Product category:
Miscellaneous machine tools, gear cutting machines and equipment
News Release from: Emag UK | Subject: Turning/hobbing centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 October 2007
Centre combines turning and gear hobbing
A gear manufacturer can benefit from a vertical pick-up spindle hobbing and turning centre that combines hobbing and turning and so reduces work-in-progress/production inventory stocks.
Normally in the manufacture of gears, the blank is first turned on a lathe and then the gear tooth type profiles are generated in a gear hobbing machine Should other operations, such as oil hole drilling, be needed these have to be carried out in a third machine
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.
In other words, gear making can be a very time-consuming process and in terms of throughput times in particular not always an economical one.
Combining turning and gear hobbing on a single machine therefore offers considerable advantages.
With their VSC 400 WF Koepfer has succeeded in providing the user with two machines in one.
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.
The design is based on the gantry pick-up principle of the EMAG single-spindle turning machine.
The VSC 400 WF also features a full-capacity tool turret.
The machine's mechanical stability, supported among other features by the double-walled construction and the electronic coupling of the gear hobbing operation, is a precondition for highest precision.
What is exceptional about the VSC 400 WF is that both operations, turning and gear hobbing, are of equal status.
It allows for the second operation turning and hobbing in the same set-up.
In other words, the user has two fully-fledged machines that can be used to their full potential for the machining of a range of work pieces that may well be subject to frequent changes.
* Milling, drilling and deburring - where required, additional operations such as milling or drilling in alignment with the tooth profile, or deburring, for instance, can be achieved with auxiliary tools mounted in the turret.
Single set-up machining cycles do not only save time, they also avoid errors associated with re-clamping between operations.
The available cutting speeds and feeds meet all demands made by commercially available tools.
The VSC 400 WF, equipped with Siemens Sinumerik 840D CNC, is designed for the machining of work pieces up to gear module 4 and a diameter of 230mm.
* Automation advantages - Koepfer is one of the world's leading manufacturers of gear hobbing machines for the generation of high-precision tooth profiles for power tools, geared motors and planetary drives, also in the sub-contracting industry.
The company's extensive know-how in the building of horizontal machines now also benefits the first vertical machine coming out of Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany, particularly in respect to automation.
Standardised, clearly defined interfaces serve the problem-free integration of pallet systems, gantries and robots, making it easy to link up any upstream or downstream machining process.
Equipped with shuttle type automation as standard, the VSC 400 WF can be used as a stand-alone or - at little extra expense - in the linked production line.
The design of the automation system allows for flexibility in accommodating a range of work pieces and batch sizes.
The advantages of the VSC 400 WF are, in brief, as follows.
The second side can be turned and the tooth profile hobbed in the same set-up.
Auxiliary operations, such as deburring of the gears with turning or roller deburring tools in the turret, a fully-fledged tooling system, can be incorporated without problem.
Thanks to the great flexibility of the shuttle system most customer-specific solutions to automation can be incorporated.
The VSC 400 WF is designed for the machining of work pieces up to gear module 4 and a diameter of 230mm. Request a free brochure from Emag UK ...
The machine offers a price/performance ratio that could be of great interest when compared to conventional solutions for combination turning and gear hobbing.Dr-Ing Thomas Koepfer, chief executive of Jos Koepfer and Soehne , said: "The concept of the VSC 400 WF offers considerable advantages wherever different machining operations can be carried out in a single set-up when it would otherwise require a number of machines.".
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