Product category:
CNC automatic lathes
News Release from: Citizen Machinery UK | Subject: Citizen M32 CNC sliding head automatic lathe
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 01 April 2003
Up market sliding head auto gets back
the work
Acquiring a 13-axis sliding head automatic lathe allows a precision turned parts specialist to offer a larger, multi-featured parts service that competes with overseas suppliers.
Not only does Target Precision's new-found ability to produce complex mill/turn parts up to 32mm diameter extend the capabilities of a company renowned for smaller capacity work, but the introduction of the 13-axis Citizen M32 CNC sliding head automatic lathe also means that the precision turned parts specialist is now able to offer a larger, multi-featured parts service that competes with alternative supplies from overseas "We were already turning away lots of potential business for 18mm diameter or above parts," comments Target's technical director Chris Thorburn, "so it really wasn't too hard a decision to invest in the Citizen M32 to expand the turning capacity to complement our existing array of 12.7mm and 18mm capacity CNC sliding headstock lathes
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 29 Oct 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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He explains the low risk factor because the company knew that, initially, certain existing customers would take up the new capacity.
"We also reckoned that new customers too would realise that overseas competitors - especially those in China and Taiwan - would find it hard to compete with us on parts of this size in terms of delivery turn-around as well as price," he says.
He then follows on to confirm, "not only are we geared up to respond quickly to customer demands - with machines frequently being run through the night - but the cost of transporting larger parts halfway around the world should also make a crucial difference to buying decisions." Target Precision's reputation for supplying quality parts at the right price and delivered on time has seen the company blossom since its establishment in 1997 as a sister company to Target Sports, one of the country's leading manufacturers of darts.
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High pressure cooling system on a CNC sliding head automatic lathe provides high levels of security of process to cover the wide range of materials such as nickel alloys, brass and titanium.
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Two CNC lathes equate to eight cam automatics
When Target Sports bought its first Citizen B12 Type V, CNC sliding headstock lathe, it wanted to machine high quality brass dart bodies - it was quickly followed by a second machine.
Indeed this success has prompted a recent move to new premises in Harlow, Essex.
Borne from the worldwide darts success, Target Precision was set-up to both supply dart bodies to Target Sports and to exploit the precision turned parts business - based mainly on the use of Citizen sliding headstock lathes from NC Engineering of Watford.
With Garry Plummer as managing director, Target Sports bought its first Citizen B12 Type V with a secondary back spindle to produce high-quality brass dart bodies.
So successful was the installation, saving 10 seconds on a 26-second cycle, that a second machine quickly followed, and almost immediately the company found their combined output was equivalent to that of eight single-spindle cam autos.
"The B12 Type V's provided us with a straightforward introduction to CNC sliding head machining," continues Chris Thorburn, "so by the time Target Precision was established we were fairly comfortable with them finding them relatively easy to set, and the ability to check and optimise programs means we can have them running very quickly after relatively straightforward and quick changeovers.
Also, they are well able to maintain high accuracies of 15 microns as a matter of course, while bores and hole diameters can be held to 10 microns." Target's Citizen machine portfolio has steadily grown to match its continual success at both darts manufacture where Target has the capacity for 10,000 sets/week and precision sub-contract turned parts supply.
The machines are frequently running in lights-out mode overnight and at weekends, if necessary to meet urgent delivery demands and maintain the BS EN ISO 9002-accredited company's reputation for quick response.
Batch sizes vary from 50, which tend to be mainly sample parts, through to runs of 100,000, and the company also operates kanban and just-in-time supply to suit customer requirements.
The two B12s were soon complemented by a Citizen M12 mill/turn centre, a C16 and then other B12s.
Both the M12 and the latest C16 provide Target with C-axis positioning for cross drilling and milling, while the 80 tool M12's flexibility is illustrated by its ability to overlap cutting tool routines - which is proving a valuable time saver on the more complicated jobs.
With a wide customer base embracing white goods, jewellery and medical, for example, the M-series machine particularly satisfies increasingly complex contracts gained from customers in the electrical and electronic sectors, such as connector pins and sockets and here the in-house zone annealing facility has played an important role in the success of the connector contracts.
Connector work tends to be based on small diameter bar between 2.5mm and 4mm in materials as diverse as copper alloys, beryllium copper and stainless, with these parts requiring operations such as slotting and the drilling of vent holes while others demand the milling of flats.
Today, Target Precision's four operators look after nine Citizen sliding head lathes, including the latest introduction, the 13-axis all servo-driven M32.
In addition to extending Target's mill/turn machining capabilities to 32mm bar which complements its reputation on parts down to as small as 0.4 mm diameter by 16mm long - the M32 provides a complete one-hit capability by combining 'special' operations such as gear and form hobbing, polygon turning and thread whirling.
In such cases the spindle is rotated at slow speed and is fed out in the Z-axis into a revolving thread whirling tool.
In addition, special rotary tools for cross-angle rotary machining or thread milling and slitting can be mounted on the turret.
These capabilities were fully illustrated by the 32mm diameter by 22mm long aluminium connector test piece for a major customer involved in the aerospace, telecommunications and other industrial markets.
In addition to turning, the 12-operation machining sequence involved through drilling and boring of a 7.5mm hole, internal grooving and broaching of five slots, cross-drilling of three holes of 1mm diameter, internal chamfering of the holes, threading, face grooving and parting-off.
The part was then back faced and finish bored in the subspindle.
Carrying up to 50 tools, the M32's all-driven, 10-station turret can be applied to both main and subspindles.
Working in conjunction with the Y-axis is a vertical tool platen having four driven tools for additional mill/drill tasks which also provides five turning tool positions.
Also, a drilling station with three driven tools is available for back machining.
The M32's 5.5kW main spindle delivers up to 8,000 revs/min and has full C-axis positioning.
The built-in back-spindle motor has a 2.2kW drive with a 7,000 revs/min maximum speed.
One degree indexing is standard, however a full C-axis option could have been specified.
The machine was also supplied with NC Engineering's programmable 2,000 psi Cool Blaster high pressure coolant system which dramatically improves cutting efficiency and machining cycle confidence over swarf control and tool life when producing parts out of difficult materials.
Concludes Chris Thorburn: "Bearing in mind the Citizen machines' ability to consistently perform and provide efficient cycle times and machining accuracies, there are several other reasons why we've always stayed loyal to the brand.
In addition to standardising collets and guides as well as our control systems/programming methods, the bar feeder on a Citizen is always on the right-hand side of the machine, and while this may seem a small point it has a big bonus when it comes to shopfloor layout. Request a free brochure from Citizen Machinery UK ...
And, in the same way that we've built our business on being able to respond quickly to customer demands, it is reassuring to know that NC Engineering will react promptly when needed.".
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