Fagor Automation had the opportunity to talk with the people in charge of Cheto Corporation; Mr. Paulo Carmo (Financial department), Mr. Carlos Teixeira (Sales department) and Mr. Sérgio André (Technical department).

How did this project originate? How did it develop?

The project began as a bet at the University, carried out by a group of technicians specialized in mold manufacturing. The goal was to develop a machine that could offer greater versatility in the mold making process. This machine had to make the process faster and more productive and its target was a diverse group of Portuguese mold manufacturers .

How was the ©HETO project born?

Officially created in 1998, the Cheto machine creating project, is the result of over 30 years of experience in mold manufacturing .

Research and permanent development allows to offer to the market a versatile, highly accurate and reliable product. Always trying to optimize the productive processes of our customers, Cheto machines allow executing a wide variety of mold making operations that integrated into a single machine reduce manufacturing time and, consequently, reduce production costs.

This concept makes it possible for Cheto to become a world wide recognised brand.

Having sold their machines in four continents, their goal is to keep improving and innovating in this sector offering the market a highly competitive and high value generating product.

Distributed throughout the world and with a great variety of models, which sectors are the ©HETO machines for? Which markets does the ©HETO product influence most?

Our machines are distributed in 4 continents and in countries such as China, India, Canada, Italy, Spain, Germany, Brazil, Portugal, Czech Republic, etc. and to prestigious customers like Hispamoldes (Spain); Sridevi Tools Ltd (India); Warren Industries (Canada), Wuhan Industries Ltd (China), S.C.S S. S.r.l (Italy) among others.

We develop associations with enterprises that help us and cooperate with us to develop and improve our products. In this regard, we believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and it is thanks to this union of forces and knowledge that we can offer the market a highly competitive and high value generating product.

Fagor Automation is one of the main associates of this project. What are the main reasons behind this choice?

Fagor Automation is part of this project from the very beginning. This long lasting association proves our great confidence in the FAGOR product and in the developing capability of Fagor Automation. Their proximity, product quality, technical expertise and tight professional relationship have been our main choosing factors. This team work makes it possible to develop very specific applications and cycles for our machines that differentiate us from our competitors.

Out of Fagor Automation’s product range, which are the main products or models used most on ©HETO machines?

©HETO machines are equipped with the FAGOR CNC 8070 and the CNC 8065 depending on the machine model. We use AXD drives, FXM servo motors, GA absolute linear encoders, SA high resolution absolute encoders, among others that perfectly meet the requirements of our machines.

Chetocorporation, S.A. is more and more recognised in the CNC machine market for the mold making industry. What are your expectations for these coming years?

As far as concerns the market, and for these coming years, we are planning on keeping reinforcing the presence of our products worldwide by increasing the number of machines in certain specific segments. There are also some markets that we consider strategic where we would like to reinforce the recognition of our products, but for that, it is crucial to find agents and distributors, which is not always an easy task.

Coming to the product, we will continue with this R&D process to offer the market a reliable and technologically advanced product that our customers can appreciate.

This CNC software offers you a complete tool for programming the whole part at any external PC comfortably and productively. Thus, thanks to the simulator, you will be able to create, optimize and check the programs directly at a PC and then transfer them to the machine, consequently speeding up your work considerably.

As opposed to Cad-Cam software that do not take into consideration the dynamics of the machine, the Fagor simulator faithfully reproduces the behavior of the machine respecting the accelerations, speeds, etc. that are actually being used, thus providing an exact and real machining time estimate for the finished part.

It will be possible to download this software for free and it will never expire. It will be possible to use any size of programs.

Its most common use will be:

• Technical training for programmers and operators in training centers.
• Editing/Simulation in design departments.
• Machining time estimate.
• Quotation preparation.

The free version covers the most classic milling machines and lathes. A commencial version with more features will also be available, in order to simulate more complex machines.

We invite you to join our channel where you can know and download a full collection of photographs divided into 5 albums:

• Showroom: Machines equipped with Fagor products.
• Products: Wide range of Fagor Automation products.
• Corporate: Company and corporate logos.
• Exhibitions: Photos of the trade shows Fagor Automation attends.
• Installations: Photos of Fagor Automation facilities.

This innovative and powerful CNC 8060 has received very positive appraisal by OEM’s, distributers, users and retrofitters who visited Fagor Automation’s booth.

Besides their complete range of CNC’s they have also focused on their technological advances in measuring systems, presenting the new generation of encoders with a reader head that may be extracted at either end; the new Protocol and Signal Evaluation Device (PSED); digital protocols that ensure connectivity with most systems, including, among others, the DRIVE-CLiQ, the absolute linear encoder SA/GA with 10 nm resolution.

The design quality and support offered by the staff from Fagor Automation France and Spain and by technical partners like AEMTEK and DMI/MPI has been very well appreciated by all the visitors who went to the booth.

You may download the catalog in the download selection of our website (available in 6 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese).

The world launching of the powerful and innovative CNC 8060 has been a great success and the customers who could see it at TIMTOS have been pleasantly surprised by its new look as well as by its advantages for the user and are looking forward to install them on their machines.

Likewise, they have shown their technological advances in measuring systems, presenting the new generation of encoders with a reader head that may be extracted at either end; the new Protocol and Signal Evaluation Device (PSED); digital protocols that ensure connectivity with most systems, including the DRIVE-CLiQ, the absolute linear encoder SA/GA with 10 nm resolution, among others.

