One Step Ahead

How bravo evolved into the long-running »smile«

The »smile« presetting and measuring devices have been continuously developed for 25 years. They are the professional entry into µm-precise tool presetting. The endurance runners had a predecessor: bravo.

The Last Series with a Projector

At AMB in 1994, ZOLLER unveiled the bravo 1/2/3 series of manual presetting and measuring machines.
These devices delivered everything needed to precisely preset and measure tools — with cutting edges inspected using a 150 mm diameter and 20x magnification.

Top model with IBM PC

Computer support was reserved for the top model bravo 1: IBM PC, 80486 processor with 33 MHz clock frequency, 3.5 inch floppy disk drive and ZOLLER software. It stored and managed any number of tool zero points, tools and tool lists. The device was, to stay with the wording of the product brochure: bravo!

»smile« – the most successful universal setting and measuring device

At the turn of the millennium, bravo was replaced by »smile«. This also made the transmitted light projector history. The tool cutting edges were now precisely imaged with cameras - but only at ZOLLER. The competitors remained in the projector age.

The progress was enormous. »smile« automatically recognised the cutting edge shape. The device was able to automatically recognise and measure both radius and angle. The »smile manager« software was available as an option for data evaluation and control-orientated data output.

Stylish colours

Another novelty: customers could choose from four colour options for »smile« at no extra charge: Maize, Azalea, Stratos, Pearl. The brochure stated: ‘Cool colours for cool users.’

Ahead of the market with innovation

Today, the ZOLLER product portfolio offers far more than individual solutions – it stands for holistic system solutions that are perfectly harmonised. Whether presetting device, measuring machines or software solutions - all components make a targeted contribution to increasing production efficiency.

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