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Latest CNC turning ups blow mould productivity

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

A long-bed lathe is helping a manufacturer of blow moulds to increase its productivity and maintain its competitive advantage by reducing set-up time for turning complex cavities.

Solent Mould Tool (SMT) – the UK’s largest independent blow mould manufacturer has recently invested in a Hardinge Talent 10/78L (long-bed) lathe.

The machine, installed at SMT’s Waterlooville facility in August 2006, is helping the company increase its productivity and maintain its competitive advantage by reducing time (and resources) spent on job set ups as well as reducing machine cycle times (both by as much as 50%) – when machining complex cavities in mould tools.

The net results for SMT through its investment in the Hardinge lathe are shorter lead times and improved part accuracy – which, in the world of complex mould tool manufacture, are very welcome.

* Comprehensive production capability – Solent Mould Tools was established in 1986 and today employs over 40 people.

The company designs and manufactures blow moulds (up to 2 tonnes) for a range of sectors and industries.

The company provides a total systems solution service to its mould tool customers.

This does not just include the manufacture of complex moulds but also involves working in close consultation with customers to develop and design mould tool concepts and prototypes prior to production sets being manufactured.

SMT also provides comprehensive mould tool repair and modification services to customers.

In addition to investing in the new Hardinge CNC lathe – SMT has also made significant investments (over recent months) in a number of 5-axis and high-speed machining centres used to mill slots, recesses and pockets, etc, in a single set-up.

The company has impressive CAD/CAM capability and, via DNC links, ensures fast data transfer between its design and production operations.

SMT’s moulds are used by customers in the UK and throughout Europe and increasingly within the USA – which demonstrates the truly global nature of this market.

The company’s moulds are made mainly from aluminium although in some instances steels and alloys – Alumex – are used.

SMT moulds are used in the volume manufacture of plastic bottles (PET, HDPE, PP, PVC etc.) for mineral water, soft drinks and fruit juices, carbonated beverages, cosmetics, toiletries etc – and in total the company manufactures in the region of two thousand mould tools every year.

The mould tool industry is highly competitive with price, quality and lead time reduction being of critical importance.

The decision by SMT to invest in the Hardinge Talent 10/78 lathe was in response to these market demands.

* Cycle times reduced by 50% – the Talent lathe is being used to machine the internal cavities in the mould and has been installed adjacent to an older Hardinge Cobra lathe that is used to machine external features on the mould tool.

Using high-density and diamond tip tooling – the Talent is able to perform heavy-duty cutting operations to high accuracy and repeatability.

Said Andy Thorpe, shop floor chargehand at SMT: “The Talent lathe has provided us with additional capacity and capability – and has helped us become more productive.

Typically machine cycle times have been reduced by some 50% and the fine surface finishes we are able to obtain, which includes the elimination of blend lines, also means less time spent on secondary polishing operations.” * Check-out the Talent CNC lathe – the new Hardinge Talent 10/78L is a long bed lathe (1050mm between centres) designed for heavy duty turning applications.

The machine is equipped with a 18.5kW, 3500 rev/min spindle (402Nm); 30m/min rapids on both X and Z-axes; a 12-station turret and the Fanuc 0i-TC control.

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CMZ’s TB range of turning centres features an extremely rigid cast iron frame

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

The machines have linear guide-ways, allowing accelerations of up to 1G and rapid traverse speeds of 30m/min.

french machine tool manufacturer, CMZ, said at the UK’s MACH 2008 machine tool show last week that its TB range of turning centres features an very rigid cast iron frame that is machined, in-house by CMZ.

fThe TB range c omprises one models, including 46mm and 67mm bar capacity machines, with and without driven tooling.

CMZ also said that the TB series is very popular as a bar-fed machine, while it also offers a maximum turning diameter of 340mm when using a 210mm chuck, which is accessible on the 46mm and 67mm machines.

The TB machines can now be fitted with a gantry loading robot for automated billet and shaft loading and unloading.

Integrated, oil-cooled spindle motors give increased accuracy and improved surface finish, as well as faster acceleration and braking times and we also contribute to the machine’s very compact design.

The rapid, non-lift, 12-station turret features a hydraulically clamped Curvic coupling for strength and accuracy and can rotate 180 deg in  0.5s.

The whole machine occupies only around 1.6m3.

Separate servo motors are fitted for turret rotation and driven tooling.

The turret is clamped and unclamped while it is traversing in to position, giving effective tool change times as rapid as 0.15s.

The machines are fitted with the latest Fanuc 32 series CNC, with Manual Guide i conversational programming included as standard.

