Ottobock

How to avoid the delamination of the composites

After purchasing its first machine in 2018, Ottobock, a leading multinational German company in the global panorama of the production of prosthetic devices, corsets and orthoses decided to purchase two new Waterjet machines for the facility in the USA and the new production site in Bulgaria.

Two models of similar machines, one Suprema DX 510 and one Suprema DX 612, which share the same cutting technology but only differ in terms of the work surface configuration.

“The first machine is sold by the salesman, the second by the service”, says Massimo Russo, Vice president of Waterjet Corporation, who personally oversaw the development of this customer. “After the initial installation in 2018, the customer was pleasantly surprised not only by the quality, efficiency and reliability of the technology, but also by the service response in terms of spare parts and guarantee of continuity in the performance of the system.
The interventions followed up by our USA dealership allowed us to oversee the relationship with the customer and paved the way for the sale of a second and third machine. Of course, the technological upgrade of the new pumps was a highly important factor for the customer who processes composite materials with our machines” Ottobock, in fact, manufactures orthopaedic and prosthetic devices which it makes using high-performance composite materials.

The delamination in cutting operations was a key critical issue which, in the case of the first machine with a hydraulic pump, Waterjet solved with a mechanical pre-drilling system which paved the way for the water jet.
The introduction of the hybrid electric pumps meant that the mechanical system could be bypassed, because by using a servomotor which regulates the pressure electronically, the system is able
to start drilling automatically at very low pressure and then increase gradually, thus avoiding the delamination of the workpiece.
The cutting head is moved in the space by five interpolating axes which give it great freedom of movement to perform the widest possible range of cutting trajectories in the space.

The customisation of the system once again proves to be an important aspect of the order given that the machine is fitted with specific custom-made tools that allow the templates on which the workpieces will be clamped to be housed on two separate work areas.

The machine installed in Bulgaria, from this point of view, is a further evolution given that instead of two work areas, it has four separate areas making the system highly productive and flexible.