Franke linear guides for precise contours
Linear guides from Franke are installed in many cutting machines from Fecken-Kirfel. They are mainly used when not only straight edges but also precise contours have to be cut into the material. For this purpose, the bandknife must be moved in two axes and also rotated in itself. Franke linear guides are used for linear travel. “In this context, we appreciate Franke’s lightweight aluminium construction,” says Stefan Lennartz, head of mechanical construction at Fecken-Kirfel. Thanks to lower moving masses, greater dynamics are possible with the Franke aluminium guides.

Rollers instead of balls
Instead of rotating balls, which are common in most linear guides, Franke uses rollers with bearings as rolling elements, which run on the typical Franke wire tracks. The advantages of this design for Fecken-Kirfel are high dynamics, high precision and low weight. The sliding resistance is adjustable on Franke linear guides. “We use the adjustability to adapt the guides to the application,” says Stefan Lennartz. Since the roller bearings are lubricated for life, Franke linear guides are maintenance-free. “That is one point that brought us to Franke at the time,” remarks Michael Tillmann. Fecken-Kirfel has been using Franke linear systems for over 30 years. “We use the Franke guideways very frequently,” says Stefan Lennartz. In addition to the linear axes of the bandknifes, the device for loosening and tensioning the bandknife when changing the knife is another application.