Meet The Multi-Center. PM Multi-Spindle. Multi-Spindle Software November/December 2005

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Muliasking Machines 36 www.producionmachining.

1 Muli-Spindle Sofware November/December 2005 PM Muli-Spindle Done In One 32 Program Muliasking Machines 36 Reprined From: Mee The Muli-Cener In Associaion Wih

2 PM Muli-Spindle Mee The Muli-Cener How shops use he muli-spindle machine ool is changing. Complex workpieces, shorer producion runs, rapid change-over and single par handling reflec he new realiy of muli-spindle producion. Builders are responding o hese changing needs wih new ways o make he muli-spindle machine more profiable, useful and efficien. By Chris Koepfer I s Saurday morning a he EMO show in Hanover, Germany. I arrive a he Tornos Technologies booh for my 10 a.m. meeing wih Tom Broe, muli-spindle produc manager for he company s U.S. operaion (Brookfield, Connecicu). I s one of he few momens ha he booh is no packed wih show aendees who, like me, are looking o see wha s new from Mouier, Swizerland s premier machine ool builder. For his visi, I m ineresed in muli-spindles. My hope for he meeing is o follow up on a visi o Mouier earlier in he year when he MuliDeco 32/6c was inroduced a a echnical conference. The machine incorporaes some ineresing echnological innovaions ha he newes muli-spindle, he MuliDeco 20/8d being debued a EMO, akes even furher. Boh of hese machines reflec muli-spindle rends ha are ben on solving producion problems in oday s precision machined pars indusry. Tom and I each grab a cup of coffee and sele down o discuss he whas and whys of hese new machine ool developmens. Realiy In he Unied Saes, mos of he free-machining work ha was he radiional foundaion of mulispindle manufacuring has been dislodged in favor of lower cos producers (mos are locaed in Asia). Much of he work lef can bes be described as fussy, meaning i is made from more difficul-o-machine maerial wih complex geomeries, requiring igher olerances, o a higher qualiy sandard, in smaller lo sizes and ofen wih no nicks or scraches permied on he par surface. I is he need for shops o profiably produce his kind of work ha is driving machine ool builders, like Tornos, o develop muli-spindle echnologies ha will help precision urned pars makers compee in he muli-spindle marke. Reducion of direc manufacuring coss is he key o he success of he modern mealworking shop, bu i s more complex han simply reducing direc labor. Tom recouns o me he radiional role of he machinis running a muli-spindle. Afer seup and producion of a successful firs aricle, he job run required he machinis o load maerial, handle chips, handle pars, gage he pars and keep rack of he cuing ools. Because hese asks are all manual and ofen mundane, i s increasingly difficul o find people o perform hem. Many people hink he goal of our new CNC muli-spindles auomaion is o eliminae labor, Tom says. Tha s a misnomer. While less aended operaion may be a goal, he realiy is o ry o make beer, higher value-added use of he labor in a shop. Tha s where he auomaion on hese machines comes in. I frees he machinis from he radiional manual operaions needed o run muli-spindles o perform higher value asks. Tha s an imporan poenial compeiive advanage.

Inegral Maerial Handling Increasingly, visual appearance requiremens are included as par of he specificaion for many precision machined pars.

