1000th eBOX V3 sold

It is the "brain" of the MFS-V3.1 wire feeding system from ABICOR BINZEL and has a history of almost 20 years: the eBOX. This is its story.

Being able to transport welding wires over long distances was already an incentive for the developers and technical engineers at Alexander Binzel Schweisstechnik GmbH & Co. KG. It all started with the ALUNOX from the company MIG WELD – a large green, housed wire feeding device for 40-kilo wire spools with built-in heating, primarily to be able to transport aluminum wires in GMAW applications. Because ABICOR BINZEL wanted to develop such a system itself, the Alu-Power-Drive – APD for short – was created. This wire feeding device was additionally equipped with a control system for two drives, one in the housing itself and one on the robot directly at the front of the process. At that time, Audi Neckarsulm wanted to use this system for the production of the Audi A2 and placed a large order for 30 APDs. These went to the automotive manufacturer together with a DALEX power source as a system solution.
The call for having to downsize this assembly came not long after. The extremely large rolling unit was taken apart, the motors were built as a separate unit, a housing for the electronics was designed and the control system was also separated from this large feeding device APD. The resulting modular design brought advantages for the users because they could assemble their own system depending on the application. And ABICOR BINZEL was no longer limited to only one specific group of users but could reach more different potential customers. This was the great start of the modular eBOX as a control unit in the Master-Feeder-System V2.

Kick-off at Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg

ABICOR BINZEL was already a long-standing supplier to Volkswagen AG in Wolfsburg and the Master-Feeder-System MFS V2 was qualified and approved for joining technology at the VW plant in Wolfsburg in 2005. In 2007, the first two systems were installed in the production of Auto 5000 GmbH, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, for the production of the VW model Touran. In 2008, the real breakthrough came in VW Golf production at the Laser Innovation Centre in Wolfsburg: the automotive manufacturer was struggling with asynchrony in the wire feed during laser brazing with the push-pull technology used by other manufacturers at the time. Tests with the powerful master drive in conjunction with the Master-Feeder-System MFS V2 produced excellent results in wire feeding over 5 to 10 metres even with just one drive. Following this result, a short-term series of tests on a laser brazed seam in Golf production, in which the filler material was fed from a wire spool, also showed a smooth, consistent and process-reliable wire feed process. With these positive results after conversion of the laser brazing cells in the Golf series production, other production lines at Volkswagen AG were also converted to the Master-Feeder-System MFS V2 with only one drive. Far more than 100 wire feeding systems – including the now small blue control unit eBOX – were sold to Volkswagen AG only.

Major order from Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz had been using the original APD systems together with DALEX power sources in its production. After their conversion to laser joining systems, the first Master-Feeder-System MFS V2 including the blue eBOX were delivered to Mercedes-Benz Bremen in 2005. In 2010 came the first major order for 65 master feeder systems for the worldwide construction of the C-Class: 42 units of these were delivered to Bremen alone, the others went to South Africa, Hungary and China. Today, Mercedes-Benz Bremen still has the largest number of master feeder systems from ABICOR BINZEL in use in Europe.

After successful use of the systems in the laser sector from 2005 to 2017, the Master-Feeder-System V2 was replaced by the V3, including a V3 version of the corresponding eBOX – now in black.

For once in its career, the eBOX has experienced a negative reaction: TRUMPF Werkzeugmaschinenbau GmbH + Co KG, which has been working with ABICOR BINZEL for more than ten years, installed the MFS-V3 wire feeding system in its TruLaser Weld laser welding cell. However, TRUMPF did not want the eBOX in its actual black housing, but instead installed the entire inner components of our control unit in its own control cabinet. Thus, the control technology for wire feeding during tolerant laser welding was convincing, only the housing was not. Or in other words: the good thing about it is the good thing inside of it.

What makes the eBOX such a success?

Until a product achieves successful results with the user, a lot of positive and negative experiences have to be made. This has also been the case with the development and further development of the eBOX. From the original APD to the current V3, customer feedback was recorded, saved and incorporated into the further development of the next version. Results from countless discussions with users and their enquiries were evaluated internally at ABICOR BINZEL and new approaches to solutions were created.

With the current V3, the success story of the V2 was taken up and the system was optimised through further revisions. As a result, the wire acceleration behaviour, the motor control and the stability of the wire feed have been improved. The current service software is a great support for the user when it comes to connecting such a system to the robot, controlling it via field bus and monitoring and reading out process data. The modular design also allows the highest flexibility for the user. In the meantime, the 1000^th eBOX V3 has already been sold, which is used to approx. 95 percent for laser applications, the remaining five percent concern TIG and MIG/MAG applications.

Wire feeding system with top result in competitive comparison

As one of the most important elements of the MFS-V3.1 wire feeding system, the eBOX can also boast the excellent test result of an independent comparative test with two other competitors. A leading automotive manufacturer had this comparative test carried out by an independent testing laboratory. The Master-Feeder-System MFS-V3.1 from ABICOR BINZEL showed impressive results with regard to constant wire feeding, load by tensile force and general performance. Please find here all information about test conditions, test procedure and test results.

Today, when a sales representative from ABICOR BINZEL visits a customer who is using the MFS-V3.1 – the further development of the third-generation Master-Feeder-System – the customer has no complaints about this system, because it runs and runs and runs. For a manufacturer, what better feedback can there be?