For five years, a Droop+Rein milling centre in the overhead gantry milling machine series in use near Lake Constance has worked through an astounding workload:The custom-made product manufactures segments of pulley wheels for the world’s market leader in cable car production.

The task was not without its challenges: A machine for turning, cutting and drilling large segments of pulley wheels (drive wheels) was required. Doppelmayr Seilbahnen GmbH from Wolfurt, Austria, produces an average of 800 gigantic segments each year, from which around 200 pulley wheels of various sizes are constructed. For example, the Hohe Brücke factory builds segments for the Ferris wheel at the “Galzigbahn” valley station in St. Anton am Arlberg. At nine metres in diameter, this wheel is a real record breaker, for more than just Doppelmayr. However, the machine is capable of even more. Department head Klaus Meyer: “If we remove the partition used for set-up, we are able to machine components up to a length of 13 metres.”

Not just for this reason: “We needed a much larger and more open machine with a moving column design,” Production Manager Karl-Heinz Zündel notes. “Since there was no existing model available, we took the risk and purchased a prototype. It was important to me that the machine was also appreciated by users at grass-roots level.”