Product category:
CNC lathes
News Release from: Colchester-Harrison | Subject: Tornado T8M
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 09 February 2005
High grade titanium cut with ease
The Colchester Tornado T8M three-axis mill/turn lathe has demonstrated its ability to cut aerospace specification titanium at four times the normal metal removal rate.
Machining trials on the latest Colchester Tornado T8M three-axis mill/turn lathe resulted in a demonstration of its ability to cut aerospace specification titanium at four times the normal metal removal rate The trials were carried out at the Colchester Sales headquarters now based at the 600 Centre in Shepshed, Loughborough
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 8 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Heading up Colchester Sales application engineering team, Paul Rushworth selected suitable tooling and installed a 140 bar high pressure coolant system to machine billets of Ti6AI-4V material at up to 150 m/min when roughing and at 250 m/min for finishing cuts.
Normally, material of this type is machined at around 40 m/min.
The roughing cycle was run at a feed rate of 0.25 mm/rev and 2 mm depth of cut with the high pressure coolant piped through the centre of the machines 12 station, 40 VDI driven tool turret and through the tool.
Further reading
Mill/turn centre combines three ops into one
Mill/turn centre can machine off-centre features, keyways, flats and contoured milled surfaces as well as perform helical milling and has combined thee operations into one.
Mill-turn centre does jobs in one set-up
A mill-turning centre with a sub-spindle has taken multi-operational work away from a conventional CNC lathe and machining centres to finish jobs complete in a single set-up, said a subcontractor.
Finishing cuts of 0.15 mm were taken at a feed rate of 0.2 mm/rev.
The machining cycle confirmed the in-built stability and rigidity of the Tornado range which features Colchester Lathes' patented Duo-stable base configuration and integral cast iron bed.
The steel base is filled with a polymer concrete and strategic reinforcement bringing the weight of the machine up to 4.5 tonne and, giving a 25 per cent improvement in damping.
Not only does this enable the machine to reach running temperature faster, with significantly improved thermal characteristics, it provides a more stable cutting platform.
The 140 bar high pressure coolant demonstration also confirmed the high level of build quality of the latest Tornado T8M whereby the futuristic guarding design was able to contain the high pressure fed coolant in the working area while preventing any ingress into the working headstock and slideways.
The chucking variant of the Tornado T8M has options of a 254 mm or 210 mm chuck size with fully programmable 0.001 (Degree) C-axis and disc brake positioning fitted to the spindle to ensure maximum productivity and accuracy can be achieved when heavy duty cycles are demanded.
The machine is also available with 66 mm bar capacity and in the highly sought after unmanned running developed ?Lights-out package.
The machine has a 22 kW Fanuc spindle drive which can be specified with either 5,000 revs/min or 3,500 revs/min and a 3.7 kW, 4,000 revs/min tool drive with a torque rating of 9.55 Nm.
As standard, Heidenhain linear scale is fitted to the X-axis to ensure high accuracy tool positioning in conjunction with the Fanuc 21i-TB flat screen control.
Swing over the bed of the Tornado T8M is 510 mm with a maximum turned diameter of 290 mm by 540 mm long and rapid traverse rates are 25 m/min in X and 30 m/min in Z.
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