UK: pick-up spindle VTLs are getting there

The Three Toed Sloth is getting there, slowly, says a manufacturer of vertical pick-up spindle CNC turning centres of its progress to encourage UK plants to take up the technology.

The Three Toed Sloth is getting there, slowly.

Hardinge / Emag VL machines meet and exceed customer productivity improvement expectations.

Marketing a radical new product in the UK engineering world that is notoriously "conservative", required a radical approach for Hardinge.

The benefits from adopting this radical new manufacturing methodology for CNC turning were too numerous to advertise in a concise and impactive way, so they chose to draw attention to the productivity improvement potential of The Hardinge / EMAG VL machines with a picture of a Three Toed Sloth.

Customers are now demonstrating that the claims made in their advertising and the 3TS brochure about the VL machines were not just an ad.

mans dream, but were achievable and could be exceeded on particular applications, that were previously hand loaded operations on horizontal spindle CNC lathes.

Typical results achieved by users include: 30% reduction in floor space taken up.

30% increase in production output.

60% reduction in labour cost.

40% less cost for a fully automatic load / unload system.

Hardinge customers have adopted the lean, automated VL approach to CNC turning billets, castings and other "near net shaped blanks", where the manufacturing process required individual parts to be hand loaded for one or more turning or complete machining operations.

If that wasn't enough to get the productivity improvement juices flowing add just some of the technical benefits of the VL approach to CNC turning: An end to wrapped up swarf problems on non chipping materials.

Automation that is flexible and adaptable for a range and variety of part shapes.

An almost fool-proof lathe automation system.

A loading system that can compensate automatically for incoming blank variations.

Elimination of special grippers tailored to specific parts.

Traverse rates and spindle accel / decel times to give 5 seconds chip to chip load / unload.

Increased intervals between tool insert changes.

With its lean design and patented, integrated auto load / unload system, the Hardinge / Emag VL machines offer a performance to price competitiveness unrivalled by any horizontal spindle lathe.

A fully operational VL3 package for less than GBP 80,000 includes:- 3-Jaw chuck.

VDI-40 tool holders.

Chip conveyor.

7,500 rpm 16kW spindle drive.

20 Loading prisms for parts up to 80mm.

14 loading prisms for parts 80 - 130mm.

Linear scales on X and Z Axis.

Integrated liquid cooling system.

Air mist extraction system.

The Germans have gone for the VL machines big time, with over 100 VL sales in just one small area in the South of the country since the MACH 2000 VL launch.

The Americans have now started taking the VL's in good volumes being the first pick-up spindle machines sold in USA aimed at the mass market of OEM's and sub-contractors alike.

The Brits always last on the sun beds have started to move to the pick up spindle design just a little quicker than a three toed sloth, but with savings like these can you be the one to miss out? And why did Hardinge choose a three toed sloth for the VL brochure? Irony is not dead.

The 3TS is a radical, natural, amazingly efficient solution to a particular problem as far removed from CNC turning as you can get.

To find out how you will have to send for your copy of the VL Productivity Improvement in CNC Turning brochure from Hardinge.

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