Fagor Automation’s booth has been attended by personnel from Fagor Automation Taiwan and by people coming from other Fagor Automation subsidiaries in order to provide personal attention to their visitors.

Mr. Richard Lee (head of Fagor Automation Taiwan): “I am very satisfied with the organization of our booth where we have been able to personally attend all our visitors and our qualified technical staff have been able to show the latest novelties in-situ. It has been a tremendous effort on the part of the whole Fagor Automation world team, but it was worth it. And we hope to collect its fruits shortly”.

Mr. Asier López (Sales manager): “Our evaluation is really positive. Our booth was visited by a lot of OEM’s, distributors and users curious to know our new product first hand and they were very pleasantly surprised by the great leap Fagor taken in all aspects like image (look), features, etc..”

Jose Mari Viniegra (DRO sales): “Fagor feedback systems are more and more present in more and more complex applications, from milling lathes to linear motors installed with absolute linear encoders in all versions of communication protocols. The absolute steel-tape linear encoder is still the jewel in the crown because it is available in great lengths (the only ones in the sector) and because the reader head may be extracted at either end without taking the steel tape apart. Our customers see Fagor as a real alternative especially because they are agile, close to them and know the application where their products are installed”.

Asier Telleria (CNC Marketing): “In a time when the machine-tool sector still suffers the effects of the world crisis, Fagor wants to look ahead with the CNC 8060 offering the latest technological advantages available on the market. The feedback we received from the numerous visitors to our booth reaffirms our conviction that this product is going to become the world reference in the coming years.”

+ Outstanding improvements with their new generation steel-tape linear encoders of up to 60 meters. Thanks to their possibility to remove the reading head from either end, they provide up to a 50% reduction in installation and maintenance time.

+ Even more powerful CNC8065 with high-speed algorithms and with more and more demanding features. Volumetric compensation and solid graphics among others for a faster and more realistic process.

A wide range of products based on the latest technological advances and with their permanent goal of offering their customers new products with improved efficiency and features as well as global support in terms of solutions, cooperation, safety and business opportunities anywhere in the world.

Laser fiber technology offers the customer numerous benefits like:

• PRODUCTIVITY: High cutting and piercing speeds thanks to the high density beam and to linear motors.
• VERSATILITY: A greater variety of materials may be processed thanks to its wavelength making it possible to cut reflective materials (aluminum, copper, brass, etc.).
• EFFICIENCY: drastic energy consumption reduction.
• COMPACT: Simple and compact layout. The use of fiber simplifies machine structure.
• MODULAR: Easily automated. Optionally, it may be equipped with automatic storage, load and download systems.

The laser machine is equipped with the Fagor digital system. The CNC is a state-of-the-art CNC 8070 digitally connected through optic fiber to Fagor AXD drives that govern the linear motors of the XY table. As feedback system, it uses Fagor exposed linear encoders capable of handling the high speeds and accelerations demanded by the system.

This configuration allows reaching feedrates of up to 312 m/min and accelerations of up to 28 m/s^2.

On the other hand, the CNC 8070 offers the specific cutting feature called Dry Cut that allows blending cutting and non-cutting blocks without changing the speed. This makes it possible to do grid type cutting practically without slowing down.

This show is the leader in its sector in France and will gather around 1500 exhibitors on a total surface of 80,000 square meters.

Fagor Automation’s novelty at this show is the presentation of their CNC 8060, a new CNC concept created with the user in mind. Equipped with several characteristics and and innovative performance, it includes a modern design that breaks away from the company’s traditional look.

Among its whole product line, the company will exhibit from their CNC’s to their measuring systems emphasizing their CNC 8065, a combination of the CNC 8055 and the CNC 8070, as well as the absolute feedback solutions that are now very well appreciated on the market.

Also, thanks to the tight cooperation, Somab, a French company located in Moulins, in Allier,  will present a machine equipped with the CNC 8065T in their booth.

Fagor Automation invites you to visit their booth “5-J81″ and discover their latest products.

This competition took place on March 17th in Tarragona (Catalunya, Spain) during the European Robotics Festival and it was the 1st edition in Europe. This victory has ensured them a place a the world final that wil take place this April in Saint Louis (Missouri, USA).

First Tech Challenge

This international competition of mechanical design and robotics will gather the education centers of over 50 countries and a total of 173 teams of students between 18 and 23 years of age from universities such as Missouri, Massachusetts, Kansas, etc.

This is a new way of learning scientific-technological concepts. Aspects like creativity, originality, team work are considered promoting personal initiative and companionship. Although it was held in Europe for the first time, more than 2,300 teams have participated in the US since the year 2005 and it is sponsored by multi-national companies like Boeing, NASA, Motorola, Chrysler or FedEx among others.

MU, only Basque center competing

The purpose is still the same as in Europe: «promote future scientific and technological vocations in a fun, attractive and stimulating way». The Mondragón University team, ROBOTEK, presented a prototype built with plastic and aluminum profiles that moves with track-wheels. The pieces used for this prototype were machined by the students themselves using Fagor Automation CNC’s.The goal of this current edition consisted in adding as many points as possible by inserting rings in a hanger located in the middle of the competition area. It was the best robot. None of the 17 participants coming from several Spanish regions and from other countries like Holland, Russia and United States could beat the record of the Basque team.

Fagor Automation, Mondragón Assembly, IK4 and Danobat Group, among others, sponsored this great project. The representatives of each institution was given a medal as a token of appreciation for their support .