With the acquisition of the Ettlingen-based company OptoSurf GmbH in 2024, Mahr has expanded its portfolio to include stray light technology. For the first time at Control 2025 in Stuttgart, industry professionals were able to examine the devices as part of the MarSurf3D family.
By implementing the OptoSurf portfolio, Mahr is opening up new opportunities in the field of tribology. Customers are thus gaining an additional advantage of cutting-edge technology from the measurement technology manufacturer. The following product lines of stray light technology are presented by the Göttingen company at this year's Control:
MarSurf3D Sensor OS 500
Whether grinding or finishing machines, rollers, steel sheets, or rolling bearings: The stray light sensor OS 500 can be integrated into machine controls and measures exactly where it matters: directly inline. The device is extremely fast, low-maintenance, robust, and precise. It is controlled via PC and can perform evaluations of roughness and waviness with the provided sensor software. In the 8 kHz variant, the stray light sensor OS 500 is designed for large area measurements such as rollers.
MarSurf3D OptoRack
To convert rotary movements into linear movements, ball screw drives are used, for example, in machine tools and steering systems. Especially in the latter, efficiency, wear, and possible noise development depend heavily on the surface quality of the ball tracks. Here, MarSurf3D OptoRack fully demonstrates its strengths: The device was specifically developed for process monitoring during grinding and finishing of rack gears and ball screw spindles. Through a pivot axis, the sensor can separately measure roughness and waviness at any point on the spindle on paths to the right and left of the pressure point of the tracks.
MarSurf3D OptoShaft
Finished bearing seats that rotate as needle bearings in gearboxes or motors place high demands on surface quality: Even the smallest waviness with amplitudes < 0.05 µm leads to unacceptable noise. The cause of the waviness is chatter marks on the bearing seat that sporadically occur during the grinding process and were not completely eliminated after finishing. With the MarSurf3D OptoShaft, the processes during grinding and finishing of the bearing seats can be monitored in real time. Thanks to the extremely robust and precise stray light sensor, the measuring device can be placed directly next to the manufacturing machine.
MarSurf3D OptoWorm
In electric power steering, the worm gear plays a special role. This is because the requirements for the surface of the worm flanks are extraordinarily high due to the force transmitted to the screw wheel. The measuring device MarSurf3D OptoWorm was specifically developed for process monitoring during the finishing of worm gears. It allows for measuring the entire functional area of the left and right flank. Due to the extremely robust and simultaneously precise stray light sensor, the measuring device can be placed directly next to the manufacturing machine.
Manuel Hüsken, CEO of the Carl-Mahr Group, explains: "For Mahr, the expansion to include OptoSurf stray light technology is an ideal complement to the existing systems. With it, surface parameters can be measured extremely accurately down to the nanometer range, robustly and extremely quickly, even in a rough manufacturing environment."
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