut feeling? Please contact us!