Product category:
Machining centres - all types
News Release from: 600 Centre | Subject: Fanuc Robodrill T14 Alpha VMC
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 30 September 2003
Fixturing techniques increase system's
output
By adopting A and B fixturing techniques on a turnkey production set up, Metallifacture is able to finish bore some 3,700 variants of gearshift levers and transmission linkages a week.
By adopting A and B fixturing techniques on a 600 Centre supplied turnkey production set up, Metallifacture of Nottingham is able to finish bore some 3,700 right and left hand variants of gearshift levers and transmission linkages a week Normally for rapid cycle times and consistency of manufacture over such quantities the production engineering solution would tend to follow a special purpose machining route but Davinder Bains, manufacturing engineering director, decided a more flexible solution around a vertical machining centre best met the company needs
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Prior to installing the turnkey cell, based on a high speed Fanuc Robodrill T14 Alpha vertical machining centre, Metallifacture used manually operated bench top machines to finish bore the bush housings in the fabricated and finish painted lever sub assemblies.
However, following a component redesign that involved tightening of bore tolerances, this method was no longer practical to achieve either quality levels or production quota demanded by the customer, a Japanese car manufacturer and, as a result, a fully automatic process involving operator load and unload provides a highly efficient continuous production solution.
Metallifacture was recently acquired by Magal Engineering and is a major supplier of sub-assemblies and components to the automotive industry, from sites at Nottingham and Woodley, near Reading.
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Among the product lines produced at Nottingham are car jacks, spare wheel stowage systems, door and tailgate hinges, bonnet and tailgate latch systems, spare tyre carriers, pedal boxes and gear shift assemblies to which it enjoys supplier approvals from most of the UK's leading car manufacturers for straight-to-line delivery.
The components machined on the Robodrill comprise welded fabrications of right and left-hand drive variants of gear shift levers and transmission linkages which are finished painted prior to machining.
The lever sub-assembly comprises a bent rod stub welded to a cylindrical bush housing to form an elongated tee, whilst the linkage comprises two cross bush housings, which are welded together.
In both cases the finished bore diameter is 18.25mm through the housing which is a total machined depth of 35mm.
As Davinder Bains explains: "While these are apparently simple components the ultimate transmission application requires tight control of dimensions and orientation.
For instance, squareness of the bore to the lever and squareness between the bores of the linkage are essential in order to ensure a smooth operation of the assembled gear selector.
Size and surface finish of the bush seatings is also critical." A strong argument for the Fanuc Robodrill was based on the use of a Robodrill vertical machining centre at the Reading factory to which Davinder Bains adds: "We were also very aware of 600 Centre's turnkey project capability which gave us confidence in their ability to develop a satisfactory solution.
The final result is based on a table mounted hydraulically actuated fixture with sister tooling incorporating three identical replaceable insert boring bars which are resident in the 14 tool position toolchanger.
The fixture has six A and B sequenced workpiece positions of which two are for the lever assembly and four for the linkage.
The sequence of operations follow components located in the fixture and the guarding secured as the operator initiates the cycle start.
All six components are then hydraulically clamped in position.
The machine finish bores all six components with automatic clamp release at completion of the cycle.
The operator then unloads two completed vehicle sets of components and one pair of linkages is located for the second bore to be sized and a set of two levers and two linkages is then positioned in the fixture for the next cycle.
The Fanuc Robodrill was originally developed as a fast cycling machine with 48 m/min rapid traverse rates and 5.5kW - 8,000 revs/min spindle.
It has a tool change time of just 0.9 secs via the clock-face style 14 tool magazine which is able to accommodate tools up to 80 mm diameter by 250mm long.
As Davinder Bains added: "With three boring bars in the toolchanger we have sufficient tooling to produce 6,000 bores based on known tooling wear data.
The program then enables automatic sister tooling replacement at intervals of 2,000 bores." With weekly production of 3,500 vehicle sets, insert replacement need only be carried out about once a day which means the whole process has been engineered for continuous production.
Davinder Bains concluded: "The Robodrill has performed well and has successfully addressed all of the objectives that we set for it.
Its rapid traverse speed, slideway and spindle acceleration means there is almost zero non-machining time in the cycle, whilst repeatability bore accuracy and finish achievable with the carbide tooling set up is very good.".
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