Precision mechanical workshop

To ensure that new products are successful, it is essential that great care be taken while constructing the prototype. Thanks to the correct mix of technical know-how and state-of-the-art machine tools, FHR can transform visionary ideas into reality.

With precision and experience

The FHR workshop is the interface between novel ideas and the practical work with radar devices. The workshop accompanies the project from the first design through to the completed product. Everything is produced under one roof - from the tiniest component up to the completed housing. A large number of different machines are available to ensure that all forms and types of prototype can be realized. The highest level of precision is our top priority. High frequency components for radar devices are produced on our state-of-the art, five-axis CNC processing centers. The hydrostatically driven axes and an extremely rigid machine bed made of natural hard rock facilitate the achievement of surfaces of the highest possible quality, comparable to a mirror. An axis resolution of 0.1 µm combined with the selection of the correct tools, which are measured with a laser, pave the way for the production of high-precision components.

However, a good machine tool on its own is not sufficient to produce high-quality prototypes: well trained and extremely experienced employees guarantee products of the highest quality. They receive regular training and instruction to ensure that their know-how is always up-to-date. Since 1959, FHR has successfully trained young people to become precision mechanics thus ensuring that the institute will also have highly qualified workers in the future. Several of our apprentices achieved the best results in the Chamber examinations and we even had one winner at a federal level.

Individual components for the prototypes

The production and further development of highest precision, high frequency components from 92 GHz to 1 THz for a wide range of applications is part of the day-to-day work in the workshop. Manual skills and extreme sensitivity are of great importance. Using waveguide technology, internally produced high frequency components are combined with great determination and thoroughness to form functional radar devices. Here, the waveguides are precisely aligned using an internally developed and produced devices. Surface finishing, such as gold plating or nickel plating, is also carried out in the FHR workshop. HF components (up to 1 THz) can be coated with a wafer-thin gold layer of under 1 µm in electroplating baths.

New technical challenges require creative ideas. In the project "SARaband", for example, it was necessary to mill a geometrically complex solid from a very light material (Rohacell) on a CNC processing center. To facilitate the clamping of such bodies, a custom-fit negative was produced and drawn in using a vacuum. In this way it was possible to mill the finest of contours with high resolution in a 3D object.

Projects such as "SAMMI" or "SUMATRA" can be continuously improved with new or further developed components. The exhibition demonstrator "HandRot" was continuously developed thanks to the good cooperation between the project leader and the workshop during the planning and construction phase and culminated as a successful project.