Behind many an innovation are not infrequently resourceful minds who, in the event of success, are usually standing in the second row and enjoying the applause that erupts for the invention. Aggregatetechnologie und Manufaktur AG, or ATEMAG for short, from Hofstetten is one such supplier of well-made innovations. One of the reasons for this is the way in which the experienced team of technicians from the Black Forest company develops customized aggregates: from the initial idea to the finished product, and always in consultation with the customer. By the way, this also applies to one-offs, because the word "Manufaktur" is not in the company name for nothing.

A current example of a convincing commissioned work is the dowel insertion unit developed at the request of a leading machine manufacturer. The task was to integrate a mechanical assembly into the mimic of a CNC machine, which automatically realizes dowel driving into both faces of a wooden panel. No sooner said than done: The system, which has since been successfully launched on the market, uses pre-glued wooden dowels for this operation, so that dowel glue is completely dispensed with here and a gluing system is unnecessary. Instead, the dowels are fed into the assembly unit of the CNC machine via a separate feed system.

The actual dowel insertion unit called PINJET has its big moment after the dowel holes have been inserted into the face of the workpiece in a preceding operation in the CNC machining center. One of the advantages of this is that the panel does not have to be clamped again separately. In the first step of dowel insertion, the unit sprays a precisely metered quantity of water into the dowel hole and then presses the pre-glued dowel into the dowel hole by means of a pneumatic cylinder. The previously sprayed water then immediately activates the gluing action and the dowel is firmly glued into the workpiece after just a few moments - completely automatically. And since the unit is designed to swivel, both faces of a wooden panel can be fitted with dowels in just one operation. According to ATEMAG, the entire process takes just three seconds per dowel.

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