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September 2005
The latest
addition to Chiron’s highly productive Mill series of moving column
vertical machining centres, the Mill 1250, launched in September 2005 at
the EMO exhibition, Hannover.
The Mill series is designed for efficient small and medium batch
production and is available in fixed table, five-axis tilting rotary
table and five-axis NC swivelling head versions. The great advantage of
the new Mill 1250 is that it offers a 1250mm travel in the X-axis and
840mm in the Y-axis, which opens up a whole new range of machining
possibilities on structures such as aerospace wing components.
The Mill 1250 features rapid feed rates of up to 60m/min, spindle speeds
of up to 20,000 rpm, chip-to-chip times of as little as 2.9 seconds and
a machining capacity of up to 600 cm3/min.
The swivel head has an NC positioning axis of +/- 100o, an angular
resolution of just 0.001” and an angular repeatability of +/- 10”. The
drive torque on the head is 280Nm and the clamping torque is 1,400 Nm.
Richard Blake, Managing Director of Chiron UK, said, “ This latest
addition to the Mill range is very well suited to the needs of the UK
market and will allow customers to exploit the power of the Mill series
in a whole new range of applications. I am sure that it is going to
become a very popular machine.”
Chiron’s message from EMO was that more spindles mean more productivity
– which means more profits. It launched two innovative four-spindle
machining centres at the show, one with integrated deep hole boring and
the other offering an effective tool change time of zero.
Chiron also used EMO to introduce its latest thinking in multi-spindle
machining centres. In any machining activity, one of the main factors
determining productivity and profitability is the relationship between
the machining time and the time taken for ancillary operation such as
tool changing, loading and unloading and axis positioning. This is
particularly true where the demand is for high volumes of parts
involving multiple short-cycle operations. On a single-spindle machine
these non-productive operations can account for 70% of the cycle time.
Chiron’s twin-spindle machining centres have been addressing this
requirement very successfully for a number of years, and moving up to
four spindles multiplies the benefits. With a four-spindle machine, four
components can be made at the same time, yet the non-productive time is
the same as it would have been for just one part. This means that the
non-productive cycle time for each component is dramatically reduced,
yet the capital cost is much less than it would have been for four
single-spindle machines.
The TZ 12K W has four spindles mounted on one moving column for the
simultaneous machining of four work pieces in up to four axes. It also
adds a further dimension to one-setup machining by having an integrated
deep hole boring capability.
Each spindle on the TZ 12K W incorporates high-pressure, through-tool
coolant at up to 180 bar. This is combined with four 14kW drives that
power the HSK-A40 spindles up to 18,000 revs/min and allow the use of
very fine deep boring tools with depths up to 100 times diameter.
One step on from the TZ 12K W, Chiron’s Quattrocell integrates two
twin-spindle moving columns in one machine on one linear drive. The two
columns can either work together or independently, and this gives a
range of interesting possibilities – including a chip-to-chip time of
0.6 seconds.
First of all, the Quattrocell can operate in the same way as the TZ 12K
W, machining four components simultaneously and achieving similar
productivity gains. Secondly, the Quattrocell can be operated as two
separate twin-spindle machines with shared handling and automation.
The third possibility opens up a whole new way of working. With each
pair of spindles working in sequence, while one pair is machining the
other pair can be changing tools – giving an effective tool change time
of zero and the chip-to-chip time is just 0.6 seconds.
As well as changing tools, the second pair of spindles can also load and
unload components – using its own axis travels like a pick-and-place
robot and holding the part with pneumatic grippers mounted in the
column.
Parts are moved in and out of the machining area on a shuttle axis,
which is in turn loaded and unloaded by a robot. When it is not required
for loading the robot can use the in-cycle time productively for second
operations such as deburring, cleaning and part measurement.
Chiron UK is a member of the Engineering Technology Group.
For more
information please contact:
Polly Taylor
Chiron UK
Tel: 01926 818 418
E :ptaylor@chironuk.co.uk
www.turning.biz
www.chironuk.co.uk
www.engtechgroup.com
Andy Sandford
Sticklebacks Communications Ltd
Tel: 01737 270 648
Mob: 07971 436 644
E :
Andy@sticklebacks.com
www.sticklebacks.com
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