Between machine and tool, there is an “interface” that affects the levels of accuracy, power, quality and reliability. We are talking about electric motors, the high-frequency power spindles that are the specialty of Elte in Montecchio Maggiore, near Vicenza, Italy.
We would have liked to travel to Montecchio and visit Elte in person. We are always busy with machinery, tools and finished products, and we rarely have the opportunity to take a closer look at the value and role of components that are critical for the overall quality and performance of a machine.
Unfortunately, we could not move, and so, Nicola dal Monte, working in the technical department of the Vicenza-based company, had to jump through hoops to illustrate the peculiarities of his company, relying on his experience and patience… but as soon as the sanitary emergency is over, we will visit him.
Gianni Trebbi, Sebastiano D’Amico e Beniamino Padoan.
“We are electric motor specialists,” he started without hesitation. “With our experience, staff and equipment, we have acquired a deep knowledge of these products, developing a huge catalog of motors and power spindles for all requirements, from basic models up to 50-60 thousand rpm frequency. Leveraging our flexibility in design and production, we have been able to approach many industries where we have become a reference partner, from glass to stone, from dental to light alloys, and every day we study, we investigate options and solutions in new contexts.”
Wood first…
“That’s right. Elte is a supplier to the industry of woodworking machinery, which includes many players in our territory, where furniture production is a strong business. These big players have always been relying on us for the power spindles they need; such collaborations have been going on until today, involving an ever larger customer community, also because there are not many companies with a comparable offer.
Elte has been growing constantly for over forty years, not only in Italy: today we export approximately 60 percent of our production, which is entirely manufactured in the Montecchio Maggiore factory. About 70 percent of our turnover comes from the wood industry”.
What’s your main focus right now?
“The rise of machining centers has shifted the focus onto factors that were less critical in the past: speed is essential, everything must be done in short time, which requires strong, well-balanced motors ensuring reliability and performance; actually, if the power spindle is not perfect, the tool will never work properly and the result will be disappointing.
Electric motors all look the same, but that’s not true: they are different according to materials, productivity requirements, processing quality, and the machine where they are installed. A key issue in woodworking is the dust that can get into the gears. In marble and stone, water is another critical factor, therefore we use special steel to prevent the oxidization of the shaft and other parts. Furthermore, the motors for woodworking machinery run at higher speeds than in the stone industry, which requires stronger bearings; and if you have to process hardwood, the factors change again!
When Elte ships a motor, it must be perfectly fit for the job it will perform. Errors can happen, but we are committed to prove that we know what we are talking about and we can take into account every detail and every parameter to create the perfect power spindle. All of this with a lead time of four weeks from order to shipment, and quite often we have to work miracles to respond to an emergency and meet much tighter deadlines!”.
“To do this, we rely on a stock of components that can support the huge number of high-frequency electric motors we manufacture each day, which means that we always have all the pieces of the puzzle ready to use, while some parts still need some processing and adapting to specific orders. You won’t believe it, but there is really an endless number of variables to achieve the quality of an Elte motor, and even more one of our power spindles, which must cope with higher accuracy and speed than any “standard” motor.
The tools we offer today can achieve results that, until ten years ago, were science fiction: we have never stopped improving, studying, investigating, testing, because you can always “go further”; all you need is skills, energy and an open mind, and you can find all of them at Elte”.
