A turned and milled part made of tribological plastic in just three minutes

Sometimes things have to happen particularly quickly. For example, when a machine is due for maintenance but the required component is not in stock. With the Online CNC Service 2.0 from Igus, orders for turned and milled parts made of tribologically optimised high-performance plastics, i.e. optimised for friction and wear, can be processed in just a few minutes.

Sending design drawings by e-mail, waiting for an assessment of feasibility, clarifying open questions by phone: These steps cost time and nerves. "In order to make it as easy as possible for our customers and to reduce the coordination effort, especially in time-critical cases, we launched our online CNC service in October 2020," says Patrick Schwitalla, Lean Engineer iglidur semi-finished products at igus. "The positive customer feedback has motivated us to stay on the ball and develop new functions and an improved user interface for the tool. With this, we now enable even faster and more convenient order processing with just a few clicks." The service is already available in Germany and Austria and will be rolled out in other countries over the course of the year.

Automated feasibility and tolerance check in seconds

Users only have to upload a 3D model of their component as a step file and immediately receive an automated feasibility analysis with transparent price information. In addition, the user receives visual feedback on production-critical points directly in the tool. This function is constantly being expanded. The tool also indicates when it cannot calculate something for reasons of complexity or production. Because transparency is crucial here. igus also offers the option of uploading technical drawings as PDF or image files in order to have them checked automatically and in a matter of seconds. The user gets immediate feedback on tolerances and other information on the drawing. The tool marks unfeasible dimensional, form and positional tolerances directly on the drawing and displays suggested corrections.

Transparent and reliable service life prediction

All this is the basis for being able to give reliable price information. Depending on the choice of material, number of pieces, delivery time and tolerances, the price adjusts itself when the parameters change, so that optimum transparency and support in decision-making is guaranteed at all times. A special feature that will soon be available in the tool is the integrated service life prediction for sliding applications. Thanks to the numerous tests in the in-house laboratory, igus collects data on the basis of which the service life of the products can be calculated very simply and quickly. If everything fits, the components can be added to the igus shopping cart to request a quotation or ordered directly online. Then it can go quickly into production.

If the customer opts for express processing, the turned or milled components are ready for dispatch in as little as three days. "The advantage: customers get everything from a single source," emphasises Patrick Schwitalla. "Whether it's an online tool, a wide range of materials, manufacturing or individual advice - everything comes directly from igus. With our all-round service, customers get their CNC special part in the shortest possible time - as conveniently as possible. And thanks to the large material variety of self-lubricating, highly wear-resistant plastics, the right solution can be found for almost every application."

Production line back in operation on time thanks to online CNC service

A service that has already proven itself in practice - for example at Dr. Quendt GmbH, the largest food manufacturer of Dresden Christmas stollen, Russian bread and dominoes. "We wanted to make efficient use of a short maintenance interval to replace existing PA bearings with iglidur bearings," says Tom Oldach, project engineer at Dr. Quendt GmbH. "The very fast quotation calculation and express shipping of the online CNC service from igus enabled us to procure the CNC parts in just a few days and get the production line up and running again on time."