Product category:
CNC turning centres, mill/turning, multi-tasking centres, horizontal and VTLs.
News Release from: Traub Heckert UK | Subject: Traub TNL26 CNC sliding headstock mill/turn centre
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 21 November 2002
Four tools cut at once on sliding head
centre
The ability to use four different cutting tools at the same time on difficult to machine materials, hob gears and splines, thread whirl complex thread forms and all in one-hit cycles is a sure winner.
The ability to machine with high productivity using four different cutting tools at the same time on difficult to machine materials, hob gears and splines, thread whirl complex thread forms and perform 'one-hit' cycles is a key part of the investment strategy of Ottaway Engineering This philosophy not only satisfies existing customer demands but is seen as the means to take the company into the competitive production of components for the medical sector
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 22 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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In true Ottaway family business tradition, set in place in the early sixties when it worked from a small garage in Weybridge, managing director, Chris Ottaway, made the decision to invest in the best production equipment, prove the company's contract manufacturing expertise then go after a particular sector for new business.
Here, the latest acquisition of a Traub TNL 26 CNC sliding headstock mill/turn centre is proving to be a significant element in once again confirming this production orientated philosophy and fits ideally into the 24 hour operational set-up of the business.
Now based in an environmentally controlled factory at Chandler's Ford, Hampshire and employing 30 people, Ottaway Engineering's purchase of the Traub TNL 26 from Traub Heckert UK of Brackley was no quick decision.
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Says Nick Ottaway, one of the two sons of the founder working at the plant and who had the role of project manager for the machine purchase: "We are firmly established as a precision contract manufacturer with over 50 per cent of our work going into the aerospace and related product sector.
Working with these customers means we machine parts across a whole spectrum of materials and perform quite a lot of hard turning and hard milling.
So we need the type of machine tool and equipment that is of high quality, very flexible, capable, reliable and certainly highly productive!" Ottaway's track record on plant purchase is qualified by claims to be one of the pioneer contract machinists involved with high speed machining in 1990 and believes it was the first in the UK to install a full CNC controlled milling machine.
However, the decision to buy its first sliding head from Traub Heckert UK was not pioneering, instead, according to Nick Ottaway: "It was made against the criteria of being the best machine currently available to perform the type of tasks that were in our minds." This involved an investigation across the sliding head machine market and two visits to the Traub machine tool plant in Reichenbach, Germany once it was short listed.
During the visits, extensive discussions were held over the technology, machining techniques and capability they could expect.
There was also an added advantage of several visits to Traub users in Germany for face to face discussions.
"The time was certainly well spent on the ground," Nick Ottaway qualifies, "because the high specification 13-axis machine should now be able to accommodate any combination of component feature and difficult material we are likely to come up against in our quest for new work." The TNL 26 incorporates two opposed 26 mm capacity 10.7kW, 8,000 revs/min main and counter spindles with synchronous drives and full C-axes.
There are two totally independent 12 station, all-driven 6,000 revs/min turrets each with a Y-axis cross-feed and the capability to accept gang-style, double toolholders for additional tooling capacity.
Integrated alongside the counter spindle is a highly rigid, five-position front tooling slide with five driven positions.
Adjacent to the main spindle is a further five-tool slide with Y-axis and four driven positions.
This slide also has the capability to accept an additional triple position live tool holder for cross machining.
Alternatively, a thread whirling unit can be installed which would specifically suit the special thread requirements often demanded by the medical sector for producing the likes of bone screws.
The machine was also ordered with an Iemca Boss 432r 12 ft bar feed, a 30 bar, high pressure coolant and filtration unit and a bespoke ACS EP 580 oil mist filtration system.
This unit was tailored by ACS and Ottaway in order to accommodate soluble coolant, rather than the normal neat oil preferred by the sliding head user group fraternity.
Indeed, this preference was discussed in detail with Traub's application and design team in Germany and they confirmed there were no problems that would affect warranty, service cycles or risk from the high strength soluble coolant by-passing seals and contaminating the machine lubrication system.
With the current customer base dominated by aerospace precision component supply, mainly for the UK coupled with exports to European and American customers, electronics and computer industry business has also been growing for Ottaway.
However, the Traub was seen as the lynch-pin to further move into the precision medical and dental implant business and is already showing its capability that can be applied to these precision sectors.
As Shaun Young, one of the setter operator/programmers responsible for the Traub describes: "We have been able to combine four previous separate operations on an aerospace part into a single cycle which has significantly cut lead times and floor to floor times." The part, one of a family of four, is in EN58M stainless steel and is machined in a single hit operation on the Traub.
Incorporated into the 'one-hit' cycle is a 120 DP, 21 tooth threaded spline which is hobbed from the turret.
With the rigidity of the machine and the quality of tooling specified by Ottaway, the part is able to be machined virtually burr-free and in unmanned production cycles.
Shaun Young maintains the training given by Traub Heckert enabled him to switch from fixed headstock to sliding headstock technology fairly easily.
"It was confusing at first and you certainly have to think differently to create a cycle maximising the advantage of four tools all cutting at the same time." He spent a week at the Brackley headquarters of Traub Heckert and then a week at Chandler's Ford with the Traub specialist.
Also involved in the training were engineering manager Tony Allen and the opposite shift setter operator/programmer John Aspinall who works with Shaun Young to ensure a full 24-hour production.
>From his involvement, Tony Allen believes the Winflex IPS graphic-object contour based programming and simulation on the TX8i control helps enormously while the process optimisation software balances operations and overlapped machining sequences.
He says: "Having the programming software available off-line as well as at the machine has proven to be a great advantage." A prime example of the advantage gained due to the power of the software became apparent on a complex shaft where Ottaway were, yet again, able to program four previous tooling sequences into one involving simultaneous rough and finish turning of the outside diameter from each turret.
At the same time the part was centre drilled from the front tool slide and a steady roller applied for centre drilling via the back tool slide.
Although still early days, the production team reckons it can now set most jobs on the machine within a few hours and expect to run batch sizes between 100 and 200 parts.
However, experiences to date lead the team to be confident that the machine versatility allows any batch quantity to be accommodated.
With the level of flexibility now given to the mill/turning capability, Ottaway is able to extend its concurrent engineering expertise where it provides support to customers through a 'design for manufacture' service which enables parts to be produced more cost-effectively.
"The Traub TNL 26 not only provides us with a capability to maintain micron tolerances but also the flexibility to approach a job from so many different angles.
The fact that we can combine geometric related features such as splines and hobbed gears, slots and holes and incorporate special threads through whirling, will ensure we will be very competitive especially on extremely intricate and precise parts in which we excel," Nick Ottaway concludes.
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