IMTS 2014: Metal Cutting
Come explore the very foundation of the machine tool industry, a group that represented more than $500 billion in worldwide consumption in 2009. This pavilion is where you’ll find the latest innovations in metal cutting equipment, machining centers, turning centers, drilling, boring, milling, and more.
Posted: August 8, 2014
SWISS-TYPE LATHE WITH B-AXIS
In Booth S-8536, the Nexturn SA32XII Swiss lathe from Absolute Machine Tools (Lorain, OH) is a new 32 mm machine that is available with or without a rotary synchronous guide bushing. It features up to 9 total axes (Z1, X1, Y1, Z2, X2, Y2, C1, C2, and optional B) and up to 33 total tools with the B-axis (29 without), including 19 live tools. Machining capacity is 32 mm on the main spindle, 32 mm on the sub spindle, and 210 mm (8 in) maximum turning length in one chucking (60 mm or 2.36 in without guide bushing).
The machine is built for rigidity, accuracy, reliability, and ease of use. The highly rigid one-piece cast iron machine bed is designed using FEM software. Powerful motors for both turning and milling deliver outstanding machining capability. The use of ultra-precision pre-tensioned ballscrews and LM guides produce high accuracy. High speed positioning of 1,260 ipm reduces cycle times. A sliding operator door, as opposed to a lift up style door, provides easy access to the machining area and is drip free.
Powerful live tools provide excellent milling ability. With 1.3 hp and 6,000 rpm, a wide range of milling, drilling, and tapping can be performed. ER-16 collets (ER-11 for back tools on the optional B-axis) for the live tools provide excellent rigidity. Rigid tapping is standard. The optional B-axis, used primarily for milling, drilling and tapping angled holes, provides 0 to 135 deg of swiveling rotation with 3 front side and 3 back side live tools. The front side tools can be used for both front and face work, doubling the useful tools to 6 possible.
The synchronous rotary guide bushing features a dual bearing structure with high accuracy. It has strong and accurate bearing support on both ends. The guide bushing is spline shaft driven. The guide bushing is necessary for precision machining of long parts. The machine can be ordered without the guide for short parts, reduced remnant length, and the ability to run cold drawn material.
Nexturn Co., Ltd., located in South Korea, is an industry leader in Swiss type CNC lathes and was the first to produce a 38 mm CNC Swiss machine. Nexturn machines use Fanuc controls, motors, and drives (Japan); NSK ballscrews and THK linear motion guideways (Japan); NSK and FAG bearings (Japan and Germany); KHK gears (Japan); Mayr couplings (Germany); CKD pneumatic valves (Japan); SMC pneumatic cylinders (Japan); and Daikin hydraulic systems (Japan).
Nexturn, listed on the Korean stock market since 2006, has been providing quality machine tools to Asia, Europe and the Americas for more than 13 years from a modern facility with a capacity to build 50 machines per month.
Also on display will be the new You Ji AH-06/1000 Horizontal Lathe that was specifically developed to replace 30-year-old heavy duty turning machinery in the oil and gas industries. Turning capacities feature a maximum cutting diameter of 35.4 in and a maximum turning length of 39 in, with optional turning lengths of 59 in, 79 in, 118 in, and 157 in. With a base machine weight of nearly 40,000 lb for the shortest bed length version, the AH-06 delivers the heavy cutting performance that customers in these industries require.
Absolute Machine Tools has offices in Lorain and Mason, OH, Livonia, MI, and the newest in Elgin, IL, plus a network of experienced machine tool distributors in the U.S. and Canada. www.absolutemachine.com
AUTOMATED SAWING AND END MACHINING OF TUBE AND BAR
In Booth S-9174, BLM Group USA (Wixom, MI), a global leader in the manufacture of tube processing equipment, will showcase the EM80, a combined automatic sawing and end machining center for tube and bar processing. The company will also address myriad options for tube processing, including laser tube cutting, tube and wire benders, tube end formers and cold saws for a variety of industries, such as aerospace, automotive, fitness, recreation, and the oil and gas industries. Its tube processing applications are used to process tube and bar products used for everything from stadium bleachers to fracking tubes.
An overview and demonstration of the EM80 cut-off and end machining center.
