Production Machining

DEC 2016

Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.

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more tools to be introduced into the cut at the same time, as well as longer tool travel distances for additional flexibility in approaching the workpiece, chiller units cooling the interior of the machine as well as the chilled spindles were implemented. Mr. Noake points out that this design is meant to achieve thermal consistency within the machine rather than the workpiece, since the parts are so small that little heat is generated. Glass scales can also be used to help detect temperature fluctuations. e improvement of the high-pressure coolant system is another technological progression. While these systems have been around for years, the pressure has improved so they can now deliver 2,000 psi or more. e benefits of such a system include improved chip clearance, but more importantly, the system enables processes such as gun drilling—the deep hole drilling process that produces holes in metal at high depth-to- diameter ratios using a long, thin cutting tool. High-pressure coolant systems can also eliminate peck drilling, a time- consuming machining procedure in which the cutting tool is repeatedly introduced into the hole and then withdrawn in order to clear chips from the tool as well as the hole being drilled. Other benefits include extended tool life and the ability to cut more exotic materials such as high-temperature alloys and tool steels that once posed difficulties in the ability to break off chips cleanly. Systems can handle both oil and water-based coolants, although oil is typically used, and the cut is flushed of chips, both through the tool and using the flood method. Mr. Noake estimates that approximately 75 percent of the Swiss machines the company installs now feature high-pressure coolant. A decade ago, only around 10 percent of its machines featured high-pressure coolant. Improved Machining Processes In addition to the sliding headstock, which performs double duty as the machine's Z axis and main spindle, the guide bushing is central to the design of a Swiss-type lathe. e guide bushing provides support for long, thin workpieces by allowing the X-axis cutter to be close-coupled to the spindle nose. It feeds radially as the Z axis feeds axially. When machining short, thick parts, however, with low length-to-diameter ratios that are typically smaller than 3-to-1, the :: Graham Noake, vice president of Tsugami/Rem Sales, and Dale White, laser product manager, in the Tsugami Technical Center in Windsor, Connecticut. :: The LaserSwiss S206 carries as many as 36 tools. Tsugami introduced the first laser Swiss lathe at IMTS 2014. Swiss-Type Technology productionmachining.com :: 33

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