3 Inegral Maerial Handling Increasingly, visual appearance requiremens are included as par of he specificaion for many precision machined pars. Because of his, simple graviy is no sufficien o evacuae finished pars from he machining zone. On he new Tornos muli-spindles, an inegral ganry manipulaor is par of he package (one on he 32/6c and a single or double uni on he 20/8d). As is ofen he case, cusomers came up wih he idea of inernal par manipulaion because of cosmeic specs. Several of our cusomers had insalled heir own manipulaors o keep criical pars from geing banged up umbling down an exi chue, Tom says. Tha caused us o include a manipulaor in he design of our MuliDeco 32/6c and he 20/8d as well. While conrolled exracion of finished pars was he iniial moive behind he manipulaor, many addiional opions opened up once i became par of he design. I could allow he machine o be operaed as a bar fed machine wih he ganry unloading finished pars or as a chucker wih he ganry loading blanks and unloading finished pars. The ganry is a programmable axis conrolled by he CNC. Seup for a specific job requires only defining he ganry ravel parameers and aaching he proper grippers. The ganry speed is programmable o synchronize wih he machine s cycle ime. Palleizing Anoher cusomer-driven innovaion ha Tornos has incorporaed ino he design of is new mulispindles is he abiliy o palleize incoming and ougoing workpieces. Once he ganry load/unload manipulaor is in place, we have conrol of where he workpieces ener he cycle and exi he cycle, Tom explains. Boh of he new machines have space buil ino he machine plaform o accommodae various kinds of palle sysems. The company offers one of is own design as an opion, bu many shops may op o design and build heir own sysems. Because he palleizaion area is inside he machine fooprin, no addiional floor space is needed. Wih he finished pars organized ino he palle, maerial handling for subsequen operaions can be eliminaed. Palles can be designed o carry finished pars o hea rea or clean wihou he need o handle hem individually. Auomaed Gaging And Machine Compensaion Anoher benefi derived from he abiliy o conrol work handling inside he machine is he abiliy o pass a par ha was removed from he final operaion hrough a gage. Laser gages are especially suied for his kind of checking. A gage can be se up o perform a simple go/no-go measuremen, or i can check a criical dimension as he par passes hrough i on he way o he palle. An advanage of his auomaed inspecion compared o radiional pos-process checking is ha if a par has run ou of olerance, only a few pars are made subsequenly, Tom explains. The gage can be se o sop he operaion, and whaever fix is needed can be performed before many bad pars are produced. Taking he inegral gage seup a sep furher, i can be used wih he machine s CNC as a closed-loop sysem ha will auomaically perform ool compensaion based on measuremen rends. The gage is se wih a olerance band widh, and as ools wear or emperaures change, he gage can comp he ool Tom Broe, Torno s U.S. muli-spindle producs manager, grew up in a machine shop. His knowledge of machining is based on experience. He sees he new echnological developmens in oday s machine ools as he key o mainaining compeiive and profiable levels of business for U.S. shops.

PM Muli-Spindle Workpiece proecion is a big advanage of he pars load/unload manipulaor, inegral in Tornos muli-spindles. Here, he pars handler is unloading o a simple exi conveyor.

Independen Spindle Speeds Tradiionally he muli-spindle main drive is a spindle moor geared o roae all spindles a once.

4 PM Muli-Spindle Workpiece proecion is a big advanage of he pars load/unload manipulaor, inegral in Tornos muli-spindles. Here, he pars handler is unloading o a simple exi conveyor. slides as necessary o keep he pars wihin he olerance band. No more need o bring ou he large, medium or small hammer o comp ools, Tom jokes. Independen Spindle Speeds Tradiionally he muli-spindle main drive is a spindle moor geared o roae all spindles a once. The rend in muli-spindles is o moorize each spindle independenly o opimize speeds and feeds for each saion. Much of he issue abou conrolling chip formaion is simplified when he opimum cuing speed and feed is used on a given saion, Tom says. Moreover, hese inegral spindles are bi-direcional, allowing he opion of lef-handed or righhanded machining. The MuliDeco 20/8d is Tornos firs inegral spindle machine. Each of he machine s eigh spindles is powered by an inegral 11.2-Kw (15-hp) moor. The moors are programmable hrough he machine s CNC and can roae from 0 hrough 8,000 rpm. Conouring in he C axis can also be programmed on any one of hese spindle moors. For saionary operaion, a sop in he posiion of one-enh of a degree is available. An elecric brake holds he spindle in posiion. According o Tom, he MuliDeco 32/6c is slaed o ge is inegral moor spindle drum nex. From a design and engineering perspecive, independen spindles on a muli-spindle bring up producion issues for he shop. One issue is he need o rewind he drum a he end of a cycle. For reliable operaion, each spindle moor is hard wired. This requires ha he spindle drum rewind afer a full roaion. A dedicaed moor is used by Tornos o accomplish his rewind in he leas amoun of ime. Thermal sabiliy is anoher issue ha can be prob- lemaic wih he addiion of inegral moors o he muli-spindle drum. Each moor is a source of hea, and wih six or eigh moors, an acive sysem o help hermally sabilize he machine is necessary. To mainain emperaure sabiliy, a jacke surrounds he bearings for each spindle. Chilled cooling oil is circulaed around he spindle bearings and his hea dissipaion sysem mainains he hermal sabiliy of he spindle bearings including he inegral The MuliDeco 20/8d uses one or wo, wo-axis counerspindles for backworking operaions. These spindles work wih a single axis slide o provide hree-axis flexibiliy. One or boh of hese spindles is fully programmable using he machine s CNC.

