Product category:
CNC turning centres, mill/turning, multi-tasking centres, horizontal and VTLs.
News Release from: Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools | Subject: TNX42/65 twin-opposed-spindle mill-turn lathe
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 May 2007
Mill/turn centre uses up to four turrets
For machining complex parts in one set-up, a twin opposed-spindle mill-turn lathe can have two, three or four disc-type, Y-axis turrets, each holding 10 driven or static tools on both faces.
Of the three machines on show from the Index subsidiary, Traub, at the recent 50th Anniversary open day at Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools, one was the new TNX42/65 twin-opposed-spindle mill-turn lathe It can be equipped with two, three or four disc-type, Y-axis turrets, each capable of holding 10 driven or static tools on both faces using double toolholders
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 26 Aug 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Foundry's mill-turning investment ups exports
Coventry-based foundry has upheld and expanded exports by adding on high-tech mill-turning centre facilities to machine turbocharger impellers supplied to Italian and US customers.
Pick-up spindle lathe has hexapod features
A new, hanging-spindle, vertical turning lathe (VTL) has been introduced by Index on which the spindle head is able to move freely in three dimensional space.
So up to 80 tools can be accommodated in this conventional design of lathe.
Normally, for a CNC lathe to deploy such a large number of tools, it is based on a single-station turret head with automatic tool change (ATC) from a magazine outside the working area.
As a conventional turret tends to be more robust than its ATC counterpart, higher accuracy machining may be achieved, added to which the 10 tonne TNX65/42 is constructed on a heavily ribbed, cast iron slant bed that dampens vibrations and promotes close tolerance machining.
Further reading
Vertical turning lathe takes on complex production
New from Index is the option to fit a four-axis CNC tool turret in addition to a standard two-axis turret on the German manufacturer's V300 vertical turning lathe (VTL), allowing the production of mor
Brass turning on CNC lathes
Leipold (UK) uses eight Index 6-axis CNC lathes supplied by Geo Kingsbury, the latest two installed during May and June 2000
Tool change is faster with a disc turret than when cutters are exchanged from a magazine, leading to higher productivity as well.
Balanced turning of slender workpieces or two dis-similar machining operations performed at the same time are established advantages of twin-turret turning, which is achievable at both spindles simultaneously.
The TNX65/42 takes the technology a stage further, however, with the possibility of tools in three turrets cutting simultaneously at either spindle.
The result can be cycle times so quick that they would normally be associated with a multi-spindle auto.
Of symmetrical design, the machine has its turrets arranged on independent slides above and below the spindle centreline, giving maximum versatility for optimising cycle times.
Furthermore, the headstock is thermo-symmetrical and the synchronous, C-axis motor-spindles are of identical rating at 24kW / 5,000 rev/min for the 65mm bar capacity machine and 28kW/7,000 rev/min for the 42mm bar model.
Hybrid bearings are fitted as standard for increased service life.
Control is provided by the TX8i-s running, as usual, Traub's in-house developed software.
It is optimised to the manufacturer's lathes and is backwardly compatible, allowing programs to be run that were created on earlier controls.
Realistic 3D simulation shortens set-up time and avoids collisions when producing first-off components.
On-line and off-line programming with powerful synchronisation and optimisation of up to four machining sequences can be provided by Traub's optional WIN FLEX IPS graphical object-orientated software.
• Geo Kingsbury Machine Tools: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Manufacturingtalk email newsletter
• Manufacturingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