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Boosting the productivity of a lathe operation by at least 50 percent is as

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Boosting the productivity of a lathe operation by at least 50 percent is as

easy as adding a barfeeder. Such productivity gains stem from the fact that barfeeders provide a constant supply of raw part material to lathes, allow for unattended operation and lend support for machining at fast speeds.

Without barfeeders, a shop has to cut raw stock into manageable slugs, move them to the turning machine and manually load and unload the machine. Those activities diminish machine throughput because they extend non-cut times between parts.

Barfeeders, on the other hand, automatically feed long lengths of barstock into lathes for hours of unattended operation, freeing machine operators for other duties such as secondary operations, part cleaning and packaging.

Lathes basically cost about the same no matter where they are purchased, but the cost of operating them varies when factoring in labor, or a manufacturing facility’s burden rate. Affordable automation, such as barfeeders, eliminates the manual burden rate and allows shops to compete globally with countries that have low labor rates. In addition, manufacturing facilities can continually improve throughput with such automation.

The goal is not necessarily to replace operators with barfeeders, but to set up machines with a constant source of raw materials that allows them to run unattended at night and on weekends. So shops can schedule and set up work during the day shift and run the jobs at a low cost per-hour while increasing their cutting times and getting a greater return from their investment in the machine tool.

With a $15,000 barfeeder, using it over a five-year period for 35 hours per week, 50 weeks of the year — for a total of 8,750 hours — the hourly cost of ownership is $1.71 per hour. However, that is a conservative estimate. With careful scheduling, their use can be extended to nights, weekends and holidays, and the hourly cost could drop as low as $0.34 per hour. No operators in the world work for such a low hourly rate.

The long and short of it
Two common styles of barfeeders are single-bar tube and magazine, and the magazine styles are available as long or short versions. Single-bar tube feeders typically work with Swiss-style sliding-headstock machines for loading wire-gage material and barstock measuring up to 1.750 in. in diameter. While these feeders require shops to load bars one at a time, the machines they feed are typically running small, short complex parts with long cycle times out of 12-ft.-long bars that provide one or two shifts of unattended operation.

Magazine-style barfeeders hold multiple pieces of barstock in different shapes and diameters and feed one bar after the other into a lathe. Changeovers from different bar sizes and shapes are quick, easy and automatic, taking as little as 15 seconds for some models. Loading magazines can be done while the barfeeder and lathe are working. Such fast changeovers mean barfeeders could be used on low and medium-volume jobs as well as the high-volume jobs they are usually associated with.

The long styles of magazine barfeeders handle 12-ft.-long barstock and can keep lathes running unattended for multiple shifts. Short-style magazine feeders provide up to 8 hours of unattended lathe operation feeding bar lengths typically 3 or 4 ft. long. The bar lengths are determined by the headstock lengths in the lathes that they feed because machine headstocks support bars when running a short-version feeder.

By not having to rely on the barfeeder for back-end bar support, shops can run lathe spindles to their maximum speeds. That is especially beneficial when using carbide, ceramic and Cermet cutting tools that excel at high speeds for producing precision surface finishes. Short-version magazine barfeeders also take up less floorspace.

Some styles of single-bar tube and long-version magazine barfeeders offer significant back-end bar support, so shops are not limited in the turning speeds they run when they use them. In some instances, shops can double spindle rpm to increase surface feeds and decrease part cycle times.

Barfeeders are equipped with either hydrodynamic or hydrostatic support systems. In ideal conditions, hydrodynamic systems offer stability at turning speeds up to 1,600 sfm, while hydrostatic ones handle speeds up to 3,000 sfm.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/13668/Issue

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Swiss turning centers

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

In collaboration with Citizen Machinery Tech Center in Elmira, N.Y.

Overgrip pickoff collets

Hardinge Inc. has developed and now manufactures standard TF-25 OG overgrip collets for Cincom M20 and L20 lathes. Overgrip collets — also referred to as over-the-shoulder collets — are used on a pick-off spindle when it is required to clear a shoulder and grip on a smaller diameter beyond. A good example of this type of part would be a screw. Extra spread is required to open the collet wide enough to go over the screw head or larger diameter.

Hardinge’s collet design incorporates teardrop slots and reduced wall thickness for maximum flexibility for the overgrip pick-off process. A double-angle taper reduces the contact surface to provide for quick opening of the collet. Hardinge hardened and ground collets provide high accuracy and repeatability with precision in the collet back bearing and concentricity at the gripping area. Order holes are finish-ground on a high-precision Tripet internal grinding machine. The grip diameter, grip length and the recessed part diameter are required to manufacture an overgrip collet for a specific part. A semi-finished stock program is in place at Hardinge to provide a quick order turnaround.