The EM80 handles tube diameters from 10 mm to 80 mm, with wall thickness from 0.8 mm to 12 mm and solid bar from 10 mm to 65 mm. Bar stock lengths run from 2,500 mm to 12,000 mm. The blade cuts by utilizing constant chip load technology at travels from 20 m/min to 450 m/min. The unit comes with a bundle loader to handle up to 4,000 kg and can be loaded at any time during the operation. A ‘conveyor’ brings the parts toward a two-position chute to allow the parts to be dropped in to the appropriate bin. A second conveyor handles chip removal. www.blmgroup.com
QUALITY CNC MACHINING CENTERS AT AFFORDABLE PRICING
Bulova is one of the most recognized names in the world, known for quality, precision, and value. Bulova Technologies Inc. (BTGI; Tampa, FL) has over 60 years of precision manufacturing experience and entered into the machine tool business in 2013 with the formation of Bulova Technologies Machinery, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary distributor specializing in imported world-class precision CNC vertical machining centers and related equipment that is designed for power, speed and accuracy that is making their industry debut in Booth S-9482.
A demonstration of the VMC 4220 precision Box Ways Linear Machining Center from Bulova.
Bulova machine tools generally range from $50,000 to $250,000 per machine and are used on a variety of materials, including titanium, steel, aluminum, ceramics, glass, composites, wood and plastics in a variety of industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical, off-road, energy, defense, electronics, consumer products, music and job shops. These machines are sold through a select and growing distributor network across the U.S. and Canada.
Visitors can meet the Bulova team, comprised of experts in engineering, manufacturing and application, service, and support and hear first-hand how this team searched the globe for the best builders to partner with on their machine tool lines. Unlike their competitors, they have designed their line to include features that will provide outstanding quality and value exclusively for the North American market. Bulova has its corporate offices in a 29,000 sq ft building in Tampa that also houses a showroom, technical training center, and service, parts and warehouse. www.bulovatech.com
BREAKTHROUGH MACHINING TECHNOLOGIES
In Booth S-8986, Chevalier Machinery, Inc. (Santa Fe Springs, CA) will display nine machines, along with a FANUC intelligent robot teamed with a Chevalier heavy-duty horizontal turning lathe to demonstrate increased production efficiency through automation.
A rundown of the nine machines begins with the new FBB-110L series, a T-type horizontal boring mill that expertly handles heavy-duty, high-precision machining with 120 in x 83 in x 80 in machining capabilities. The extra-rigid design of the main machine body and column ensure outstanding structural stability. The fully supported base on the X- and Y-axis assures no overhang or vibration during cutting. The series features a one-piece Meehanite® cast iron base with heavy-duty large box ways on X-, Y-, and Z-axes and is coated with an anti-friction Turcite material for consistent accuracy and smooth movement. The 35 hp, 50-taper, large-diameter, cartridge-type, air-purged spindle runs with a two-speed gear head stock that generates a maximum of 1500 Nm to overcome most tough-material cutting conditions.
The spindle can be extended (W-axis) for deep-hole boring with high-rigidity and superior machining accuracy. The table features a full C-axis contouring with 0.001 deg minimum intervals. It also has a hydraulic break disk plus a locking pin every 90 deg, designed for maximum stability. The rotary table is driven by an AC servo motor with a worm shaft and gear that provides high torque for heavy workpieces. The angular scale is built in the table to assure the accuracy of ± 15 arc-second.
Visitors can See the FBL-360B heavy-duty horizontal turning lathe teamed with a FANUC. The 45 deg slant bed lathe features a rigid box ways structure and programmable tailstock; engineered with ease of access and trouble-free maintenance in mind. The series also comes with a 15 in chuck, maximum swing and maximum turning diameter of 22.4 in and a maximum turning length up to 80 in. The lathe features up to 35 hp AC digital spindle motor with two-speed gear box, spindle bar is 4.5 in diameter and speed up to 2,500 rpm. It’s the best machine in the market for mixed volume, short-run or dedicated high-volume applications.
Chevalier’s new FBL-520D heavy-duty horizontal turning lathe, perfect for machining heavy parts and large pipe threading, is in demand by the energy and aerospace industries. The series features highly accurate machining that can handle rough- and fine-turning operations. The gear box provides enough horsepower for heavy-duty turning. With live tooling capability, this series can save time by milling and turning a part in the same set-up. The series structure features a 45 deg slant-bed design, comprised of single-piece Meehanite® cast iron with a wide-span, ribbed box structure.
