At the Soraluce Summit, held April 22 and 23 in Spain’s Basque Country, the company presented updates to its approach for machining large-format parts. Based in Bergara, the employee-owned builder operates seven production facilities where it assembles large-format machine tools and manufactures some of its own machine heads and multitasking tables. According to the event report, castings and most machine components come from the Basque region, with selected parts sourced from Germany and Italy.
A central theme was ram stability during long-extension machining. Soraluce combines a specially designed saddle intended to offset mechanical droop with machine-head-specific compensation tables stored in the CNC. The system also uses an NC servo motor and scale for feedback. The company says this arrangement can keep ram deflection below 30 microns while maintaining the tool perpendicular to the work plane, an important point given its range of more than 300 changeable heads.
Alongside ram balancing, the summit featured refinements to active stabilization systems. The new DAS+ version combines hardware on the ram with software functions: accelerometers detect vibration, linear actuators counter low-frequency motion, and software varies spindle speed to address higher-frequency behavior. For flexible or thin-walled parts, the DWS approach attaches directly to the workpiece to measure and suppress chatter. First introduced in 2021 in a single size, the DWS range has been expanded with three additional sizes, and Soraluce also offers the modules as standalone devices for use on non-Soraluce machines.
On the multiprocess side, the company demonstrated the PRWG100 multitasking gantry machine. The configuration includes fixed and multitasking tables, a tool changer and a head changer that can switch among a continuous five-axis head, a fixed horizontal head and multiple turning heads. The stated goal is to complete more operations without moving the part, reducing setup time and the need for separate dedicated machines. Soraluce also offers grinding packages, enabled by sealing-system changes developed with IDEKO and Danobat to help prevent grinding swarf from reaching the machine ways while adding vibration and gap protection.
The event also addressed machine uptime. Soraluce showed twin-table pendulum configurations separated by a divider, allowing one table to be machined while the other is being set up; the tables can also be combined for very large parts when required. During tours, IDEKO presented its V-Set system, which uses stickers applied to the workpiece, photographs and a point cloud to support positioning and alignment. During setup, probing three known points enables the system to send movement feedback to the CNC, with the aim of shortening alignment time for large-format parts.
