Step-TecCH-4542Spindle Lubrication Control Unit (SLC) for High-Speed Motor Spindles — 24 V DC, 1.5 A, Controller Only

Product Description

What this part is

A Spindle Lubrication Control unit — SLC — for Step-Tec high-performance motor spindles, rated 24 V DC at 1.5 A. Step-Tec builds the motor spindles fitted to machining centres from a number of leading machine-tool manufacturers, and the SLC is the control element that supervises delivery of lubricant to the spindle bearings.

Why the lubrication control is the part that protects the spindle:
A Step-Tec motor spindle runs its bearings at very high speed — the range spans roughly 10,000 rpm on the large HSK-A100 platforms to 42,000 rpm on HSK-E40 and 50,000 rpm on HSK-32 units. At those speeds the bearing lubrication regime is the thing keeping the bearings alive. Step-Tec offers three lubrication systems across the range and each has a speed ceiling: DOL (direct oil lubrication) up to about 20,000 rpm, CGL (continuous grease lubrication) up to about 18,000 rpm, and LGL (lifetime grease lubrication) up to about 12,000 rpm.

On a spindle using an actively delivered system rather than lifetime grease, the control that meters and monitors that delivery is a single point of failure for the whole spindle. A lubrication loss on a hybrid ceramic bearing at 20,000 rpm results in a seized spindle and a rebuild costing many times the machine’s day rate, which is why plants running Step-Tec spindles keep an SLC as a standing spare.

Published data

Function: spindle lubrication control (SLC).

Supply: 24 V DC.

Current: 1.5 A.

Manufacturer part number: 15.10-1137-247.

Manufacturer: Step-Tec AG, CH-4542 Luterbach, Switzerland — part of GF Machining Solutions.

Step-Tec supplies the SLC as part of a spindle package, documented in the machine builder’s manual. The photographs on this listing show the housing, the labelling and the connectors, and measurements of the actual unit are available on request.

Quantity and configuration

One control unit, sold individually. The spindle itself, the oil or grease reservoir and pump, oil-air or minimal-quantity lubrication lines and fittings, the cable harness and mating connectors, the supervised sensors, mounting hardware, and machine-builder documentation and parameter set are each separate items.

Interchange guidance

Search forms include 15.10-1137-247, 15101137247, 1510-1137-247, 15 10 1137 247, Step-Tec SLC, Step-Tec spindle lubrication control, and Step-Tec CH-4542, which appears on the label as the manufacturer’s Swiss postal code for Luterbach. Brand names buyers arrive under: Step-Tec, StepTec, GF Machining Solutions, Georg Fischer, GF AgieCharmilles, and Schaublin, which historically distributed Step-Tec spindles.

Step-Tec spindles are supplied as platform-specific packages with common parts shared across a housing diameter, and an SLC variant is matched to the signal set of its platform. The full 15.10-1137-247 number, rather than the family, is the match against a spindle parts list. Step-Tec remains a current manufacturer through GF Machining Solutions, so factory support for the number is available.