Three-Axis Backworking The abiliy o complee a workpiece in a single handling is no only imporan o precision machined pars manufacuring, bu is necessary o compee.

On he 20/8d, he company uses one or wo, woaxis counerspindles for backworking operaions and a single-axis backworking slide for hree-axis flexibiliy.

5 Three-Axis Backworking The abiliy o complee a workpiece in a single handling is no only imporan o precision machined pars manufacuring, bu is necessary o compee. Complex pars are no only machined on one side. Backworking capabiliy is needed o eliminae secondary operaions and accomplish he ask of complee machining wihin he muli-spindle. On he 20/8d, he company uses one or wo, woaxis counerspindles for backworking operaions and a single-axis backworking slide for hree-axis flexibiliy. Each of hese spindles is independenly programmable and brings flexible processing opions o backworking. On he eigh spindle, wo pickoff spindles allow us o divide he backworking operaions, done simulaneously wih he main spindle, by wo o reduce cycle ime, Tom explains. Ofen, backworking is he longes operaion, so using wo counerspindles helps balance he cycle. We can also se he machine o run as wo four spindles using each counerspindle independenly for double-drop producion. I s abou flexibiliy and producion choices. Mos imporanly, i s abou he capabiliy o process pars complee. In operaion, he counerspindle grips a cuoff par and hen execues drilling, milling and urning operaions using up o five ools mouned verically or horizonally. The operaion slide can also use driven ools and is equipped wih hrough-he-ool coolan delivery. More exensive pos-process par handling is exemplified by his palleizaion sysem ha is buil ino he machine ool. Finished pars can be firs inspeced auomaically by a laser gage or oher device, hen loaded ino a palle. These flexible palles can also be used o load uncu forgings or oher chucked pars and receive he finished pars. A Muli-Cener As manufacuring deals wih he changes being imposed by compeiion, hroughpu, flexibiliy and consisen qualiy are he merics by which work is being awarded. Consolidaion of operaions has been ongoing in mealworking for years, which is eviden by looking a he machining cener and urning cener. As builders of muli-spindles apply he same conceps o precision urned pars, he beneficiaries are he shops ha need a echnological edge o compee for he business ha s available. Mealworking mus coninue o move in he direcion of auomaing par handling, chip removal, ool monioring, par inspecion and oher processes. n moors, which are aached o he spindles. The chiller uni is capable of holding a programmed emperaure a ± 0.5 degree cenigrade. Hydoma Inc Adie Road Sain Louis, MO phone fax Reprined from December 2005 Producion Machining Magazine and Copyrigh 2005 by Gardner Publicaions, Inc., 6915 Valley Ave., Cincinnai, Ohio

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6 The Indusry s New Dream Team. TORNOS MULTI by HYDROMAT TORNOS M U L T I S P I N D L E B Y The NEW Tornos Muli by Hydroma MuliAlpha 8x20 Eigh moorized spindles running a independen speeds Twin back working operaions Two numeric manipulaors Inegral palleizaion Hydroma makes hisory again wih he addiion of he Tornos line of mulispindle machines o heir already impressive array of roary ransfer machines, creaing he ulimae line-up for he precision par making indusry. Flexibiliy is our goal, Power of Produciviy is he resul. Hydroma s exensive experience in he markeplace and engineering excellence eamed wih a wo punch roary ransfer/mulispindle combinaion enables us o give you he righ machine for he righ job. Experience he Power of Produciviy. Hydroma Inc Adie Road S. Louis, MO p f

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