The Corvus series machine is designed to offer, high horsepower 5-axis CNC tool grinder for pelletizers, slab mill cutters, and other applications requiring a long machine bed, high torque headstocks and high horsepower grinding spindles. Today, the machine has evolved with an intelligent modular machine design that allows it to be configured as a 6-axis broach grinder as well as a spline grinder, heavy-duty 5-axis machine, gear hob profiler or sharpener and thread grinder.

High 72 hp grinding motors with wheels up to 450 mm and tools that exceed 450 mm in diameters can be presented to the Corvus NGB. Grinding wheels can be automatically balanced after dressing, auto tails stocks, supports, etc., the options and accessories are endless. For the gear market, a special design of the wheel head called pencil grinding can grind a large gear profile with ease. Options like a wheel changer enhances the roughing, pre grinding and finish grinding of complex gear profiles with probed quality control and dressing options.

The operation of side clearance grinding for small flat broaches has been implemented into the Corvus NGB BBA machine. Side clearance height of a ¼” is not unusual and requires a small wheel. The use of the 30,000 rpm or higher spindle allows for more efficient grinding capability. The standard, double-ended HSK50 spindle remains to grind the face of the broach, straight or on a shear angle. Clamped on a CNC controlled trunnion style table, the tool can be finish ground in a single setup. Qg1 software is a highly graphical interface that welcomes the application knowledge of the operator. This compared to manual dry grinding has been welcomed as leap forward for broach shops, manufacturing or re-sharpening. Such special applications are the backbone of Schneeberger, working towards the easiest and best solution for the customer for affordable pricing.

A further version of the Corvus NGB product line is the back off profile grinder, one of the most challenging requirements in manufacturing an aircraft broach. First the broach is profiled with a wide wheel that grinds the complete profile over. Multiple dressing maintains the tight tolerance before the machine switches to the short stroke linear motor vertical axis with a higher rpm spindle using the smaller 2” - 3” wheel used to back off the clearance and drop right behind the cutting edge. Anybody manufacturing such broaches is aware of the incredible accuracy requirements, and as a prequalification before removing the broach from the machine appreciates the ability of the probe to scan the ground profile and calculate corrections to the wheel form. 

Eliminating multiple setups is the ultimate benefit of this machine as well as the incredible grinding speed the linear motor allows. A 40 percent time improvement is not uncommon. The same machine configuration is used to grind car panel stamping dies. The die form is digitized by the 3D probe and with the reciprocation grinding motion, the form is duplicated on the die to achieve the smallest possible cap for punching out car body panels.

The machine length capacity is offered in various lengths of 850 mm, 1,250 mm, 2,100 mm 3,100 mm. All lengths feature the FANUC linear motor technology to eliminate vibrations, heat and wear as well as offer the highest positioning accuracy. The variety of wheel head configurations offers a wealth of applications, face grinding high helix hobs, coarse pitch hobs profiling as well as face grinding. Rack grinding, thread roll dies, scrolls compressor screws, any type of broaches can be introduced to the machine. The extreme size of a slab mill cutter with the intricate cutting-edge geometry on the inserts require the rigidity of the Corvus machine. The stationary table accept almost any extreme weight due to the traveling column maintaining grinding forces no matter the size of the tool.   

Aside from the flexible modular machine design, Schneeberger offers a variety of automatic loading systems for the tools as well as the wheels packs. A multi pallet system for either 2 or 4 pallets is complimented with a circular magazine tool storage for very heavy tools. Loading carts for easy access or, ultrasonic parts washers and laser marking can be incorporated in the loading cycle.

The Schneeberger technology is complimented with an easy to understand graphical programing interface Quinto Qg1. The simple steps using easy to understand pages supported with help text and graphics are essential to make the machine shop conform and user friendly. Also, the latest capability of accepting step file format allows the software and machine to handle just about any type of application, tool or none tools to be ground.

The versatility and flexibility of the Schneeberger Corvus machine welcomes special requests and the challenges that are turned away from the general machining industry.