GMN manufacturing technologies are optimized to meet the requirements of high-precision ball bearings and complex bearing systems.
A significant part of the GMN philosophy is the manufacture of prototypes under production conditions. This way, identical quality is guaranteed at the start of series production right after the product has been released.
For precision processing of bearing rings GMN has a group of machines optimized for series production of high-precision ball bearings.
Surface quality and geometry are always the focus of optimization processes, so that standard series as well as special bearings can be manufactured to the highest precision standards.
Special designs:
Materials:
The know-how and machines used for spindle manufacturing are used for precision processing of shafts. The grinding of cylinder surfaces and ball races are standard processes.
Important quality characteristics:
In particular, when very high rotational speeds are required, the balancing quality of the rotating components determines the functionality of the final product. Therefore, many components at GMN are finely balanced depending upon the application.
For many application areas such as medical devices, laser or measurement equipment, more complex bearing systems are developed and offered in addition to ball bearings.
The precision of modification parts such as bearing bushings and housings are fundamentally important for the function and precision of systems down to the micro range.
The tools and fixtures required for the production and assembly are produced with tools that have been specially designed for GMN machines and the product spectrum.
The precision measurement department performs all measurements of precision parts as a neutral service provider. This is done in received goods, on-going manufacturing as well as service investigations for bearing analyses.
Among other things, standard inspections and measurements include:
The reference standards are regularly compared with those of the Physikalisch-Technische-Bundesanstalt [Physical Technical Federal Technological Institute] (PTB). Of course, the fine measurement area is completely air conditioned and sound-isolated.
Product-related measuring devices are developed, built and tested in our separate testing and measurement facility.
Smooth interplay of people, material and systems provide ready-to-install components from one source – at a level of quality which meets the highest expectations.
Using its own PVD (physical vapor deposition) sputtering system with a coating chamber optimized for roller bearing applications, GMN has been coating components for various application areas since 1996:
For example:
Various high-purity materials (targets) are used as adhesive or functional layers depending upon the area of application:
Material brackets are individually fitted in order to efficiently coat three-dimensional surfaces. Technological know-how and our experience in PVD coating form the basis of many of our developments and products.
The components are cleaned in multiple process steps before PVD coating or as final handling for vacuum applications:
For many applications, an additional cleaning of the components is required.
GMN uses cutting-edge high technology to analyze layers. Layer thickness measurements in the nano range and analysis of coating materials are necessary and helpful measurements for high-end bearings used for medical devices and ultra-high vacuum equipment.
