Aberlink will have a new linear drive CNC CMM making its debut at the Control 2019 Exhibition in Hall 7 on stand 7207. Named the Horizon CMM, it breaks new ground in design and innovation and will enable Aberlink to further extend its horizon into the high-end CMM market place.
Linear motors provide a frictionless maintenance free drive system with exceptional stiffness. However, the drawback of linear motors is that they produce heat along their entire length: heat is the nemesis of metrology and having a heat source along an entire axis is normally disastrous. Aberlink have overcome this by thermally isolating it far from the metrology platform, and then using a unique kinematic isolated drive mechanism to transfer the motor thrust to the centre of gravity of each axis. This results in no acceleration induced metrology errors, thus creating the first linear drive CMM not to suffer from the adverse metrology effects from their dissipating heat signature. The optimised split Y-axis carriageway design derives all the metrology benefits of a high-carriageway and the operational convenience of a low-carriageway. In-house manufactured 3D printed components are deployed to join the unidirectional carbon fibre tubing used throughout the design. A non-homogenous X-beam optimises the stiffness-to-weight ratio along the entire axis. The Horizon CMM is the culmination of Aberlink's 26 years of CMM design innovation and in-house manufacturing technology. It sets new standards in CNC CMM performance and price.