The Cincom M20 and L20 Swiss Turning Centers have extra stroke built into their sub-spindle to accommodate an over grip collet with a recessed part diameter (extra spread requirements) to 3 mm. Hardinge manufactures headstock collets, pickoff collets and carbide guide bushings for all Citizen machines.

http://www.americanmachinist.com/304/Issue/Article/False/83862/Issue

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CNC turning centres machine in one set-up

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

To provide simple and cost effective machining of more complex components CNC turning centres combine operations in one set-up, offering faster cycle times and automatic parts handling.

CNC turning centres will be among many machine tools to be shown at MACH 2008 by the 600 Group.

Its member companies will be demonstrating their ability to provide a solution to virtually any machining problem.

The Group will be manning five stands at the show – a triple stand in the machine tool area of Hall 5, a stand in the Tooling Village in Hall 4 and another in the Laser Marking area in Hall 4.

600 Group will have many new machines and equipment available to enhance a customer’s performance.

The 600 Group said it is well placed to offer manufacturing solutions from its extensive range of own- manufactured products as well as its principals, distributed through the 600 Centre in Hall 5.

The triple stand construction allows 600 Group to demonstrate its three product ranges (600 Solution products, Colchester- Harrison CNC products, and Dalian value products) in a single area of the exhibition.

Group Marketing director, Stephen Le Beau, said: “The intention is to assist customers achieve greater productivity, higher efficiencies and improved profitability by installing the correct machine, appropriately engineered, for specific applications.

I believe 600 Group is the only machine tool company to offer three distinct ranges of products across such a wide spectrum.

This means we can provide exactly the right solution for the customer, without compromise”.

He added: “Working in partnership with customers, using their knowledge of their requirements in conjunction with our profound understanding of machine tools, we will be illustrating how manufacturing companies can be successfully competitive at a commercially realistic cost at the show”.

* CNC turning and mill/turn centres – Colchester-Harrison said it focuses on driving technology forward to make the quantum leaps which keep the Colchester-Harrison lathes at the forefront of the world market for turning machines.

Demonstrated on the stand will be the new lathes and new VMCs.

The new machines are designed to provide simple and cost effective machining of more complex components by, for instance, allowing multiple operations in one set-up, faster cycle times, minimal tool change times, automatic loading and parts handling.

Standard machines can be readily customised to produce machines for specific applications, developing special workholding systems, alternative ejection systems, etc, to give the customer exactly what he wants in the shortest lead times possible.

Standard machines designed to accommodate the requirements of those customers who still need relatively simple CNC machines will also be demonstrated at the show.

Flanking the Group’s own Colchester-Harrison products in the ‘Solutions’ section, will be machines from Toyoda Mitsui-Seiki, Fanuc, Fuji and Okamoto.

In the ‘Value’ section of the stand, a comprehensive range of Dalian conventional and CNC lathes, mills and machining centres will be on show.

* Work holding – on the stand in Hall 5, West Yorkshire based Pratt Burnerd International and Crawford Collets will also be demonstrating their bespoke and modified workholding equipment designed and manufactured to provide customers with improved profitability.

Preferred suppliers of workholding systems for complex parts to the German automotive industry, the companies will be demonstrating ’second-to-none’ ability to resolve workholding problems.

In addition, new chucks and collets will be launched at MACH.

* Laser marking – more companies are concerned with traceability and are demanding products to be marked.

The ability to mark the machined components cost effectively and efficiently is becoming more critical.

Letchworth-based Electrox will be demonstrating the ways customers’ productivity is improved by the quantum leaps forward it has made in laser technology.

Designing and manufacturing standard and bespoke laser marking systems for a wide range of industries, it will be showing its new laser marking systems, including the ground-breaking and proprietary EF Technology and practical workstation designs.

“Through our extensive research, Electrox has been able to take applied laser marking technology into a completely different arena, providing customers with exceptionally easy to use and extremely reliable laser marking systems – for instance EF Technology comes with a four year warranty, the longest available on any laser marking system,” said Le Beau.

* Machine precision bearings – completing the demonstration of the 600 Group portfolio will be Gamet Bearing The company will be exhibiting its range of super high precision taper roller bearings.

Used in every industry where rotational accuracy is critical, the company will have a selection of its bearings on display at the show.

Le Beau concluded: “Eighteen months ago, we announced a forceful new business strategy, focussing our attention on a customer-orientated provider of manufacturing solutions.

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