Product category:
Pick-up spindle turning, multi-tasking, turning and machining centres
News Release from: Emag UK | Subject: Emag VL series pick-up spindle CNC VTLs
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 05 November 2003
OEMs and SMEs go for pick-up spindle
VTLs
Its standard vertical turning centre for chucked components has been received with great enthusiasm by OEMs and SMEs alike owing to exceptional precision and high productivity says the supplier.
Its standard vertical turning centre for chucked components has been received with great enthusiasm by OEMs and SMEs alike owing to exceptional precision, high productivity and minimal retooling times, says the supplier Small and large businesses alike, but in particular turned part manufacturers, increasingly suffer from rising costs
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 12 Nov 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Pick-up spindle machines - does the UK lag behind?
Are UK suppliers - particularly automotive sub-contractors - lagging behind Germany and the US in the take-up of pick-up spindle machining and turning centres? The question is put by EMAG UK.
EMAG is a market leader in vertical machining
EMAG has literally turned machining on its head.
The pick-up-principle simplifies automatic loading and unloading of workpieces at almost no extra cost.
The typical component manufacturer produces small and large batches of a great variety of workpieces.
For small batches he requires a universal machine that is quickly programmed and retooled; and for large batches he needs an automated, highly efficient production tool.
The Emag VL series of machines successfully "does the splits" by covering both eventualities.
Further reading
EMAG UK - a company profile
Since its foundation in 1984, EMAG UK has established a strong position in the UK automotive market supplying CNC multi-functional production centres.
Turrets feed vertical shaft turning centre
Following on from its earlier horizontal shaft turning machine, Emag has developed a vertical shaft turning machine using two turrets to exchange workpieces as well as perform machining.
Grinding and automation expertise extended
With the integration of Ingersoll Naxos crankshaft grinding machine company into the Emag Group, systems can be developed in conjunction with Karstens, Reinecker, Kopp and Heilig Automation.
In the machining of chucked components the VL is a real cost cutter that produces high-precision components.
Here some customer statements: * Without the VL we should have lost any follow-on orders for cost reasons.
* Compared to previously acquired machines the VL is more cost-effective on a smaller footprint.
* Four times the output on the same footprint, at half the component manufacturing cost.
* Only 20 percent of the retooling cost of horizontal machines with robot loader.
* The VL 3 works three shifts and produces components of top quality, with very little operator involvement.
* Exceptional process integrity: only 2 components need to be gauged in any one shift.
* Extended tool life allowed us to lower our quoted prices.
* A new workpiece is up in a flash - an advantage that is very much appreciated by the customer (referring to our customer's customer!).
* The universal workhandling equipment copes with 98% of all our present workpieces.
* Plain and simple: suitable for all workpieces that can be held in a chuck.
* Equally suitable for soft and hard machining.
Two frame sizes - since the smaller type of the series, the VL 3 with 160mm chuck diameter, was introduced to the market in spring 2000, 500 machines have been sold until mid 2003 - a convincing start for a new machine in a market where many manufacturers play a tough game.
More than just a few component manufacturers and sub-contractors already use multiples of these machines, some of them 3, 8, 12 and more.
The larger type, the VL 5, which accepts chucks up to 250mm diameter, complements the VL 3.
This pair of machines covers a substantial part of the range of applications of such machines used by sub-contractors.
The basis for its success - the purposeful design of the VL series of machines for flexible use, also by the sub-contractor, coupled with the applied know-how of Emag, a company that has produced 4000 vertical machines.
In 1992, Emag was the world's first manufacturer to stand turning on its head with the vertical pick-up work spindle in its VSC series of machines.
These machines are primarily employed as multi-functional production centres for turning, drilling, milling, grinding, gear cutting, balancing and nowadays also for laser applications, to provide solutions to customer-specific manufacturing problems.
Frequently, several machines are interlinked for the complete machining of large batches of demanding components.
The experiences gained from such heavy-duty usage have left their mark on the VL series.
The self-contained "Lean" concept of the VL standard turning machine has been adapted to the demands made by medium-sized businesses and sub-contractors.
The VL series: a self-contained "Lean" design principle - favourable price/performance ratio - for a machine without unnecessary paraphernalia, but technically superior and fully equipped with chip conveyor, fluid-cooling system for motor, spindle and turret, and automatic workpiece handling system.
Retooling in next to no time - once the correct jaws have been fitted in the chuck, stable components require no further handling apart from having to be inserted into the carrier prism.
This can be done, in complete safety, while the machine is running.
Handling less steady workpieces is just as easy.
The operator first inserts a workpiece-specific receptor into the carrier prism and then adds the workpiece itself.
In contrast to bar automatics, no time is taken up in resetting bar loading magazines and in changing the bars whenever a new batch of workpieces calls for a different material or a larger/smaller bar diameter.
Made to maintain tight tolerances - no need to fear the tight tolerances that today's component buyers demand.
The process integrity of the VL is exceptional.
Idle times are drastically reduced - with a workpiece changeover traverse between pick-up and turret machining position of less than 400mm on the smaller and only 550mm on the larger of the two machines the VL is unbeatably fast.
The chip-to-chip times are also very short.
A reduction in idle time means increased output and lower component manufacturing costs.
Small footprint - the VL machines are a miracle in space saving.
The questions of operation and access have also been solved admirably.
Such a small footprint allows the workshop to accommodate more machines.
Permanently low running costs - energy is a valuable and expensive commodity.
The considerate, responsible use of resources has been consistently observed on the VL.
Only those accessories, which serve the machining process and the workpiece quality, are present on the machine.
The VL is so sturdy and vibration resistant - something that has rubbed off from the multi-functional VSC series - that tool life is long enough to keep the user's wallet happy.
All guideways are located at the top of, i.e outside, the machining area and are well protected against the ingress of chips and dirt particles.
It helps to maintain constant accuracy, increases process integrity and reduces the maintenance effort.
Telescopic covers, which are susceptible to failure, do not feature on the VL.
For smallest batch sizes and for large batch production - short set-up times allow the VL to be used for the manufacture of smallest batch sizes.
For large batch production the VL serves as an automated, highly productive manufacturing cell, where the pick-up main spindle chuck collects the raw-part automatically from the workpiece conveyor, transports it quickly into the machining zone and, once it is finish machined, returns it to the conveyor belt.
All-round complete machining - for the complete machining of workpieces all 12 turret stations accommodate live-tools for drilling and milling.
For the fully automatic machining of both the front and the rear of a workpiece two VL machines can be linked by a workpiece transfer unit.
After the first VL has machined the front of the component the transfer unit picks it up, turns it 180deg and deposits it on the conveyor belt of the second VL, which then machines the component's rear section.
If required, other attachments, such as a component marking station, can be integrated.
This makes for a highly economic manufacturing system on the smallest possible footprint - just 3500 x 3800mm for two VL 3s.
A very meaningful co-operation - the VL machines are manufactured by the joint venture company Hardinge Emag in Leipzig, Germany, a company founded by Emag in co-operation with the well-known American machine tool manufacturer, Hardinge.
The combined know-how of two well-known turning machine manufacturers guarantees the permanent optimisation of the VL series, an outstanding advantage to any VL user. Request a free brochure from Emag UK ...
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