For stability and support, the machine provides box guide ways that are 5.1 in wide by 3.1 in thick. A powerful 60 hp spindle motor, which features a three-stage gearbox and generates 3,049 ft-lb of torque, satisfies most cutting conditions of large-diameter work pieces or tough material applications. The 12-station turret is 200 mm thick for deep hole boring and rough turning. The 15 in through hole is perfect for pipe yard threading and meets API and parameter thread standards.
The company also introduces the new FSG-ADS series high-precision, fully automatic, three-axis grinder with a PLC controller. The cutting-edge device provides a grind cycle with rough grinding, fine grinding, spark-out passes and an automatic over-wheel dresser with compensation, which can be added to fully automate the grind process. After the cycle is finished, the table will “park” either left or right of the saddle and at the front to facilitate unloading and loading. The series, which is well suited for mass production and easy to set-up, program and operate features user-friendly conversational programming.
The machine’s spindle can be set to “stop running” or “continue running.” The wheel head can also be set to return to the start position or to park at a reference point. Once the cycle is started, the wheel head moves rapidly to the start point and repeats the grind cycle. If material is required to be removed from both sides, “flip over” can be selected so that the wheel head position is at the finish grind height, which then starts grinding immediately without touching off. The fully automatic grind feature consists of rough and fine grinding cycles, switching from rough grinding down-feed increments to fine grinding down-feed increments at preset points during the cycle. This crossfeed also switches from a rough to fine cross-feed increment, resulting in a finer surface finish and finer accuracy. www.chevalierusa.com
COMPACT BAR LOADERS ECONOMICALLY ADD AUTOMATION
In Booth S-9092, CNC Indexing & Feeding Technologies (Mason, OH), a provider of rotary tables, high pressure coolant systems, bar feeders, oil skimmers, and other CNC machine tool accessories, will be highlighting a popular line of bar loader/feeders. The company now offers several styles of short bar loaders in both pneumatic and servo styles. The pneumatic style of bar loader is an ideal solution to economically add unmanned production capability to a lathe. The servo style of bar loader will also allow unmanned production capability while being able to feed to higher accuracies or be used on lathes with a sub-spindle.
All of the MTA brand of short bar loaders that CNC Indexing offers include Pusher Cylinder with Linear Guides, Trouble-free Pusher Locks, V Channel Adjustments, X-Axis Sliding Rail System, fully functional PLC with comprehensive data bank software, New Bar Position Sensors, and Hand-held Remote Control. www.cncindexing.com
ROBUST, PRECISION HORIZONTAL BORING MACHINE CHANGES THE GAME
In Booth S-8692, Soraluce America, Inc. (Chicago, IL), a Danobat Group company, will be introducing the KB-150W horizontal boring machine, a robust, precision solution that changes the game in boring by providing an efficient and durable state-of-the-art machine that can meet a wide assortment of requirements.
This machine offers high performance, high feed forces of the cross axis and quill spindle, resulting in high stock removal capacity. Its heavy duty design and high dynamics provides optimum power and cutting speed capacity. With all main machine elements made of cast iron, the rigid, robust and stable design provides for the highest precision. The machine has been developed using the finite elements method and tested for maximum rigidity to reduce vibration problems to a minimum. It has a user-friendly machine configuration which allows the operator to be next to the working area, enabling easy part setting, measuring operations, etc. In addition, a full enclosure is available.
The technical specifications of the KB-150W are:
Quill Diameter | mm | 150 |
Quill Traverse, W axis | mm | 80 |
Longitudinal traverse, X axis | mm | 2000-3000-4000-5000 |
Vertical traverse, Y axis | mm | 2100-2600-3200 |
Cross traverse, Z axis | mm | 1500-2000-2500 |
Spindle power | hp | Up to 47 |
Spindle speed range | rpm | 3000 |
Table Size/Loading Weight | mm/kg | To 2500 x 3000/To 60,000 |
The rigid quill spindle is mounted on large angular contact ball bearings, lubricated with an air-oil system. The quill’s maximum thermal stability is due to a complete cooling system of the bearing, gearbox and spindle motor systems, This, combined with a high power transmission, guarantees high stock removal capacity as well as great feed force.
The rotary table rotates by high precision bearing and low friction surfaces for smaller load capacities and hydrostatic bearings for larger load capacities. These rotation systems ensure no surface wear, meaning it is optimal for highly demanding and accurate processing. Table rotation is via a dual drive system utilizing a large external crown gear with helical gearing and zero backlash precision gearbox. The hydraulic clamping system allows for maximum tangential clamping force up to 140,000 Nm / 103,244 ft-lb. www.soraluce-america.com